午夜剧场

I watched the end of the Showa era from across the Imperial Palace moat as a reporter in charge of the Imperial Household Agency for a television station. Perhaps because of that, I have deep feelings regarding the era name "Heisei." About five years ago, Koichi Naganuma, the editor-in-chief of Iwanami Shinsho, asked me to write on the theme of Kabuki, but it was only when the schedule for the Emperor's abdication was concretely put on the table that the concept for this book finally took shape.

The first time I experienced Kabuki was in September 1971, when I was in the sixth grade of elementary school. In the nearly half-century since then, my theater-going history during the Heisei era already accounts for about 60% of that time. Showa Kabuki has been thoroughly discussed, centered on the two great actors Onoe Kikugoro VI and Nakamura Kichiemon I. However, now that Heisei has lasted 30 years—twice the length of the Taisho era—a vertical thread called "Heisei Kabuki History" naturally exists and should be written. I decided to try spinning that history using the "Geidan" (talks on performance) of the Kabuki actors who lived through this era as the horizontal threads.

The number of "Geidan" published in these 30 years is enormous, even just looking at my own bookshelves. For this project, I limited myself to extracting from books, but if I were to include newspapers, magazines, and even social media posts, the task would be mind-boggling. While reading them, I noticed a transition in the nature of "Geidan." At least until the end of Showa, for actors born in the Taisho era such as Shoroku II, Baiko VII, and Utaemon VI, their talks were about touching upon the "kata" (form) of a role—such as Hayano Kanpei in the sixth act of Chushingura—reaching the "shone" (the character's nature), and describing the efforts to embody that on stage, sometimes eloquently and sometimes haltingly but always specifically.

However, since then, they have become closer to a kind of "mindset" or "life lesson" rather than "Geidan." One reason is that in today's world of video and visual media, performers do not require "Geidan" as a guideline. Furthermore, the audience's interest in the "Gei" (art/craft) itself has thinned, and they are no longer seeking detailed analysis centered on "kata."

Of course, this cannot be a good thing. Next year, we will see the "era change of Kabuki" with the succession of Danjuro XIII. It would be my pleasure as an author if the words of Kanzaburo XVIII and Mitsugoro X, who passed away to great regret, and Kichiemon, who graces the end of this book, could serve as a torch to illuminate the relentless struggle for the art.

Osamu Inumaru

Iwanami Shinsho

208 pages, 760 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations and titles are those at the time of publication.