2015年10月21日 水
Ichikawa Ebizō XI
Kabuki course for middle school students
On October 21 (Wed.), a kabuki course for middle school students in Narita City was held at the Narita City Cultural Arts Center with Ichikawa Ebizō XI as the teacher. I report on the events of that day.
First Mr. Ebizō arrived and a question and answer session was started.
Next, his pupils Shinji and Shinpachi appeared, and they firstly performed a fight scene without tsukeuchi(*1). The 2nd time, they performed it with tsukeuchi, and Mr. Ebizō gave an easy to understand explanation.
Mr. Ebizō and the middle school students all practice striking poses of mie together.
Next, Shinji began a kumadori(*2) performance. While explaining the kumadori, the question and answer session resumed, and he completed a marvelous sujikuma(*3) kumadori.
After that, a rock, paper, scissors contest began to select one girl and one boy for the kumadori experience. The boy did "ipponguma"(*4) kumadori, while the girl did "mukimiguma"(*5).
Finally, everyone took a photo together, ending the Kabuki course.
Impression report by participants
I am very grateful to have had this valuable experience. While at first I had essentially no interest in Kabuki, being able to meet the famous Ichikawa Ebizō made me want to participate. And then I was accepted to participate and the time came when I finally got to meet Ichikawa Ebizō. The first thing I thought when I saw Mr. Ebizō was that he was bigger than I had imagined (laughs). And when the talks began and the presenter started introducing Mr. Ebizō, I heard Mr. Ebizō told the presenter "That's enough formalities--let's get on with it", and it made me think that he was a person who had a strong sense of "self", which made me once again appreciate his greatness as a person.
The thing that stuck with me the most about this Kabuki course was being able to have actual Kabuki makeup applied to me. I really feel this kind of thing was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I will never forget it. I was very glad. And the opportunity to attend this kabuki course got me interested in kabuki, so now I feel that if I have another chance I would like to participate again, and I would also like to go see actual kabuki. Thank you very much.
Ryo Inagaki
Impression report by participants
The reason I applied for this course was that I thought I would probably never get another chance to meet a leading kabuki star like Ichikawa Ebizō in my life.
As I had never seen kabuki before, it was very interesting to see several kabuki fight scenes. The scene in the darkness especially had unique movements.
Also, I won the rock, paper, scissors contest to participate in the kumadori experience. I never thought I'd get to wear the makeup, and I was really glad. The white face powder had a nice aroma.
My younger sister also joined, and she asked a question. Her question was, "what kind of work do I have to do to become skilled at gymnastics?" Mr. Ebizō's answer was "just keep doing it intently". Hearing his answer, I really though Mr. Ebizō was amazing. Mr. Ebizō told us about a time when he was a child and he hated kabuki, but then he tried to find the fun things about it.
He also told us about our dreams, that if we determined that we "will do it" instead of just "want to do it", our actions will change accordingly. I play the trumpet, and I decided when I can't play something very well, I will remember the fun things about it and just keep playing intently instead of thinking things like "what will I do if I can't do it?." Listening to him talk, I thought that Mr. Ebizō has a really steady mind.
At today's course I was able to learn not only about kabuki but also things about my life going forward. I thought that people who are noticed by lots of other people have more experiences than us and so they know lots of things, and I was glad to be able to participate in the course.
Mao Kimura
*1 Tsukeuchi
This refers to the performance to strike 2 wooden clappers on the plank for making a clattering noise on the edge of the kamite of the stage. This noise is used to emphasize the moment of striking poses of mie, or to accentuate the sounds of footsteps when starting to run or things falling.
*2 Kumadori
This refers tokabuki's characteristic makeup method. Mainly used on characters who appear in the period stories. Originally it is said to have been painted on to exaggerate veins or muscles on the face. Different kumadori colors are used for different roles.
*3 Sujikuma
"Kamakura Gongoro Kagemasa", the main character of [18 Kabuki Plays] "Shibaraku", uses this kumadori. Sujikuma is a standard kumadori for aragoto or fighting scenes. It is also used by Soga Goro in the 18 Kabuki Plays "Oshimodoshi" and "Yanone."
*4 Ipponguma
This kumadori is used in aragoto or fight scene roles. As shown in the illustration, a deep red muscle is drawn from both sides of the forehead to the corners of the eyes and on to the cheeks. This is why it is called ipponguma, or one-line-guma. Ipponguma is used for more mischievous roles compared to sujiguma.
*5 Mukimiguma
This kumadori is often used for youthful roles with a sense of justice. For example, it is used for Sukeroku, the leading character in "Sukeroku", and Sogano Goro in "Kotobuki Sogano Taimen."