Members
Adaptor/Director: Oono Takuji
Interviewer: Kiba Takeshi
Senka: Ban Akira, Isono Chihiro, Rika Masumi
Moon Troupe: Sena Jun, Koshino Ryuu, Kiriya Hiromu, Hanase Mizuka, Ryouga Haruhi, Kiryuu Sonoka, Aoki Izumi, Shirosaki Ai, Hazakura Shizuku


Kiba: From November 7th to December 11th, Moon Troupe's Grand Theater performance is The Floating Bridge of Dreams, adapted and directed by Oono Takuji. Ono-sensei directed Moon Troupe's The Glow of Sunset in Asuka in '04, but this is his first personal Grand Theater show. There is an account in the diary of Murasaki Shikibu (the author of The Tale of Genji) that The Tale of Genji was read in the imperial palace on November 1st, 1008. The Takarazuka Revue has done many kinds of stage adaptations of The Tale of Genji, but for this anniversary year they have taken up the ten Uji chapters about Hikaru Genji's descendents in the next generation. In '73, Sakai Sumio-sensei created a ballet entitled Ukifune and Kaoru no Kimi, but the production this time is very typical of Oono-sensei — tailored into a bittersweet, beautiful piece. Ban Akira-san, Isono Chihiro-san, and Rika Masumi-san from Senka are making special appearances.

Oono: When I read The Tale of Genji this time, I felt that the interesting points—the points that would unfold into a stage adaption—were surprisingly abundant.... To be honest, I found The Tale of Genji's position as an irresistible, must-be-read work of literature disagreeable, and I really didn't care for it. But I suppose it really is true that people's viewpoints change as they age (laugh). The tradition of adapting The Tale of Genji for the stage stretches on endlessly, from Zeami all the way to Houjou Hideji. Although nothing can compare to the readings of those kinds of masters, the story is still one that is read differently from age to age.... I think if you see this performance you will see the interpretation that can be done in the present.


A Tale of Genji Which Has Taken a Step Forward

Sena: At first it's very difficult to understand the names of the characters in The Tale of Genji, and their relationships to one another (laughs). The first time I took part in anything to do with The Tale of Genji was in '00, with Flower Troupe's The Tale of Genji Lived in a Dream, and I didn't know what was what. It was while I was researching myself that I had moments of realizing that "these characters have this between them, so I should do this". There was a subtleness to their relationships that made things difficult, but in this performance the emotions are straightforward human ones — the feelings between men and women, and the feelings related to achieving eminence are the same now as they were in the past. I want to convey that basic human quality.

The role I have been given for this performance, Niou no Miya, is popular to the point of pain... (laughs). Niou no Miya (the third prince, a son of Naka no Miya, Hikaru Genji's daughter) is involved with a lot of different people, but he's the kind of person whose true self is hard to discern, so I'm struggling now with how to portray the real Niou no Miya. This will be Oono-sensei's debut show, so we also want to make it a good show along with him, with fresh hearts.

Oono: Niou no Miya does a fair number of horrible things, but I want to paint him as a mysterious character whom you can't hate. He shows a trivial outward appearance so that he's liked by those around him, but in truth he thinks more deeply about things... that kind of a person.

Sena: Right now I'm going through all of it, and I still haven't quite grasped what to convey, and to what degree. For example, when Niou no Miya is playing the fool, how much of his true intelligence should I convey...?

Oono: A problem of how to show things. We want it understood that it's something with both a surface appearance and a side that is hidden from view, and the point that in order to escape the expectations of those around him, Niou no Miya acts thoughtlessly and frivolously.

Sena: On the first meeting day for this production, you introduced it to us my calling it a "yokoshimana" ("black; wrong") Tale of Genji. What did you mean by "yokoshimana"?

Oono: To start with, there is the legitimate meaning, that these ten Uji chapters are about a love affair that is not always happy, which is not the norm for The Tale of Genji. The Tale of Genji, compared to other works from long-ago ages, can be painted with a modern mentality and modern human relations. The structure of the tale is relatively normal and Cinderella-like — in other words, the story where (in the end) the unhappy woman is rescued by the hero is a repeated theme. But that collapses with the story of "Murasaki no Ue". The woman who should have been made the most happy instead becomes unhappy, and she dies without having her wish to become a nun granted. And then, as we enter the ten Uji chapters, the period of the happy heroine is no more. Neither Kaoru nor Niou no Miya can save the women from the unhappiness they are caught up in. This is where the history of the tale takes a step forward, with this meaning, and it was this different part of The Tale of Genji that I wanted to draw out. There was one more thing I wanted to reveal, and that is where people cling to things senselessly. When creating a tale, what kind of events are there, what kind of mental things accumulate... all of that is chosen logically so that the man and woman are liable to become entangled. However, in reality things happen more by chance. Though now I've strayed from the subject.

Sena: No, no. To have such a yokoshimana viewpoint-! (laughs)

Oono: I wanted to try to draw the irrationality of people falling in love. Next is Kiriya-san, who plays Kaoru. Kaoru is Hikaru Genji's youngest child, though actually he is the cuckold son of Kashiwagi and Onna San no Miya.

Kiriya: I'm still wandering in the mist.

Oono: I think everyone is going to give the same answer.

Everyone: (laughs)

Kiriya: The secret of his birth and then not being united with Ookimi, whom he loved so deeply... Kaoru has many scars on his heart. He doesn't seem very happy when he is in the place he has Ukifune closed away in.... Kaoru's gloomy mental state seems to have piled up onto my own gloomy mental state (laughs). I always want to play my role, no matter what it is, as if that person is blood-and-flesh, here in the present, and when the time comes to face my role, I look for something about it I can empathize with. But it's difficult to understand people from this age. The men are effeminate and don't do things clearly. I wonder during rehearsals if I am able to become Kaoru... I expect I'll have some kind of answer when I make my appearance in front of an audience.

Oono: It's said that Kaoru is effeminate; it is thoroughly that kind of role, isn't it? The one from the original Hikaru Genji book who later had an influence was actually Kaoru — The heroes of the so-called Ouchou Tales (a style of novels and tales from the Heian to the Muromachi Periods) since Hikaru Genji were all Kaoru types. Effeminate, unnecessarily troubled, and moreover didn't come to good ends.

Kiriya: I wonder what he accomplished in the end? In regards to Ukifune, and whether he really loved her or not, it feels as if we get a soft fade out and it's finished....

Oono: If that didn't happen and he became happy, well even so, there is still a pattern that in the end everyone has become unhappy. However, there are lots of people even today who make foolish choices, and that's another face of humanity. If I can create something that allows this human weakness to be understood, then I think I can create some understanding as to what kinds of people these characters really are.

Kiriya: We're in rehearsals now, and I think the script will be filled in more and more from now on, but Kaoru senses what's going on between Niou no Miya and Ukifune and begins to scheme. While that's happening, there is a scene where Niou no Miya and Ukifune, and his real parents (Onna San no Miya and Kashiwagi) appear together in two pairs, forming a kind of link. Why did you decide to have them contrasted together like that?

Oono: Because it's a symbol of betrayal for Kaoru. The relationship between Onna San no Miya and Kashiwagi, the secret of Kaoru's origins, becomes an unpaid debt to Kaoru.

Kiriya: That betrayal traumatized him, and then he became obsessed with it?

Oono: Because for Kaoru, his biggest weak point is that he is not actually Hikaru Genji's son. Niou no Miya also faintly knows this, but closes his eyes to it. That's why he can't bring himself to strongly criticize Kaoru for shutting Ukifune away and making her unhappy. To continue, Hazakura-san, who has the role of Ukifune.

Hazakura: This is my first time being given such a role in the large theater like this, so I want to perform with an awareness of the space. Ukifune is shut away by Kaoru no Kimi. I can feel her pain at being a replacement for Ookimi, Kaoru no Kimi's true love who has died. She meets Niou no Miya while filled with that pain, and in that instant she becomes seriously troubled.... She has a serious weight on her heart, and wonders why she is here, to the point that she thinks it might be better to go somewhere where there is no set place for her.

Oono: Niou no Miya and Kaoru and Ukifune, I think that the three of them somehow cling to their feelings of entrapment (that they want to escape from their present positions) and their weakness. They cling together to the thought that a path of escape exists, but that's not what they were born for. Humans are positive creatures, so we think that there is always another path we can take, and keep on, but generally we tend to be mistaken.... Of the three of them, Ukifune's feelings of entrapment are the strongest, so I thought I would paint that in an orthodox way.


The Unhappy Premonition Left Behind by Hikaru Genji

Oono: Hikaru Genji is played by Ban-san, whose son Yuugiri is played by Isono-san, and whose daughter Akashi no Chuuguu is played by Rika-san.

Ban: I have a feeling that women are looking for someone like Hikaru Genji. Hikaru Genji was certain to take care of his women, and I think that sort of a person would be good. Sorry, Niou no Miya.

Sena: No problem (laughs).

Ban: He's the perfect person, I suppose. But he didn't only bring women happiness during his life; he brought them misery and suffering too. In those days, you felt others' characters through writing poems, which had deep feelings from both the women and the men. I'm very happy to be allowed to perform this time in Oono-sensei's debut work. Your Japanese pieces always have a little twist to them that I look forward to, so I want to try my best. As for Hikaru Genji, in the beginning I only have a short time to convey him as a person of political influence and profundity, not just as the Hikaru Genji that loved so many women.

Isono: I play Yuugiri. This Yuugiri is a more political one than usual. Genji featured love episodes only, but he also was rising in the world and in political power. Yuugiri, who cannot reach Genji's greatness, sits in the Rokujou acquiring political power and thinking constantly of his family.

Rika: I play Akashi no Chuuguu, the daughter of Hikaru Genji and Akashi no Kimi, and the mother of Asako (Sena)'s Niou no Miya, Aachan (Hanase)'s Onna Ichi no Miya, Ahiru (Ryouga)'s Ni no Miya, and Asumi-san's Go no Miya. She is a gentle woman with a very strong side to her when it comes to seeing one of her sons named the crown prince. I love this kind of elegant world; we were given nagabakama (long hakama worn by women in the Heian Period) and karakoromo (ancient Chinese style clothing), and mo (ancient skirt) too, and dressed like this I'm able to create the proper demeanor. I want to exist clearly as Akashi no Chuuguu. There are still places where I am still not accustomed to the word endings or the phrasing, but I think over the course of these rehearsals we are steadily creating the atmosphere.

Oono: The ten Uji chapters are The Tale of Genji without Hikaru Genji. There is a significance to that lack, and I wanted to figure out a way to express that lack in this work. For example, Niou no Miya's deep respect and love for Genji, and how an element of Hikaru Genji remains... There are many ways to do this in a work, but to me an unhappy premonition... Living in a world created by Hikaru Genji, doing as he would, certainly there would be left behind a premonition that you would become unhappy. As for Yuugiri, why should that gentle Yuugiri become such a powerful figure in the Uji chapters? It may be more than a little perplexing, but if you think about it, in the Uji chapters everything that Genji created is vanishing. In other words, it's the story of how the Genji family looses the political power they had acquired acting as regents and advisers. I wanted to clearly paint the composition of the power relationships at that time. And along those lines I also wanted to make Akashi no Chuuguu's role that of The Princess of Princesses.

Sena: The image that she is the happiest one of all.

Oono: I wanted her to seem strict and firm, and not come to seem like she's only one of many wives, in charge of nothing more than her own compartments. Next is Koshino-san.

Koshino: I play Kaoru's retainer, Nakanobu. I've watched Kaoru through many things, to see him become who he is now, and because of this I accept everything, and accompany him always. This is a personal view, but as kumichou of Moon Troupe I have this sense that I have to accept everyone, and I've been feeling that repeatedly as I try and perform this role. There are scenes where I appear with the three members from Senka, and because of their assistance I can learn even as I stand there on stage.

Oono: Nakanobu is Kaoru's retainer, but he also has the feel of someone who has seen and watched over all of the next era after Hikaru Genji. He doesn't have a high enough status to speak his opinions freely to Niou no Miya or Kaoru, which pains him the most, and I wanted to be able to portray that sensitive position.

Hanase: I play Niou no Miya's older sister, Onna Ichi no Miya. However, because she takes in all of the young ladies that the popular Niou no Miya has seduced as her lady attendants and she takes care of them, she has a bit of a concubine feel, as if she's one of the emperor's wives, instead of his daughter. Onna Ichi no Miya herself, because she saw from a young age how Hikaru Genji's wandering ways with women disturbed Murasaki no Ue, has a fear of romance and a feeling of rejection, and so keeps her distance from romance.

Kiriya: But isn't Onna Ichi no Miya also popular?

Sena: She's our beloved princess.

Oono: I painted Onna Ichi no Miya from the point of view of those who are in love with her, as a mysterious person who is inundated with words of praise, but remains unmoved by anything. Why did Murasaki Shikibu create this person? I created her while feeling as if I was immersed in this question. It seems that the women whom Onna Ichi no Miya collects aren't only Niou no Miya's, but Kaoru's too.

Sena: Eh? Kaoru's ladies-in-waiting too?

Kiriya: I'm indebted to her then (laughs).

Oono: But if I did it that way, it would just get confusing. Because of that, I've made changes for the play, such as that concubine, Kosaishou, played by Shirosaki-san, is actually Kaoru's lover in the original.

Kiriya: That's true.

Oono: Niou no Miya, Kaoru, and Onna Ichi no Miya grow up in their own world as children, just the three of them nestled together, separate from the adult world. They met everything together, so they understand each other. And Onna Ichi no Miya is also Niou no Miya and Kaoru's first failure with a woman too. Let's continue with Ryouga-san. Please go ahead.

Ryouga: I play Niou's older brother, Ni no Miya. Ni no Miya is the kind of person who doesn't go against the waves of the times, and takes what he's given. Unable to be with the woman he loves, loosing the position of crown prince....

Sena: Not one good thing.

Everyone: (laughs).

Ryouga: The second son is showy, while the oldest son is very sober and serious — this is pretty common, I think. I think it would be good if Ni no Miya was jealous of Niou no Miya, or something along those lines, but he's not... I have to show myself as having completely different sides than Niou no Miya. This is my first time doing a Japanese-style play in the Grand Theater, and also my first role of passionate or romantic love.

Sena: We've never seen you in a role with a lover.

Ryouga: I'm glad to be able to play a normal man (laughs). I'm going to work hard to show a fresh face.

Oono: Ni no Miya is one day suddenly made a minister of ceremonies, which (in historical accounts) was the compensation given to people who did not become crown prince. Ni no Miya is really a very discreet older brother. This time there is the love affair of Ryouga-san's that everyone wants to see (laughs), and she also sings for us.

Kiryuu: I play Niou no Miya's attendant, Tokikata, but....

Sena: Without being helpful at all! (laughs)

Everyone: (laughs)

Kiryuu: Without being helpful at all (laughs).

Sena: Was it that Niou no Miya's wet nurse was Tokikata's real mother?

Oono: That's right. They're foster brothers.

Kiryuu: He's always adored and looked up to Niou no Miya like an older older brother, and grew up free and uncontrolled.

Sena: As an adult, Tokikata is always preaching at Niou no Miya.

Kiryuu: I'm soooorry (laughs). He speaks self-importantly, but he's just spinning his wheels and he's no help at all. I imagine while Ukifune and Niou no Miya are riding in the boat, Tokikata is off somewhere else, drawing attention away from them — that's the kind of thing he does, always thinking first about Niou no Miya's happiness.

Oono: Kiryuu-san's image was of Shinemon-san from Ikkyu-san¹. So that's why he lectures a little bit from time to time (laughs).The lecturing comes out because she likes it, so I thought it would be a good way to show attachment.

Aoki: I play the son of Soru-san (Isono)'s Yugiri, Emon no Kami. Seijou and I were the two sons, so we're always together (laughs). We are the ones who actually act, as the right-hand men of our father, who always thinks of political power. Because of that, Emon no Kami gives off a feeling of oppression.

Oono: Emon no Kami is the third generation, continuing from Hikaru Genji and Yugiri, and he believes that that road will continue straight on. Because he is there with his jaunty cock-sureness that if he walks down that path everything will be all right, he himself is blithe in the face of those who have doubts. And that is what I hope you perform without fail.

Aoki: In the long run, our goal as a family is the succession of the blood of Hikaru Genji, and to see my daughter married to the emperor — That's what I think is the most important thing, isn't it?

Oono: Yes, because that is the way to ensure the greatest political power.

Aoki: I do a lot of things to ensure political power.

Oono: That's exactly right. Next is Shirosaki-san.

Shirosaki: Kosaishou no Kimi is the only commoner to make an appearance, and a friend of the puppeteers. Her position has absolutely nothing to do with politics, so she had to go to a place different from the one she knew, where no one and nothing was familiar. I think that in the same way that people's love hasn't changed, the way people agonized over where they are, and what their place in life is meant to be hasn't changed either. Kosaishou was thinking about those kinds of things when she met Niou no Miya, and when she sees how he is continuing to look for a way to live true to his feelings she feels jealousy, regret, and admiration, and at last she accepts her fate and lives with it. I want to perform these unchanging human emotions with care.

Oono: Kosaishou no Kimi is almost the only role created just for this show. At first I had thought to make it a tale in which all the struggles are those of the original Genji world, but then I wanted to create someone who could look at it all from an outside position. Kosaishou no Kimi is the only one in the Uji chapters who rejects Niou no Miya, so I decided to use her name. This way I think we can feel something like a symbol of both sides — Those people who are manipulated like puppets, and those who are not.

Sena: Yesterday I went to Uji with everyone, and the car I was riding in missed the Keiji Bypass and so we took the local roads to the area of Ujigame Shrine, which is modeled after the former palace of the Eight Prince, where Ukifune was closed away. It's all paved now, but we really got a sense of what a long road you had to follow to go to Uji from Kyoto.

Oono: I certainly thought of how often Niou no Miya took that road.

Sena: I really felt it.

Kiriya: There's a sign smack at the entrance to the Ujigami Shrine telling how it's a World Heritage Site, but we just passed the shrine by (laughs).

Sena: That's right. This remote place would be so lonely for a princess to live.

Oono: That's why there was nothing for her to do but play a musical instrument.

Sena: Ukifune gave the koto everything she had.

Oono: Did you see the small sandbank island with the citrus trees in the middle of the Uji River? They say that's where Niou no Miya and Ukifune had their secret meeting.

Kiriya: The Tale of Genji isn't a true story, but rather a fiction. When you go to Uji, there are plenty of authentic places where "oh, that's where they were". It's really a mysterious sensation.


An Elegant World, Unique to the Takarazuka Revue

Oono: To end, please tell us your enthusiasms.

Ban: The movements and demeanor of a Japanese-style show are certainly difficult, but I feel as if the ability to accomplish them has been passed on even to the underclassmen. Myself included, I think it is a wonderful thing to stand on the stage together with everyone as people who have taken root in that age.

Isono: I think creating these Uji chapters of The Tale of Genji along with everyone, with everyone doing their best to live their individual characters is good.

Rika: To be able to give the audience the feel of the elegant atmosphere, and to make a show that they think is wonderful. I want to stir to life this debut work of Oono-sensei's.

Koshino: Among those who make an appearance on the stage are those who will play the koto, and when I heard the sound of the koto during rehearsals, I felt the Japanese culture strongly, and it was wonderful.

Hanase: Among the members of Moon Troupe, there are many who are doing a Japanese piece of this age for the first time, and so I want them to learn as much as they can from the Senka members before opening night. This is a fresh Moon Troupe with Sena-san at its heart for Oono-sensei's debut work, so I want everyone to work hard for Sena-san to create this show.

Kiriya: Kaoru is a contrasting role to Niou no Miya; a man who would rather control himself. While in the first half he rarely reveals his feelings, in the second half (from the instant he learns about Niou no Miya and Ukifune) they pour forth, and all the quiet energy that has accumulated explodes, and there is a flame in his heart — That's how I want to play him. He's a quiet person, but I want to be able to show him as fiery. I feel as if I want to continue studying the stylistic way of wearing kimono and gesturing.

Ryouga: I also feel that the gestures are difficult. I also want to study so that I can relish this elegant world where just walking, just wearing the costumes, is beautiful. As for the love affair, I want to reach a point where I can portray the amorousness just by holding hands. I'll do my best to bring Ni no Miya's feelings to the surface.

Kiryuu: It's been a while since I've taken part in this elegant world, and I can portray him as a playful, lovable character without any hate in him. I want to make a beautiful play which moves the audience.

Aoki: Of course the Takarazuka Japanese show is a beautiful world, and so as I'm learning I'll do my best to bring out clearly the intimidating air of Emon no Kami.

Shirosaki: I feel that both the dialogue and gestures are difficult, but I want to digest things one at a time during rehearsals. Lately I haven't had any commoner-type roles, so this role is very interesting. I want to store these new sides inside of me, so that I can bring them out later. I'll do my best.

Hazakura: I too am wearing nagabakama from rehearsals, and every single thing is difficult.... People from that age wore them and carried on their lives, so I want to take care that I can reach the point where that is natural to me, and the ways of speech. I want to give my all so that I can portray the Ukifune that Oono-sensei thought of.

Sena: I think it is a Tale of Genji whose elegance can only be portrayed by Takarazuka. This is the thousandth anniversary, so I want to cover as many things as possible, and make it so that they say: "Takarazuka's thousandth anniversary The Floating Bridge of Dreams is wonderful". It's a fresh step forward for everyone, as Oono-sensei's debut work, and for Moon Troupe with our new kumichou and fukukumichou, so I want to make a good start and adorn this year's final show with perfect beauty. As for myself, I brazenly ask the staff and Senka members all kinds of things (laugh), returning to when I was wet behind the ears and wanting to learn all kinds of things. During the rehearsal stage I saw Hazakura dripping with sweat from near at hand, and it had a really wonderful influence on me. That sweat was really pretty and beautiful. I also want to do my best for Oono-sensei's Nio no Miya, Ukifune, and Kaoru, and portray the Niou no Miya that Oono-sensei has created. I'll give my all to make this a good show.

Oono: This time the story is about how everyone, although they all don't become very happy, reacts under pressure. Because when they're under pressure, they look for various means of escape. I think this tendency to fight back for their happiness is a good point of humanity.... Individuals fighting their circumstances, standing up as human beings and making the entire show shine; I want to create this so that in the end, everyone becomes a decent person. When you think your characters aren't coming to life, come at it snapping and snarling (laughs). Let's bring these people to life together.

Everyone: Thank you!

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(1) Shinemon-san is a bodyguard samurai character from the popular cartoon Ikkyu-san, who watches over a young boy (Ikkyu-san) who is in training to be a monk.