Tanoshikatta Takarazuka

Here’s to returns. Starting the New Year has heralded my return to Japan, return to work, but also a return to great new friends I’ve made. Much though I’ve claimed not to, I have missed this place a bit. So I’m back with a couple of important resolutions. The first is to make better use of my time in general and the second is to apply myself at work a bit more.

As far as making good use of time I’m talking particularly about my free time. I complain too much about not seeing enough of Japan due to working so much. But is that really what’s been holding me back? Unlikely I just need to make better use of the time I’m given. So in response to that I headed out to a little place called Takarazuka with a friend.

I had been here before on a rather geeky pilgrimage to the Tezuka Osamu museum. I love the area it’s just got a great vibe, much more vibrant than the Concrete Jungle’s that constitute mort of Japan’s more populated areas. This time I was off to see one of Japan’s famous, though slightly less traditional, performing arts. It is called Takarazuka, named for the City of it’s origin, and it is wonderfully bizarre.

 

Established in 1914 by the director of the Hankyu railway service, Kobayashi Ichizo, it was initially intended to draw more business to Takarazuka, the terminus of the Hankyu system. His idea was to put on shows loosely based on western Broadway musicals that were becoming popular at the time. In a reaction to more traditional Kabuki Theater, which was deemed a bit old fashioned, women would play the entire cast. Women playing men are called otokoyaku and those playing women are known as musumeyaku.

Whilst this may sound empowering for women the original Takarazuka was originally a fairly sexist affair, with Kobayashi setting up the Takarazuka stage school to teach “young women to become good wives.”  This has however been turned on it’s head as many of the actresses have gone on to stay in show business for a long time taking on managerial roles that are traditionally male dominated.

It is in fact this reversal of roles, obviously all the male characters are played by females, that has lead to the wide spread population of Takarazuka amongst Japanese women. Some 90% of the audience consists of women, something I learnt very quickly when I found on the ground floor there were 5 women’s toilets and only one for men. Part of the reason maybe that it offers them a release from the traditionally patriarchal Japanese society, showing that gender roles can be cast aside. Another theory is that the otokoyaku provide an image of the ‘Ideal Japanese man’. It is not secret that the interaction between the sexes is somewhat strained in Japan and a big part of this is the women’s disinterest in the archetypal Japanese male.

Right so I’ll end the history and sociology lesson for there and get back to the actual revue. The performances are held in the Takarazuka Grand hall, a short walk away from the Hankyu station along the aptly named flower road. Admittedly it being winter it wasn’t so pretty but I have been there before in summer and it’s a very attractive area. The halls exterior isn’t anything special though it does fit in nicely with the architecture of the surrounding area. The inside however is lavish. Giant, lush read carpets, a huge entrance hall with various shops and cafes, chandeliers and even someone playing a grand piano. It definitely puts the new floral to shame.

I’ll just take a moment to mention the fans. So like absolutely anything in Japan there are some serious hardcore Takarazuka fans. Within Takarazuka there are multiple performing troupes and within these troupes there are particular stars. Fans clubs tend to form around particular troupes and their stars with the clubs going to multiple shows, dressing in costumes almost as lavish as those worn by the performers and even attending after show tea parties.

Takarazuka shows are drawn from a wide variety of influences. Some are based on famous western plays, musicals, operas and even novels. There are then those based on ore traditional Japanese dramas and legends. In addition to this there are some based on other areas of Japanese media, particularly Shojo manga (comics for girls to over simplify) and a play has even been produced based on a video game.

The show we went to see was based on the novel Resurrection, the last long novel by Tolstoy. I’m not going to lie it was a bit of a heavy subject matter to try and see in another language and I could follow maybe 30-40% of what I was hearing. Still there were many other things for e to take away. Firstly the stage was huge and the sets were incredible, large moving pieces coming from above the stage and the sides as well as a large revolving central area, I’ve never been to any big theater productions and the set logistics themselves were pretty breathtaking.

 

Then of course there were the costumes. The military outfits, noble suits and intricate ball gowns were also very impressive. Sadly I wasn’t close enough to see much more of the details, like the supposedly extensive make up used by the otokoyaku to make them look more manly, quite the contradiction I know.

The shows are also quite interesting linguistically. Japan has particular conventions regarding the way in which men and women speak and the two styles are quite different. This is a constant pitfall to people learning the language as often guys end up speaking like women due to the majority of Japanese language teachers being women. The otokoyaku speak in a very stereotypically manly way whilst the musumeyaku speak in an overtly feminine manner.

 

The play lasted for an1 hour 30 minutes and then after a short interval there was a one our review. This was a much more typical song and dance affair, entitled cannon, with wild, glittery and gaudy costumes, can-can lines and bright lights. The crowd started to really get into this as the troupe showed off their singing and dancing prowess. I wasn’t overly impressed with choreography but I just have high standards, thanks mum, the whole show was hugely entertaining none the less and the costumes in the finale where something else.

It was a rather peculiar experience but still something I enjoyed massively. I’m glad I didn’t go alone though, for one I’d of stuck out even more than usual as a lone foreign male, but also I definitely needed to talk about it and make sense of the spectacle I’d just witnessed. I think I could go again though perhaps I’d do well to see what the show was actually about beforehand.

Mata kondo.