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C’est magnifique! Extases japonaises
Kabuki in Paris. Figaroscope. Extases japonaises.
C’est comme si on entrait dans une estampe japonaise. Les paysages sortent des crayons d’Hokusaï, les personnages, perruqués et maquillés de blanc, de l’atelier d’Utamaro.
Kabuki actor Ichikawa Ebizo is at the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris. This is only the fifth time that kabuki has come to Europe; they have visited in 1928, 1965, 2004, 2006 and now 2007. The Ichikawa Family visited London and Amsterdam in 2006. Hopefully it’s becoming a habit! This time however all the days have been sold out up to two weeks in advance.
Tandis qu’ils dansent des histoires d’amour et de trahison inspirées du Japon ancien. Au fond, le mont Fuji veille. Le raffinement atteint son comble. Ainsi en est-il lorsque la famille Ichikawa se produit sur scène. Par extraordinaire, elle se produit au Palais Garnier avec un programme en trois parties: « Kanjincho » montre une bataille entre deux frères, « Kojo » une adresse au public, et « Momijigari » la rêverie d’un homme à qui apparaîtra une princesse. Danjuro Ichikawa XII, 61 ans, et son fils Ebizo Ichikawa XI, 30 ans, incarnent tous les rôles avec un art savant de la danse, du jeu, du mime et surtout de la transformation.
Kabuki 歌舞伎 23rd March – A review
PARIS -- Famous kabuki actors Ichikawa Danjuro, Ichikawa Ebizo and other performers were given a warm reception at the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris on Friday as they launched a five-day show of kabuki in the French capital. The troupe performed the play "Kanjincho," and the audience applauded as they watched the bold gestures and stage exit of the character Benkei, while shouts of "Naritaya!" the name of the guild of actors to which Ichikawa Danjuro and Ichikawa Ebizo belong, rang out in the hall decorated with paintings by French artist Marc Chagall.
Performances include (this time listed in English) Kanjincho, 'The list of the givers'. Kojo, 'Ritual ceremony for the arrival of spring'. Momijigari, 'In the contemplation of maples'.
Kabuki 歌舞伎 The kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing (歌), dance (舞), and skill (伎).
(Click on the links for pictures) 日本の手紙
posted by Message from Japan on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 0 comments
The Book of the Dead by 川本 喜八郎
At the age of eighty, Kihachiro Kawamoto 川本 喜八郎 is considered a living treasure in Japan, with over thirty years spent creating some of the world’s most atmospheric stop motion animated works. Kawamoto first became interested in animation after seeing the works of maestro animator Jiri Trnka. He started making commercial animations for TV in 1958, but it was not until 1963 that his puppets began to take on a life of their own.
Making all the figures that appear in his works himself, Kawamoto draws heavily on his country’s rich cultural heritage. His haunting films The Demon, Dojoji Temple and House of Flame are influenced by the traditional aesthetics of Noh, Bunraku doll theatre and Kabuki.
See it at the Raindance Film Festival. (27 Sept to 8 Oct 2006, yes I missed it!)
The Book of the Dead - Story The Nara period (奈良時代, Nara-jidai) in Japan, set around 750 AD: Buddhism has recently been imported from China and is all the rage amongst the nobility. Iratsume, a young woman from a noble house, becomes obsessed with the religion and spends much of her time hand-copying the sutras. One evening, after copying a thousand pages of sutras, she sees a radiant figure floating above a distant mountain. She leaves her residence as if possessed, and walks until she reaches the mountain arriving at a temple that women are forbidden to enter. In the temple she encounters the figure she had glimpsed. It is not the Buddha after all, but the spirit of Prince Otsu, who was executed many years before in a court intrigue. Prince Otsu's ghost was drawn out by her fervent devotions and has mistaken Iratsume for one of her ancestors, Mimimo no Toji. His ghost cannot rest while her face haunts him.
Kawamoto Kihachiro "Shisha no Sho" Web Site (Japanese)
There’s also The Egyptian Book of the Dead from 1240 BC. Totally unrelated!
posted by Message from Japan on Saturday, March 17, 2007 0 comments
World Folk Doll Museum
About 1,000 traditional dolls, some from the Meiji Era (1868-1912), are placed on a 30-tier stand at the World Folk Doll Museum in Suzaka, Nagano Prefecture. The dolls have been set up for the annual March 3 Girls' Festival and will be on public display through April 10. See also the Yokohama Doll Museum.
Girls' Day Dolls - Hina-Ningyo ひな人形
Ningyo are the sets of dolls collected by Japanese children and kept for display on Boys' Day (May 5) or Girls' Day (March 3). The boys' day displays include gods, warriors, armour, a white horse and other valiant animals, while the girls' day ningyo include a hieratic male and female "emperor and empress" (the dairi-bina) attended by wise warriors, musicians, ladies serving sake, etc.
Parents or grand parents of a newborn girl will buy a set of gorgeous hina dolls, unless they have special dolls which have been inherited from generation to generation.
Hina-matsuri is also called momo-no-sekku 桃の節句, which means a festival of peach blossoms. 日本の手紙
posted by Message from Japan on Saturday, March 10, 2007 1 comments
神田來未子 (Koda Kumiko)
Can sounds be introduced to the web site? Try this …..
Kumi Koda is a Japanese female pop singer who debuted in Japan in 2000 with her first single, TAKE BACK. She achieved success with her seventh single, real Emotion/1000 no Kotoba, which was a hit because of its connection to the Playstation 2 game, Final Fantasy X-2. Her popularity skyrocketed in 2005 after the release of Butterfly and after being named one of the best selling artists of 2005 due to the success of BEST ~first things~.
Listen on YouTube to Butterfly Song. , and the Final Fantasy X-2 song.
Birth name .......... 神田來未子 (Koda Kumiko)
Born .................... November 13, 1982 (age 24)
Origin .................. Kyoto, Japan
Genre(s) .............. J-Urban, J-Pop
Years active ........ 2000–present
Label(s) ............... Rhythm Zone, SM Entertainment (Korea)
There are few pop idols in Japan, let alone the world, who have achieved the kind of super star status that Koda Kumi (倖田來未) has achieved. In what seems a rather humble beginning, Koda Kumi’s name is more popular today then that of the Prime Minister for people between the ages of 13 to 26. She has yet to successfully break into the biggest music market in the world, The United States.
BUTTERFLY lyrics
日本の手紙
posted by Message from Japan on Friday, March 02, 2007 0 comments