The Indo-Japanese cultural ties go back a long way. Recently, the Japanese Embassy hosted a traditional dance performance of two dance genres — Kabuki and Kathakali. So similar yet so different, they met on a common platform in New Delhi. Like Kathakali in India, Kabuki, with gorgeous costumes, stunning makeup and powerful dramas, has been appreciated as the ultimate theatrical art form in Japan. Onnagata is a female role played by a male actor, which is one of the most remarkable features of Kabuki. It is not just an imitation of real women, but it is a special theatrical creation based on artistic convention that has developed over hundreds of years.
In an interview, conducted with the help of a translator, Kabuki’s top star Onoe Kikunosuke V, shared his interest in Indian classical dance and his eagerness to promote his own dance style in India as part of cultural exchange.
Excerpts:
How do you feel performing in India for the first time?
I feel extremely honoured to be in India. As I was rehearsing in the garden of the Embassy, it suddenly dawned on me that the cultural ties which were bound years ago have also grown with time, strong and friendly. I’m happy Indians are accepting and respecting Japanese culture. I know the Japanese technology has made its way into India and historically Buddhism had come to Japan from India and since then there was this unseen bond of amity.
Is this your first exposure to Kathakali? What are the similarities between the two dance forms
Not exactly. I have viewed it on screen earlier but yes, I’ve seen it live only now. It is a very powerful dance where the eyes, music and percussion play a major role and an impressive one at that. I think any art form is an offering to God. In Kabuki too, this aspect does figure; beyond this I didn’t find any commonality.
We are told you would be doing Mahabharat in Kabuki sometime in October...
I’m enthralled by the story of gods and humans. It took me 10 years to study the story and three years to adapt and mould it to Kabuki. It will be staged in October in Tokyo. I plan to visit temples in my next trip to India and learn from Hindu priests the mode of praying and doing the aarti because my role would be that of Karan and to live in this character I must imbibe certain Indianess. Believe me, I am enamoured by the Ganges...I am seeing it for the first time! (smiles)
Playing a female character may not be a healthy outcome for a young man...
True, and lot of young boys who have constantly played female roles almost live the life of a female. But for me, it has been a heritage from my grandfather to my father and to me. We always switch roles — male and female (“Tachiyaku”and “Onnagata”) — and hence live a normal life.
What are the challenges you face in imparting your traditional arts and culture to the youth?
The youth have moved away from traditional values. It’s very unfortunate but that is the truth. Earlier if not in cities, many of our folk and traditional art form flourished in smaller neighbourhoods; even that is dwindling now. It is my view that tradition has to be inculcated in school curriculum. Today schools encourage hip-hop learning instead of Japanese traditional song and dance.
What future do you envisage for Kabuki?
Any tradition has to evolve with time, incorporate the current aspects while retaining its originality. I ensure that even the first-timers enjoy and experience my performances by vesting them with relevance to the present times and audiences. For instance, I have adapted Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ to Kabuki and staged it in London in 2009. I look forward to taking Kabuki world over. In the West, we have made a headway. In India, Kabuki can be taught to dancers and at dance institutes through cultural exchange dance workshops in order to make a presence on Indian dance scenario.
Kabuki meets Kathakali
It was an evening of dance across two nations. Japan’s Kabuki, a solo performance took the audience on an aesthetic trip with its subtle languorous music by Hirokazu Fujii and Roshu Kawase, not to mention the gliding, graceful, emotive dance by Onoe Kikunosuke. Essaying the Onnagato with convincing looks in facial make-up, hair-do, kimono et al, the artiste looked every inch the elegant girl who is in love and is extremely devoted too, as she is the daughter (Kiyohime) of a monk (Achin). The foldable white screen that stretches across the width of the stage served to enhance the emotive element as well as convey the purity of the heroine’s love as she mimes to the Juita (folk) music and song. With romance in the air, the girl (Onoe) glides graciously on to the stage from within the audience (sidewalk of the auditorium) in measured footsteps dancing and gesticulating as she walks up to the stage. The impersonation apart, every move of the facial muscle or the demeanour is so convincing that it is impossible for a stranger to believe it is a male doing the role! This piece, “Kane Ga Misaki”, the folk version of the Kabuki masterpiece, “Kyo Kanoko Musume Dojoji” ( Legend of the monk) presented aesthetic subtlety at its best.
In contrast, we had a scene from Bhagavat Dhut’s “Duryodhana Vadham” (Mahabharat) in Kathakali style where Lord Krishna arrives as an envoy of peace in the court of Kaurava prince Duryodhan who is flanked by his brother Dushasana to plead on behalf of Pandavas for their share of the kingdom. The pleading goes into a countdown from proposing for half the kingdom to just five villages and finally at least one house — all proposals outrightly vetoed by Duryodhan. The incensed brothers try to tie down the emissary on which Krishna emerges in his cosmic form (virat roop) throwing them into a stupor. The three actors walk out of the stage with declaration of war by the Kaurava prince. The painted faces and the fact that only males essay roles in the dance drama are the only similarities with Kabuki. The impressive show was by the International Centre for Kathakali in Delhi.