This article about Japanese traditional kabuki theatre interested me because I saw over 20 kabuki performances, including some starring Bando Tamasaburo (mentioned in the article), when I lived in Japan.

Kabuki in close-up: High-definition films to bring accessibility to venerable art form?

Saori Kan / Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer

At center stage, a woman wearing a pure white shiromuku kimono is dancing in the falling snow--madly and hopelessly in love. The high-resolution images in the film Sagimusume (The Heron Maiden) reveal even the most minor movements of kabuki legend Bando Tamasaburo--his expressions and the small details of his clothing--which you would not see in kabuki theaters without binoculars.

The superclear close-up images filmed with Hi-Vision digital cameras enable viewers to enjoy even the actor's delicate finger movements, making you feel as if you are in the front row of a kabuki theater, or even right on the stage in front of him. Digitally recorded sound enhances this highly realistic experience.

The film features two separate kabuki performances: the 31-minute Sagimusume and the 30-minute Hidakagawa Iriai Zakura (The Cherry Trees Along the Hidaka River). Both plays are headlined by Tamasaburo, 55, today's leading practitioner of onnagata acting--the portrayal of female roles in the traditionally all-male world of kabuki performers.

Both plays were staged last year at the Kabuki-za theater in Higashi-Ginza, Tokyo, and the film is showing nearby at a movie theater on the same street.

"Both describe the same theme--unrequited love--but it is expressed in totally different ways [so viewers can enjoy it both times]," Tamasaburo said during a recent interview.

Major film company Shochiku Co., which runs the theater, produced the movie as a new production of its Cinema Kabuki digital imaging project to attract a wider fan base to the traditional art form.

A front-row seat at the theater normally costs 15,000 yen. But a ticket for the film is just 1,000 yen. A Shochiku official says Cinema Kabuki may help lower the hurdles of accessibility with its reasonable ticket price.

Commenting on the price, Tamasaburo said: "I'm not sure we can call it cheap enough to be an ultimate solution [for making kabuki more accessible] as you can get a ticket for an actual show by paying 2,500 yen. But I hope the film will be an entryway for people who have never watched a kabuki show."

The project was launched last year with Nodaban Nezumi Kozo, a kabuki play written by well-known contemporary stage producer Hideki Noda and performed by Nakamura Kanzaburo. Noda and Kanzaburo's Nodaban Togitatsu no Utare was also filmed and played last year.
Sagimusume, a solo dance performed to an extended nagauta musical accompaniment, is one of Tamasaburo's signature roles, which he first performed in 1978. The story revolves around the spirit of a heron in human form. He has also performed the part overseas, including at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, and in London, Berlin and Vienna.

"Sagimusume was staged for the first time about 250 years ago, and evolved into its current form after several revisions," Tamasaburo explained. "It may be difficult [for audiences] to understand as there is no specific story or folk tale it is based on or adapted from."
However, his passionate classic dance and costume changes are attractive enough to grab the hearts of novice kabuki watchers.

In Sagimusume, you can occasionally see the blood-red lining under the woman's pure-white kimono as she dances. It seems to express her passion, or even the hellish pain of love bleeding out of her spirit. "It may be more interesting to watch the actual kabuki performance after understanding such details through the film," Tamasaburo said.

Nobuyuki Onuma, director of the Kabuki-za, highly praised the performance in a recent interview with The Daily Yomiuri.

"Sagimusume is Tamasaburo's most successful character among the characters he has performed, and he's reaching a supreme level [in acting it]. Most moviegoers who watch the film will want to go to kabuki theaters to experience an actual stage performance.
"There's no doubt watching kabuki in theaters is the best way to enjoy and understand it. But it's very important to record great performances in a digital format as it'll be a wonderful kabuki archive," he added.

In Hidakagawa Iriai Zakura, Tamasaburo plays a woman named Kiyohime, who pursues a Buddhist monk called Anchin, with whom she is madly in love. To reach him, she tries to cross the Hidakagawa river by boat, but the boatman refuses to take her as he has been told by Anchin not to carry her across the river. Getting upset, the woman transforms herself into a huge, fearsome snakelike creature and swims across the river.

The old tale is part of the well-known Dojoji Story, originally performed in bunraku puppet theater.

Technically speaking, Tamasaburo in the kabuki version plays not a human being, but a bunraku puppet playing the woman. The manipulator is played by another kabuki actor.
"The puppetlike acting, called ningyo-buri, enables us to express strong emotions and pathos through extreme movements. I'm sure it's interesting to see our performances as a puppet in theaters. But seen onscreen in close-up, it may look like humans are just making unnatural movements," Tamasaburo said with a laugh.

Kabuki was registered last year as one of UNESCO's Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, possibly drawing greater attention to it from around the world.
The popularity of the traditional art form has held steady in the nation, as shown by the Kabuki-za's attendance of 1 million spectators per year. About 7 percent to 8 percent of those are foreigners, according to the theater.

"I can't predict when, but I believe it [Cinema Kabuki] will be shown overseas someday," Onuma said.

But Tamasaburo doesn't seem quite satisfied with the project.

"Honestly speaking, I'm reluctant to call it 'cinema' as it's not yet as sophisticated as a film," he said. "I think it should be called 'Hi-Vision Kabuki' or something like that instead.
"We're just at an experimental stage. If we think about introducing it overseas, we should be more serious and strategic, putting on kabuki performances that are more attractive in a film style," Tamasaburo said.

Another barrier to the widespread distribution of the Cinema Kabuki films is that they can be screened only at theaters with a digital projector. To overcome this problem, Shochiku is considering making digital projectors available for rent.

"Bando Tamasaburo--Sagimusume" is currently playing at the Togeki theater in Higashi-Ginza, Tokyo, until April 28. It will tour to Osaka and Sapporo in May, Kyoto in June and Nagoya in this autumn.

(Apr. 20, 2006)