The Wicked Priest and the Seductive Princess・Narukami EXPLAINED (1684)
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- čas přidán 23. 07. 2024
- The remarkable play known as Narukami stands as a precious example of the style of jun kabuki ("pure kabuki") from the late XVII century, previous to the influence from the bunraku puppet theatre. It is also a classic example of the aragoto acting style of Danjūrō family, and therefore one of the most treasured works of the Naritaya house.
I want to thank the late James R. Brandon for his wonderful translation of this play in his book "Kabuki: Five Classic Plays", which is adapted here to illustrate some of the scenes. In addition to the music of Narukami, I have used the nagauta composition Ninin Wankyu for the background music. The performance of the play seen here was recorded in February 2008, at the Hakata-za theatre in Fukuoka, by the great actors Kataoka Ainosuke VI and Nakamura Shichinosuke II.
Special thanks to the Patreon members who make these videos possible, including C. H. White, Eric Pan, SuperGingernutz and calvin!
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#kabuki #theatre #japan
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:01 Narukami
15:59 Background - Zábava
This is the only Kabuki play I've seen live, in the US when a company (name long forgotten) was touring in the mid 1990s. A friend took me as a birthday gift and it was the best present I've had so far.
I just realized that Narukami literally fell for an ancient thirst trap 💀
Awesome art. Appreciate the real life. Understand.
Cheers from Inupiaq Eskimo in above arctic circle. We understand. Many blessings to you.
What a fun play. Thank you for adding in the historical footage and context as well, it really increases my enjoyment for this production.
I absolutely love this play!! I have been trying to find where to watch the full recorded play shown here, but every DVD I've found is of a different production. Where did you get this recording? I'd like to watch it in full if possible ^_^
I admit to having only seen bits and pieces of Narukami on NHK's Kabuki Kool (when they had an episode about Onnagata roles in Kabuki - it was a two-parter) - your channel is not called Kabuki-In-Depth for nothing!
That poor woman has to turn on her womanly wiles with a priest to save her people from drought (being a woman myself, it made me blush), and to think this story is very old!
Wow.
Hopefully, some kind soul will upload a version of this play (copyright permitting). It's difficult as it is to find anything about Kabuki in the UK, except a few books which I treasure, but (as in a lot of experiences) there's nothing like being there to see it for real in Japan (which I hope to do one day). I love it when you share your experiences of being in the audience of such treasures and in the presence of great actors, too.
Hearty thanks for the mention - I love and appreciate your videos about the wonderful world of Kabuki because the stories behind the plays and the acting guilds and acting families (plus telling us about the film archive of Kabuki performances) are just as fascinating as the productions themselves. They help me enjoy them a lot more as an excellent companion. Please keep it going!
Thank you so much! You've helped me truly enjoy this wonderful type of theater!
Thank you so much for this one… it’s so wonderful that you explain to us what is happening, adding a whole other dimension to these beautiful plays, that of understanding. I find this breathtaking…
Thank you for the detailed video! I’ve watched so many versions of this and was so impressed with the one last July… the way subtle changes were made to the pacing and facial expressions to make the humor a bit more updated! That blew my mind!!
Narukami explained ( 1684 )
yay
This reminds me of the noh play 一角仙人 but with the seduction portrayed more directly. I really like the transformation to fudo myo at the end.
Good catch, Narukami and the noh play Ikkaku Sennin come from the same source, an Indian tale which arrived to Japan through a Chinese translation.
@@KabukiInDepth how cool that there is a nod to the original Indian tale in the play! Do you know the name of the Indian version?
十三代目市川團十郎白猿ご襲名おめでとうございます💓🌈祝幕の鳴神上人さまの前で💓🍀❤️玉さまとのニ人椀久も素敵でした～
World princess
1684 seductive princess
Were acting traditions lost while Danjuro IX suppressed the play?
Yes, as far as I know, Sadanji II had to revive the roles of Narukami, Kumedera Danjō (in Kenuki) and Fudō by himself in the period between 1909 and 1912, with no direct transmission from senior actors. The same goes for the role of Taema. None of these characters had been played since 1851, 1850 and 1780, respectively, so there was probably little knowledge left behind about how these plays were performed, beyond the script and anecdotal information.
@@KabukiInDepth Thank you very much for your kind and knowledgeable reply!
@@KabukiInDepth Oh that was a good question! Do most kabuki plays have a direct transmission going back to the original or near original performances? I guess not since the modern repertoire is so small. I’ve seen your videos about the tadanobu acting traditions. Is there an unbroken line from senbonzakura going back very far? I like the idea that the acting line is preserved but different branches still innovate as time moves on.
❤❤
I found on this goggle
Also, what is the name of the Shamisen piece playing at the start of the video?
What song plays at 0:20?!?
Hello, do you have an email address? I’d like to do further research on the origins and development of Narukami. Thank you so much!
Of course! You can write me at: in.praise.of.shadows.kabuki@gmail.com
This play is cool but the expressions though is very 😅