In my previous column, I wrote, "Noh and kyogen are said to be twin performing arts." A similar thing can be said of kabuki and bunraku puppet theater. This is so even though kabuki is said to have come into being slightly before bunraku.
During the Edo period (1603-1867), when the concept of copyright didn't exist, bunraku performances that were hits were quickly co-opted into the kabuki canon. Even now, many popular kabuki plays originated as bunraku pieces.
For example, three kabuki masterpieces -- "Kanadehon Chushingura," "Yoshitsune Sembonzakura" and "Sugawara Denju Tenaraikagami" -- are all adopted from bunraku plays.
It's interesting to compare performances of the same stories staged in the two different disciplines.
In February, productions based on "Sugawara Denju Tenaraikagami" (Sugawara's Secrets of Calligraphy) are being staged at two Tokyo theaters. A kabuki performance is being staged at the Kabukiza Theatre in Higashiginza, and a bunraku production is being staged at the National Theatre in the Hanzomon district.
The two Tokyo performances in February will feature only parts of the story, as it would take a whole day to perform the play in its entirety.
"Sugawara Denju" is a drama based on the life of Sugawara no Michizane, an aristocrat from the Heian period (794-1185) who is known as the "deity of scholarship" and is worshiped by people even today.
Michizane was exiled from Kyoto to Dazaifu in the Kyushu region. Three Edo period playwrights created a fictional piece based on the exile, suggesting his expulsion was the result of his adopted daughter's love scandal being exploited by his political enemy. The playwrights then deftly incorporated a historical event from the period, about the government's celebration of the birth of triplets. Their script is a perfect fictional melding of the stories of Michizane and the triplets.
The Kabukiza performance will feature acts including "Kamo Zutsumi" (The Kamo Riverbank), "Hippo Denju" (Passing on the Secrets of Calligraphy) and "Domyoji" (Domyoji Temple), while, the National Theatre will present "Yoshida Shato Kurumabiki" (The Fight over the Carriage at the Yoshida Shrine) and "Sata Mura Chasen Zake" (Celebrating with Sake on a Tea Whisk in Sata Village).
A character called Kan Shojo, representing Michizane, is the protagonist in the kabuki play, while the triplets -- Umeomaru, Matsuomaru and Sakuramaru -- are the main characters in the bunraku performance. Watching both performances will help audiences grasp the entire story of "Sugawara Denju."
Kataoka Nizaemon XV plays Kan Shojo in the kabuki performance, a role the 75-year-old living national treasure inherits from his father Kataoka Nizaemon XIII, who delivered iconic performances playing the part.
The bunraku performance features puppet master and national treasure Yoshida Minosuke, 86, as the youngest brother Sakuramaru, who commits harakiri ritual suicide for causing the aristocrat's exile.
In an extraordinary scene at the story's climax, Minosuke leaves the puppet on the stage. Lifeless and alone, the puppet's "soul" has departed: an evocative depiction of death that would be impossible for human actors to replicate.
Bunraku sometimes borrows from Kabuki. A bunraku performance of one of the masterpieces of the kabuki canon, "Kanjincho," will be staged in February. "Kanjincho" was originally adapted from the noh story "Ataka." This example of a play moving through three different mediums -- noh, then kabuki, then bunraku -- illustrates the harmonious coexistence linking Japan's traditional performing arts.
-- Morishige covers traditional performing arts.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
