Sunrise Nippon 4: Kabuki Rock

 

This one is dedicated to Lena. Thanks for being so pushy and making me finish it

The report on Shibuya will come soon, I promise! <3

For now, let’s look back at our trip to see a kabuki performance and then what happened afterwards.

To re-set the scene, the previous day we had arrived in Japan. Now, it was the afternoon of the first day and we had already been to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Diet of Japan. Due to Olga’s disappearing act we were running a bit late and were hoping to make it through Tokyo traffic so that we could arrive at the theatre as close to 4pm as possible.

Do you know what kabuki is? Without going into too much detail, it’s a traditional form of Japanese theatre. In its current form it often belongs to specific theatres, such as the Kabuki-za in Tokyo. Its actors are exclusively male and belong to “houses” or families. When an actor reaches maturity he takes his familiy name so you end up with names like Bando Tamasaburo V (my favourite <3 ). Tamasaburo is a living legend, some call him the greatest onnagata (actor who specialises in female roles) ever. I had fallen in love with him before I found out that he was born in…1950. Eeeek.

The style of kabuki has lots of interesting elements. Some of it is a bit like a western musical, as the action moves through sound and some of the lines are sung. There is a narator accompanied by a musician who sets the scene and moves the action forward. The stage, the costumes and the make up are all elaborate. If you imagine what a stereo-typical Japanese traditional performance might look like, you’re probably not far off kabuki.

Dancing plays a huge part in kabuki. This video is the last part of Tamasaburo doing his trademark performance, “Saigi Musume” (Heron Maiden). It gives you a good idea of what you can expect from a kabuki performance. Towards the end you can hear a little bit of dialogue and the voice of someone cheering for Tamasaburo from the audience (this is what you’re supposed to do). There’s a narrator to explain what’s going on:

Isn’t it amazing? I’ve been obsessed with kabuki for a while now, ever since the singer Miyavi started doing his Kabuki Rock style. It wasn’t the most conventional way of getting into the artform but it worked! I watched so much on Youtube, I wrote my own play and composed my own dances (heh heh…kind of…). It was all a bit of fun really, I never expected to have the chance yet to see it in real life! This was the first “dream come true” of the trip…I was so excited.

So you can understand that I got a bit stressed when I heard that we were going to be late! Kabuki goes on for ages, but I couldn’t afford to miss a second of it! I still managed to take some photos on the way though:

  <- I don’t know what it is, but I like it!

<- You travel half-way around the world and what do you see on the first day…?

 <- This was supposed to be one of those “wow, look how big and amazing Tokyo is!!!” pictures, but it didn’t really work.

<- An ad for “Scandal” a Japanese drama that would begin soon

On the way our guide, Keiko-san, told us that a) traffic was unusually light so we would get there on time (hooray!) and b) we would have the honour of seeing one of the most famous kabuki actors that day. She couldn’t remember his name though! I was thinking “Please Tamasaburo, please Tamasaburo!” She mentioned that he specialised in female roles. I screamed in my head: PLEASE TAMASABURO, PLEASE TAMASABURO!!!!! She checked her notes and said….”Ah… his name is…Tamasaburo!” I screamed and started freaking out! I had seen an idol on the first night and now I would see Tamasaburo! How could things get better???? Anyway, we were almost there…

<- My first sight of the famous Kabuki-za theatre!

<- So close!

<- Right outside. We had about five minutes to get in, get our seats and get settled before it began…but everyone was so slow getting off the bus!

<- So I took some photos of the ads while I waited. In reverse order (right to left) these were the three performances that we would see.

<- Nice art work, don’t you think?

Finally everyone else was off the bus and we (slowly) walked over to the entrance. I was hovering behind Keiko-san, trying to nudge her forward. She went inside and I was half a second behind her. Fortunately she had rang ahead so the staff were ready with our tickets and pamphlets. I grabbed everything and ran. Of course, I had no idea where I was going. The Kabuki-za is a confusing place and I had to dodge past lots of slow-moving kimonos. Then met a couple of others from the group and we got a member of staff to show us to our seats (which would have been the clever thing to do to begin with).

We were in time! The curtain hadn’t risen yet! We got into our seats which were, unfortunately, Japanese-sized. Ouch. Luckily, one seat on the left of each large section didn’t have another seat in front of it. Thanks to my pushiness about getting in ASAP I had gotten the first ticket assigned to our group. Yatta! I got the leg-room! I felt a bit bad for the others, especially Tom who is very tall. But I justified it by telling myself that no-one else was going to appreciate kabuki like I would, so I deserved it….maybe it was true… (-_-)’

We were given earphones that had an excellent audio commentary that followed the performance. I missed the start of the commentary because I had run off without seeing them in the foyer. But I didn’t mind…I didn’t need any words to enjoy it though. A note on the language of kabuki, everyone had warned us (the two of us who could speak a little Japanese) that it was a very old form of the language that we wouldn’t understand. Throughout the evening however, I managed to pick up quite a bit. I suppose things like nouns and the base forms of verbs don’t change that much. Watching the taiga drama “Fuurin Kazan” might have adjusted my ears to it either, I don’t know.

Anyway, the schedule was play – interval – short dance – interval – play. Or maybe there was only one interval, I can’t remember. The first play had me in tears twice. Two brothers were at war and the young son of one was captured by the other. The three women involved are the brothers’ mother and each of their wives. The young boy is in a position where he should commit suicide…but I won’t spoil the story. Anyway, it was better than I had dreamed and the child-actor was stunningly good.

<- Then the first interval and lunch/dinner!

 <-How good does this look?!?!

 <- Myself, Christina and Barbara sitting on a flower pot in the corridor. There weren’t many seats. Some of the “proper” kabuki patrons looked disgusted with us, some didn’t mind.

 <- Some of the stuff for sale. Mochi-licous!

 <- This is only a small selection of what you could buy. There was a huge market downstairs. I thought I’d wait until after the show, but it had closed by then. That’s my only regret of the night…of Japan???

 <- Nice, but I don’t know what it is

 <- I waaaaant!

The short comic dance was next. This is the traditional filler between the two plays. It has two roles, filled by a father and young son team. This particular one was a servant (father) trying to catch a mouse (boy). It mocked traditional courting motifs and ended with some hilarious role-reversal. Even the other people in the group were laughing, not just me!

The third performance was another play. This was a comedy and was great, but I prefered the historical drama of the first. Besides, this comedy didn’t have Tamasaburo as hot girl. I loooove cross dressing. Anyway, the story was part of a series about the wily employee of a lord, and his adventures. In this one, he had to rescue a girl who had been taken by another lord who wanted to…well…you know. There was much mirth in the mind games and hijinks that ensued.

I think most of our group was a bit bored by the end, it really does go on for aaaages. But I was happy

Afterwards, the schedule for the day was finally finished. Looking back, I wonder did everyone enjoy it… It was all politics followed by kabuki. Not everyone’s cup of tea…

<- I was trying to take some nice pics of the theatre at night as we left

<- Bit of a disaster though

<- We all piled back on to the bus and prepared to go back to the hotel

 <- I was trying to squeeze in as much as possible before we left…

As the bus started moving, Keiko-san and Yajima-san started having this dramatic looking secret conference in the front. I strained to hear what they were saying…but couldn’t make it out. Then came their announcement: there had been some requests that we be allowed to make our own way back to hotel.

Through Toyo.

At night.

Unsupervised.

YES!!!!!

Unbelievably, some people stayed on the bus and went straight home. WTF?!?! Seriously. I mean, we were all tired, but how can you pass up an opportunity like that? I didn’t expect everyone to be as into Japanese stuff as me, but that was just crazy.

So the rest of us set off through Tokyo, making our way from Ginza back to the Tokyo Tower. In theory we were looking for a bar or something but generally we just wandered back. We spent hours walking because we didn’t really want to go home and people broke off into smaller groups all the time. I got to practice some Japanese by asking for directions now and then. Go me!

 <- This was just by the Kabuki-za, in Ginza

 < – Fusion!

<- Let’s Tokyo!

<- Halloween chocolate! Taken to prove to Lee that there is indeed chocolate in Japan

<- Eeeew

<-KinKi Kids!!!! Giant Johnnies on a big screen in the middle of the city!!!!! I started jumping with joy…how could things get any better?

<- I looked away for a moment to recover my senses after seeing KinKi Kids. When I looked back at the screen…

<- ARASHI!!!! GIANT SEXY LOVELY ARASHI!!!! I was screaming and jumping and singing and dancing…well you can imagine how I reacted. I think this was when I decided to move to Japan. Any country that has larger than life Arashi like this is just perfect… and of course there’s Aiba-kun in the middle, waving at me

<- Next was TOKIO, who I have never seen the point of…

<- Then we met a real life idol! Not really, but he was a really friendly guy and didn’t mind chatting to us and letting take photos. We  probably should have given him money… Look, he had a bag from Claire’s. I used to work there!

<- One of these cr-aaaazy pachinko places I had heard about. Quite overwhelming…

<- Hordes of men just sitting around gambling…so gay

<- We tried to go to this bar, but they were closing (or racist)

<- Kimonos were still a novelty at this stage

 

<- That was pretty funny, I liked it

<- So touristy but really, I liked it!

<- This was one of my favourite pics from the whole trip! I loved these signs, they make you so happy just by looking at them!

<- So many pretty lights!

<- I want this soooooo much

<- Ginza has lots of cool – and expensive – fashion shops. We never had any free time while they were open though

<- MOAR chocolate!

<- Some funky looking graffiti (probably!)

<- Cute or scary?

<- Genius, sheer genius! Why can’t useful things be cute too?

<- Useful and cute

Finally we got home, having lost several people along the way. I can think of worse things than being lost in Tokyo though… So I went back to my luxury room, had a nice hot bath and turned on the TV…

<-WAHHH!!! Nishikido Ryo!!! The Sexy Osaka Man boyband member who likes to bite girls, remember?!?! The Snapper Prince! This is the CM for his group NEWS’s promotion of bubble bath stuff. This night was really just an idol-overload

<- Then a music programme was on. This is Morning Musume’s “Pepper Keibu”….but who cares?

<- Actually, I did care at the time, but I’m not a fan

<- Next up was GLAY with “Aka to Kuro no Matadora”

<- It was cool to see them, I’m not a huuuge fan, but I like them

So I took photos of the TV into the early hours of the morning.

And day one was complete!

Next day: Fish Market! Matsujun! Nippon Keidr..Keid..Keidra…Business place! University Visit! Kyudo! Ikebana! Ikemen! Taiko drumming aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand KARAOKE!

And Roppongi