[Theatre] Kanjincho（勧進帳）

4 November 2016

“Kanjincho（勧進帳）”---from Kyoto Experiment 2016 Autumn, Part 2

Country: Japan

Company: Kinoshita-Kabuki（木ノ下歌舞伎）

Supervision & Revisions: KINOSHITA Yuichi（木ノ下裕一）

Direction & Stage Design: SUGIHARA Kunio（杉原邦生）

Cast: Lee The 5^th（リー五世）, SAKAGUCHI Ryotaro（坂口涼太郎）, TAKAYAMA Noemi（高山のえみ）

Location I watched: Kyoto Art Theater Shunjuza (Kyoto University of Art and Design)（京都芸術劇場春秋座（京都造形芸術大学）

Kinoshita-Kabuki, which recreates old Kabuki works with a contemporary perspective, celebrated its 10^th anniversary this year. Its founder, KINOSHITA Yuichi has been revising Kabuki classics and working with contemporary theatre directors. You might say that it is like restaging Shakespeare works to a contemporary adaptation. Nowadays it is quite common for Shakespeare, but I think that trying it on Kabuki classics continuously and aggressively is quite rare. For this festival, Kinoshita Kabuki showcased a reworking of “Kanjincho”, one of their main works. Their “Kanjincho” can be understood easily. The contemporizing of the original work is quite exciting. Here, the characters even sing and dance an original rap song!

The entrance of the theater decorated with the flags of Kinoshita-Kabuki

The summary of “Kanjincho”:

“Kanjincho” is set in the late 12^th century on the eve of Kamakura Shogunate era. Minamoto no Yoshitsune from the Minamoto clan had great achievements during the war between the Minamoto and Taira clans. However, his older brother, Minamoto no Yoritomo---going to be the first shogun of Kamakura Shogunate---became distrustful of Yoshitsune’s loyalty. Yoritomo finally declared Yoshitsune as a rebel and ordered to hunt him down. “Kanjincho” tells about Yoshitsune and his retainers including Benkei, Yoshitsune’s right-hand man at the Ataka checkpoint in Kaga (currently Ishikawa prefecture). They try to flee to the North, disguising themselves as Yamabushi (a mountain priest). However, Togashi, the keeper of the Ataka checkpoint and his guards have been already waiting to stop a group of “Yamabushi”. Can Yoshitsune and his retainers pass through the checkpoint safely? “Kanjincho”, the title of the play, is a letter soliciting donations to a shrine subscription. Yoshitsune and his retainers disguised as a group of Yamabushi pretend to solicit funds for the rebuilding of the Todaiji temple in Nara. Togashi questions Benkei about the subscriptions, and Benkei reads the details of contributions from a blank scroll. This scene is one of the highlights of the play.

(details partly taken from a website “The Virtual Museum of Traditional Japanese Arts”).

“Kanjincho” is a famous classic. (KUROSAWA Akira’s “The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail” is also based on it.) However, this “Kanjincho” is completely different from the usual Kabuki classics performance. The stage is long, narrow and surrounded by the audience from the both sides like a runway. There are minimum props. Yoshitsune and his retainers are dressed in black like a “contemporary Ninja” or secret agent while Togashi, the checkpoint keeper wears a black long coat and pants. The time is not set in the middle ages, rather it looks like the present. The dialogue is mainly in the style of contemporary spoken Japanese.

"Kanjincho" by Kinoshita-Kabuki

Approaching contemporary theatre is not only about set design, props, costume or language. In the opening scene, Togashi and his guards are waiting at the checkpoint for a group of “Yamabushi”. There are many human heads (the heads do not look real, they are like black rocks) on the stage. Togashi has received information that Yoshitsune and his followers have disguised themselves as Yamabushi. As a result, all Yamabushi who try to pass their border checkpoint have been killed. Rebels are disguised as Yamabushi, thus all Yamabushi are deemed suspicious and killed just in case. Even nowadays, we can see this warped logic being used.

Interestingly, the actors playing Togashi’s guards also play Yoshitsune’s retainers. Except for the actors playing the lead roles of Yoshitsune, Benkei and Togashi, the other actors hold the roles of the two opposite sides, a supporter and an enemy. This fact is not hidden from the audience. When a scene switches from Togashi side to Yoshitsune side, the actors immediately change from a guard to a retainer and vice versa. We all are the same humans, but when the position and situation changes, the personality changes.

Benkei, Yoshitsune’s right-hand man, is played by Lee the 5^th, an American comedian. He is not a great actor, but being a big guy, he fits the legendary Herculean Benkei. Yoshitsune, the male role, is played by a male-to-female transsexual actor, TAKAYAMA Noemi. She is a lady and at the same time, like a beautiful young man. Her mysterious attraction makes Yoshitsune outstanding as a noble person. In this production, all characters speak casual contemporary Japanese, except for Yoshitsune, whose style of speaking is different from the others.

After clearing Togashi’s doubt by the wits of Benkei, Yoshitsune and his retainers are about to successfully pass the checkpoint. However, one of Togashi’s guards recognizes Yoshitsune, who has disguised himself as a Goriki, a servant porter for the Yamabushi. Then, to prove that Yoshitsune is just a servant and not his master, Benkei beats him up. Togashi actually notices the truth. But he is so impressed by Benkei’s desperate actions to save his master, Yoshitsune that he allows them to pass through. Once they have cleared through the checkpoint, Benkei deeply apologizes to Yoshitsune for beating him earlier and breaking the relationship of master to retainer. However, Yoshitsune does not get angry with Benkei. Instead he thanked Benkei for saving them with his quick judgment. At that moment their relationship is just about to cross the border between master and retainer to become friendship between two persons. Yoshitsune holds out his hand to Benkei. In the original Kabuki presentation, this scene is performed with a Nagauta (song played by shamisen (three-stringed Japanese guitar), flute and drums etc.). Instead in this production, the scene has a rap song with the other retainers singing lyrics like “I want to hold your hand.” This scene is stylishly beautiful and at the same time, quite touching. Yoshitsune and Benkei are very close now, but they would not be able to become friends beyond the relationship of master to retainer.

In the meantime, Togashi catches up with Yoshitsune’s company. He offers them Sake (Japanese rice wine) to make up for their rough attitude at the checkpoint. Togashi does not reveal Yoshitsune’s true identity. He is still treating them as a group of Yamabushi. Everyone is enjoying themselves. This moment looks like it is crossing the border between supporter (rebel) and enemy (authority), but the moment passes. After Yoshitsune’s company left, Togashi receives news that Yoshitsune’s company is still continuing running away to the north. The play ends with Togashi looking tired and lonely.

“Kanjincho” is a story about managing to cross the border at the checkpoint and it has been successfully done. However, the border between two persons or two sides has not been crossed after all. Kinoshita-Kabuki’s production expressed not only the physical border, but also the inner border in a system or society. That is what makes their “Kanjincho” contemporary. Borders that has been already formed and divided seem impossible to overcome. But even then, there is still some tiny hope, it is possible. (14 January 2017)

The venue, Kyoto University of Art and Design