All kabuki performances have stopped due to the novel coronavirus. This also includes the May through July performances to celebrate the name succession of Ichikawa Danjuro XIII that have been postponed. When performances will resume was among the questions I had for Tadashi Abiko, vice president and chief director of drama of kabuki producer Shochiku Co.
Shochiku was founded in 1895. At present, its two main businesses are theater and film, but it started as a promoter of kabuki. This is why Abiko said, "Kabuki is Shochiku's main business."
A single private company is responsible for a traditional performing art that has continued for 400 years. This is a rare case in the world.
"We didn't mean to monopolize kabuki," Abiko said. "At the height of kabuki's popularity, organizations other than Shochiku also produced it, but now we are the only ones handling the productions, including the actors. That means operating kabuki is risky. The responsibility for the people supporting the future of kabuki -- not only the about 300 kabuki actors, but also the musicians and backstage staff -- is now on Shochiku, psychologically and economically."
He continued: "Unlike the culture of patronage that supports western opera and classical music through donations, kabuki has been supported by ordinary people who pay fees to watch the performances. I think taking away the private sector's involvement would mean the death of kabuki."
According to Abiko, it has been only about 30 years since kabuki performances began to be held throughout the year. The continuing trend of being in the red changed in 1985, when performances were held to celebrate the name succession of Ichikawa Danjuro XII, who was the main attraction. This year, Ichikawa Ebizo was scheduled to succeed his late father as the 13th generation to take the esteemed kabuki name.
Just that fact alone made it a tough decision for Shochiku to postpone Ebizo's succession to Danjuro XIII.
"It's truly unfortunate," Abiko said. "I thought that if May was impossible, there was an option to hold it over the two months of June and July, but we decided to hold such important performances in a perfect situation. We can't announce the timing yet, but we have to make sure that the announcement of the performances to celebrate the name succession will be a spark to bring some vigor back to society."
The Japanese government has announced the lifting of the state of emergency and the theater world is gradually moving toward the resumption of performances.
However, the Kabukiza Theatre, the 1,800-seat kabuki shrine above Higashi-Ginza Station in Tokyo, has to limit the audiences in accordance with the central and Tokyo governments' policies to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
"Among theaters, the ventilation in the Kabukiza Theatre is good, but it gets crowded," Abiko said. "I'm constantly thinking about what kind of form our performances can take."
"One of the ideas is to hold four performances a day," he said. The current norm is to hold two performances in a day, a matinee and an evening show, each of which takes about four hours.
"For example, the number of seats available is reduced to 500 to 600 per performance and the performance is divided into four parts to shorten the time spectators spend in the theater," he said. "Don't have any intermissions, shorten the performance time to an hour and a half and have spectators leave as soon as the curtain is drawn."
Lastly, Abiko emphasized: "It's probably the first time since World War II that kabuki has been shut down for this long. The most important thing is how to hand kabuki down to the next generation. We work for people who devote their lives to kabuki. That's our greatest pride."
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