Hisashiburi!

久し振り(hisashiburi)
"It's been a while/ long time, no see!"

Sorry that I'm pretty lazy with this! Here comes another entry!

Last Wednesday, I went to a play with my mother. It was called "Mori no Ishimatsu" (森の石松) which is the main character's name. It was really funny! I did not understand it at all, it was a Yakuza period drama (maybe Edo period...), so the men spoke with an old-fashioned AND gangster accent. But I loved it, regardless!

See the bigger picture <3

The guy at the front is Ishimatsu, or Issan. He's a lower level yakuza who loves sake, and is in love with Bochan (the girl in the white Kimono). The young man on the left is another lower level yakuza, who helps Issan when he is being attacked by five other yakuza, thus becoming friends. The 'lady' on the right (played by a male) is a geisha/former geisha who is taking care of the little boy. The story of Issan and the yakuza is separate from the story of the geisha and the little boy, until the end of the play. It is important to note that every character is interesting, comedic, but not slapstick. This play was a comedy, but also an action, period drama, which is what made it so interesting to watch!

Synopsis of what I understood (this is a little long, skip if you don't want to read it!): Issan is a fairly strong yakuza, we see him cutting down other men from the beginning of the movie. He also loves sake, but he's a kind-hearted, lovable man. The young man, we'll call him U-san (I think his name is Umai, or some variation of that), is the member of another Yakuza group. I'm not sure why, but U-san has to do something (vague, i know) for his boss. From what I gather, he gets money or a sort of boon from another Yakuza boss (this trip takes place over the middle 2/4 of the play). Issan helps U-san get this boon. Okay, this is getting a little confusing, and a little chopped up! Sorry, you all know I'm really bad at telling stories!

(((I can not really give a good synopsis of the story because there are so many little things I want to add in! But if you are interested in hearing more, skype me or catch me on gmail, aim or facebook. I would love to tell you more detailed aspects if you want!)))

One of the scenes that really epitomizes Ossan's character is the boat scene, and for some reason basically the whole cast is there! After U-san is 'borrowed' by a group of [drunk] ladies to sing to them (did I mention he has a great voice? He was played by a semi-well known singer), Ossan starts talking to the other [three] men on the boat. They, too, are Yakuza and the four start drinking. Ossan asks who the strongest is and they keep saying names, none of which are 'Mori no Ishimatsu', so Issan keeps giving them alcohol. It was funny because at one point I believe they started listing off the actors names. I think....So, Ossan is drunk, the other yakuza are drunk and finally, they say his name. It's all good!

The next scene that sticks out in my memory is the sword fight. Of course there is a sword fight! It was A.MA.ZING! This happens after Issan and U-san get the boon/money from big boss, and return to give it to U-san's boss. Well, U-san's boss does not want to accept it, for some reason, but Issan scares/threatens him into it. See? Issan is bad-ass. But no one knows it, for some reason. Well, U-san's boss did not like that, not one bit, so he rounds up the posse (not a western!! haha) and decides to hunt down Issan. They ambush him at a temple but after a small skirmish Issan get's away, slightly battle damaged (they had cut off his top-knot, so his hair was flying everywhere! He looked so funny with that bald-spot ^__^).

After a bit more of tiny skirmishes, they finally have him surrounded! He does not go down easily (he's been stabbed all over, cut down his back, and is bleeding profusely! ). The fighting was great! There were spins, jabs and all sorts of fancy, yakuza-style fencing. Okay, so, not really fancy, but it was nicely choreographed! In the end, of course, Issan is cut down and he dies in U-san's arm (U-san then proceeds to shout 'Anikiiiiiii' which means 'brother' and it goes black. wow. strong stuff!).

So, I've left out a bit, err....a lot. Especially about the geisha and the little boy. Pretty much that pair reflects Issan's childhood, as it was that same geisha who took care of Issan when he was a little boy! She mourns the fact that Issan became a yakuza and wants her current charge to grow into a 'good man'. During Issan's death, she has a little monologue about how sad she was. Whatever, I didn't like her anyway. -___-;;

End of synopsis.

Whew! Sorry about that! That took way too long!

Friday I went to a Kabuku play. It was four hours long (with two 20 minute breaks, and one 10 minute break). And it was only 1/4 of the actual play! What?

The Kabuki play was 'The 47 Ronin'. I'm not going to give you a description, because you can find it on wikipedia if you search '47 ronin kabuki' and scroll down to the kabuki section. We just saw four scenes of the play, which was amazing and boring. I actually almost fell asleep during the last scene because I was getting so used to the strange way of talking, that I was being lulled to sleep! Not to mention that rain was pounding so loudly on the roof that it was like a white-noise machine.

What can I say about Kabuki? It is definitely an acquired taste. They speak an incomprehensible form of Japanese (well, mostly incomprehensible. I saw many people wearing the translator device on their ears, and yes, they were translating it into Japanese). One thing I want you all to know about kabuki, is that it is an all-male cast, even though there are many female characters. Men play women! It is actually an accomplished art form and many people think that these men have been trained to play women better than women can play women! (although I'm sure it's not so common a thought anymore). If you think that's sexist, don't. The men do a good job and women have their own form of women-only acting called 'Takarazuka". Back to Kabuki: the costumes were amazing, and the acting was so...interesting. If a group of Americans was watching kabuki, the would burst out laughing at the climax of scenes. I would have laughed, but I would have been the only one in a room of....a lot of people. (Oh, did I mention I sat pretty close? I was in the first section, in the 9th row! That means sitting on the FLOOR on a think cushion.)

So, why would we laugh at this traditional Japanese art-form? Right! Because at the climax scenes, the actors strike strange poses and, at least the bad guy, makes a face that involves sticking his tongue out and hissing! It was pretty cool, because all the main characters had their faces painted in some way. The bad guy had lines painted into his face, so he looked almost like a demon mask. The other main character of the first part had his face painted completely white, with black accents for his eyebrows and eyes, and red for his mouth. There was another samurai with his face painted this way (It's a samurai drama, btw.).

My seat was great because it was right next to the 'hana-michi', which means 'flower street'. It's a perpendicular extension of the stage that divides the audience in half. It's a staple of any Kabuki stage. It basically brings the action into the audience, and creates a place for dramatic entrances and exits. One of the bests scenes that utilized the hana-michi was near the end, when a bunch of samurai rushed towards the main gates of a castle, to avenge their master's suicide, but they were stopped by their fellow samurai. It was great! There were about 15-18 men that rushed forward, and about 7 that pushed them back! It was a lot of commotion and shouting!

And, for all the stylized acting, traditional instrumental and singing, there was actually a bit of comedy in it! I was quite amazed at one scene, where a buffoonish underling of the bad guy was instructing other underlings on how to ambush someone. Their was a lot of pantomime and slapstick in that scene! Wow!

In all, I would probably love to go back to another Kabuki play. I still want to experience the other popular arts such as Takarazuka (which I mention in this post a little earlier), Bunraku (which is traditional puppet theatre) and Noh (older, and less-dramatic that Kabuki, and less ridiculous, except the main characters wear masks). So interesting...

Okay, that's a lot. I've written too much (and for too long!), not much is actually that interesting to anyone but me (sorry!). I have a Japanese test tomorrow and I need to study! ByeBye!