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A true immersion in the evocative and hieratic atmosphere of nō and kyōgen, ancient traditional Japanese theater forms that boast 650 years of history. Three plays make up this takigi nō performance, a spectacle illuminated by the vibrant light of flashlight fire. On stage are some of the most renowned nō theater actors in Japan.
SANBASŌ is part of the very ancient opera Okina, and, rather than a play, can be considered a sacred ritual. The actor in the kyogen genre who performs it jingles rattles, moving graceful dance steps and mimicking the gesture of sowing seeds. In a kind of ritual ceremony, he celebrates and invokes the prosperity of the harvest.
TAKASAGO tells the story of the deity of Sumiyoshi Temple where she appears and dances to celebrate world peace. The performance is part of the maibayashi genre in which only the climactic part of a given theatrical repertoire is staged.
YOROBOSHI is a nō drama about Takayasu's son Shuntokumaru, who became blind at a young age and was banished from the family home to due to false accusations. He wanders around Shitenoji Temple to Osaka, and because of his unsteady step, people call him "Yoroboshi" (the weak monk). After a few years, Takayasu, driven by guilt, travels throughout Japan in search of his son until to arriving at Shitenoji Temple. While, in an act of penance, he makes offerings to the poor, lo and behold, Yoroboshi appears among those. Takayasu is impressed from that blind, gentle monk, only to realize that it is his son Shuntokumaru. In order to avoid attracting people´s attention, Takayasu decides to reveal the truth to them as evening comes. He suggests to Yoroboshi to practice jissokan, a type of meditation that, when enacted in the light of dusk, induces the mind to enlightenment. Yoroboshi imagines the picturesque setting of Namba, where he used to live, when he begins to delirious, staggering and despairing over his blindness. As darkness falls, Takayasu reveals to his son that he is his father. Shuntokumaru is ashamed of his state and tries to to escape, but Takayasu catches up with him, takes him by the hand and leads him to home.
Program
Kyōgen
SANBASŌ, KAGURASHIKI
With **Norihide Yamamoto **Sanbasō
Maibayashi
**TAKASAGO **
With **Yusuke Kanai **The deity of Sumiyoshi, _shite _
Jiutai (choir)
Norimasa Takahashi, Katsunori Yabu, Kouki Sano, Takashi Kawase, Tetsuya Kidani
Nō
YOROBOSHI
with
**Kazufusa Hōshō **Shuntokumaru,_ shite _
**Hiroshi Obinata **Takayasu, the father of Shuntokumaru_, waki_
Norishige Yamamoto The servant of Takayasu_, ai-kyogen_
Jiutai (choir)
Takashi Takeda, Satoshi Nozuki, Norimasa Takahashi, Katsunori Yabu, Kouki Sano, Takashi Kawase
Kōken (assistants)
Yusuke Kanai, Tetsuya Kidani
musicians
Ryūichi Onodera_ Nōkan _(flute)
**Mitsuhiko Sumikoma **Kotsuzumi (small drum to hourglass)
**Rokunosuke Iijima **Ōtsuzumi (big drum to hourglass)
**Akio Mugiya Taiko **(drum)
Italian surtitles to by Bonaventura Ruperti
stage director** Kenichi Nomura (mihoproject)**
production directors Akiko Sugiyama, Mihoko Akutagawa
with the support of The Japan Foundation
In collaboration with** Change Performing Arts, City of Kanazawa**
tour organized from Public Interest Corporation Hōshō-Kai
Kazufusa HŌSHŌ is the XX head of the HŌSHŌ school of nō actors, a direct descendant of the original founder. While he attaches great importance to Japanese classical dance, as head of the Hōshō school, he achieves innovation in the world of traditional Noh, simultaneously con-centering his efforts in global management as well. Born in 1986, he in-began his training under the guidance of his father Fusateru and grandfather Fusao HŌSHŌŌ. He made his debut in 1991 playing the role of a child in the drama_ Seiōbo_. In 1995 he played the protagonist in _Iwafune and from then he played major classics of the nō repertoire such as Sagi, Shakkyō, Dōjōji, Okina, Midare, Takasago, Hagoromo, Natorino, Rōjo, and Dai. In 2008, after graduating from Tokyo University of the Arts, he assumed the position of head of the Hōshō School. In addition to to being the executive director of the Hōshō Association, he directs and oversees the nō group "Wa no Kai." In 2015, Master Hōshō participated in the Milan Expo, and the following year on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Italy and Japan, he presented Midare at the Milan Triennale and Japan Orpheus _in Kamakura - an interdisciplinary collaboration project based on Monteverdi's _Orpheus _. In 2017 Kazufusa HŌSHŌ took the stage at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza and to Rome in connection with the 75th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations between the Vatican and Japan. He was recently awarded the Best Newcomer Prize for the 40th Matsuo Entertainment Prize.
Born in 1959, he is the eldest son of HŌSHŌ school shite actor Akira KANAI. He trained under Fusao HŌSHŌŌ, 18th head of the HŌSHŌ school. In 1966 he debuted in the show under the cherry blossom trees Kurama-tengu, and in 1978 he played the first role of_ shite_ in Zenji Soga and then gradually tackled such challenging capital pieces as Midare, Dōjōji, Shakkyō Renjishi, Okina, Mo-chizuki, Sumidagawa, and Kagekiyo.
He is secretary-general of the Nōgaku kyōkai (Nō Association) and designated Custodian (collective designation) of the preservation of Nō as an important intangible asset of humanity.
He leads the groups "Shiunkai," "Shieikai," and "Katabami kai."