Tokyo — Passing down a name through generations is a central part of the Japanese traditional theater art of Kabuki, and the ceremony is celebrated every few years in theaters and special events.
Now, the ritual is taking place with the eighth Kikugoro, who inherited the honor from his 83-year-old father, and the seventh Kikugoro, who inherited the name from his father.
Kazuyasu Terajima, a young kikugoro, recently told reporters, “Taking the name is about taking on the spirit and responsibility that has been created by the people who came before us and passed down through the generations.”
“The job of the kabuki actor in the present is to carry forward and develop what we have inherited from our predecessors and to ensure that it is passed on to those who come after us.”
Another famous family name in Kabuki is danjuroNamed after the 13th Danjūrō in succession in 2022.
Kabuki, dating from the 1600s, still survives in modern Japan. Hit movie “Kokuho” This year’s Oscar nominees in makeup and hairstyling are a testament to Kabuki’s continued popularity, becoming the highest-grossing live-action film for the domestic market in the history of Japanese filmmaking.
Kabuki displays heartbreaking stories About a brave samurai who takes on a hidden identity to avenge an injustice, or a beautiful maiden who transforms into a serpent, it combines live music, dance and song with stylish acting – with all roles played by men, wearing colorful costumes and make-up.
kabuki actor Specializing in women’s roles is called “onagata”, while others such as Kikugoro play both male and female roles.
What often strikes Westerners about Kabuki is the complete abandonment of any attempt to depict reality as things may appear on the surface, or how people might naturally behave. Actors make dramatic poses called “me” in between their lines to drive home the idea of running away from the adventure or goal. Experts refer to that moment as conveying a picture, a moment that is often enhanced by the rhythmic clinking of two pieces of wood that resemble cymbals.
The actors’ lines are often presented in solo lyric poetry. Live music is an integral part of the play in setting the scene, with huge drums blaring thunder or, when played more softly, softly falling snow. The tinkling bells may depict floating butterflies.
The backdrop is a swirling spectacular set, as if cherry trees are showering pink paper petals. The pieces may contain acrobatic elements, such as an actor playing a fox, dancing happily, hanging from wires from the ceiling.
One of the fun aspects of kabuki is the costume and character transformations that take place on stage right in front of the audience, transforming a human character into a monster, for example, sometimes with the help of an anonymous black-dressed stagehand called a “kurogo”.
Yet the parallels with Shakespearean theater are obvious. A popular play, “The Love Suicides at Sonezaki”, is about young lovers who choose to die together as the Romeo and Juliet of Kabuki.
The similarities are coincidental. Chikamatsu Monzaemon, who wrote the piece for Japan’s Buraku puppet theatre, lived during Japan’s 18th-century isolationist Tokugawa period and is thought to have never read Shakespeare, who wrote a similar love story decades before Chikamatsu.
For the new Kikugoro, 48-year-old Terajima, it’s a role he was born into, like his predecessors. He has trained since childhood, but stressed that he has no regrets or hesitations about being a kikugoro since birth.
“I absolutely like and admire my predecessors,” he said at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Tokyo last month.
“First of all, I am filled with gratitude towards my predecessors who created great creations that continue to be loved by future generations. So I am grateful to be born in a family of such ancestors.”
Terajima was sitting next to his 12 year old son Kazufumi, who would now take the same name he had before, Kikunosuke. It is the name of a young actor from a family that, like the name Kikugoro, has been passed down for generations.
Kikunosuke said that he would like to be a Kabuki actor, although like a normal child, he also likes video games and the Japanese rock band Mrs. Green Apple.
It’s hard work, he said, that involves running every morning, paying attention to your diet and going to bed early.
“It’s not only physically tough. It’s also quite tough mentally, and I sometimes took it out on my parents,” he said with a smile, carrying himself in a professional posture far more controlled than his age.
The name-inheritance ritual, called “shumei”, which began last year for father and son at various demonstrations across Japan, continues this year.
James R. Brandon, an American who devoted his scholarship to Kabuki, describes it as centered on a type of code, “a theater in which the art of acting is central, and in which playwright and actor collaborate to achieve the unique style of performance found only in Kabuki.”
According to Brandon, in the Japanese tradition, there is always a right way to do something, known as “kata”, which becomes the model for future generations who choose to pursue the art.
Although some are concerned about the survival of Kabuki, the new Kikugoro said he believes in the “kata” of Kabuki and that nothing needs to change, as the basic spirit of the art remains as relevant as ever.
“Using the kata, what we really want to communicate most in the tradition of kabuki is human compassion, the feeling of caring for others,” he said.
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Yuri Kageyama is on the threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama
