Kabuki debut! It’s been years since I’ve been on a stage for any sort of performance and this one was special – a Kabuki skit in Japanese, and I was in drag.
Since I was in makeup at 9:30 and in costume from 11 am for our 2 pm performance, I made sure to add to the atmosphere of the festival by striding around in character frightening children and adults alike. I was Nihon Daiyemon, leader of the thieves! Everyone said I was scary.
“Go-nin Otoko” is a scene from a longer Kabuki play. A gang of five thieves is confronted and though they hesitate to give their names, they manage to tell all about themselves before being arrested. It’s an entertaining way to introduce members of Oyama Senmaida during the annual harvest festival.
I was excited to be asked to be in it this year. And a bit nervous, too. Not only was I going to be in front of a live audience, but I am the first woman to play a male part in the decade they’ve been doing this, and I’m not Japanese. Pressure on!
So I watched countless videos of Kabuki performances trying to catch even a little bit of the vocal and physical stylings. Kabuki is slow with grand gestures and delicate facial expressions in held poses called mie. Its vocal range moves from growling to shrieking. It’s impossible to learn in a few weeks but I did what I could.
I wrote my part with help from Claude AI (surprisingly helpful) and the Tanda Club staff then spent weeks memorising it, struggling over tongue twisters like hitoshiku itsukushimu.
In translation, my script was:
It’s presumptuous to ask my name, but I was born in America. I came across the ocean for work. My housecats are genius thieves, but I have never stolen anything yet. From Tokyo to Kamogawa, I love all people and beasts. I am rumoured to have a creative heart and a sense of style. I use my designer’s skill for Oyama Senmaida. I don’t do farm work, but I am in demand as a workshop teacher. I also have a yoga class. Have you seen my yoga class in the Bonichi Newspaper? I built a house near the tanada and I am making friends with the frogs and cows. I am leader of the bandits, Nihon Daiyemon, also known as Kristen, that’s me!
As I practiced my lines, I built a structure in my mind connecting one phrase to the next. “From that tongue twister which talks about being loving, I go into the next section where I mention my creative heart.” My inner narrator – the voice that is always guiding and critiquing me – was delighted to have those little mental transitions.
But on stage, my brain hiccuped in the memory palace. I skipped right past four lines, including the tongue twister; was that subconsciously intentional? It took me a minute to realise I had done it. My inner narrator nagged me: “Um, weren’t you supposed to say something about loving people and animals? And the design work you do?” Oops. I was already on to “not being a farmer.”
Fortunately, my omission was not obvious to the audience and the whole thing still made sense. What audience ever complains about a shorter show? 🙂
At the end of our introductions, we thieves encounter the police – played by a team of university students. Their leader battled me and I killed him with a thrust of my umbrella. That’s not how the scene traditionally ends, but we all thought it was funny in our group rehearsal the night before the show so we kept it.
And then the five thieves filed off stage, parasols held high in triumph. I changed out of my costume as quickly as possible and went home, removed my makeup, decompressed, and passed out. What a long day.
Thank you to Junko Nagamura who directed our rehearsal and did our makeup and costumes, and to Nobuko Ushimura who listened to my lines and encouraged me greatly. Applause to all the other performers who joined the festival stage with music, dance and martial arts. And a shout-out to all my friends who captured pictures and video because obviously Nihon Daiyemon doesn’t carry a camera: Mamiko, Hitomi, Kengo, Ushi, Mariko, and Tod.
