Gakugeki Festival, August 6, 2004

Kyoto Concert Hall, Kyoto, Japan

Co-Directors and Producers: Moira Roth and Mary Sano

Assistant Director: Rebecca Jennison

English Text by Moira Roth (Japanese translation by Naoko Matsushiro)

Performers:

The Dancer/Blind Woman/Amaterasu: Mary Sano
The Blind Koto Player: Shoko Hikage
The Noh Actor/Monk/ Semimaru: Tadaki Hashimoto
Offstage Voice of Sakagami: Koji Hashimoto
Mirror Holder #1: Keita Yoshida
Mirror Holder #2: Izawa Haruhi

Kuroko: Akahoshi Masanori

Special Guests: Mari Uehara (biwa) and Tetsuhiko Fukuhara (flute)
Parts:
#1. Of Legends
#2. Amaterasu
#3. The Rehearsal

#4. Hiroshima, August 6, 1945

#5. Itsukushima Shrine, The Island of Miyajima
(The Dance of the Four Senses & The Dream of Amaterasu)
#6. The Actor-Monk’s Story

#7. Time Past and Present

#8. August 6, 2004

Video Segments:

Mary Sano on Stinson Beach, California

August 6, 1945, Hiroshima

Night Shrine, Itsukushima Shrine, The Island of Miyajima

Day Shrine, Itsukushima Shrine, The Island of Miyajima

Amaterasu with Letter, Itsukushima Shrine, and Shrine’s Noh Theater, The Island of Miyajima

Credits:
Dance Choreography: Mary Sano
Lighting Design and Director: Masaaki Aikawa
Video Editor: Claudia Leger

Video Footage: Moira Roth and Mary Sano

Stage Director: Hideo Sekino

Stage Manager, Kyoto Concert Hall: Hiroshi Hatano

Kyoto Concert Hall Technicians

Music: Original Compositions:
Shoko Hikage (koto)
Mari Uehara (biwa)
Tony Chapman (piano music and text)

Thanks to the Hiroshima newspaper Chugoku Shinbun, and to Umbo and Yaeko Yamashita for costume assistance

Amaterasu, the Blind Woman and Hiroshima is divided into eight parts, and tells the story of the Dancer (Mary Sano) and the Noh Actor (Tadaki Hashimoto), a brother and sister involved in pre-war Noh theater, who have lost touch with one another after the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 (later they reenact their experiences of that day). The performance contains two sections relating directly to the bombing: in Part 4 the Koto Player performs a discordant dirge-like piece, and in Part 7, the Dancer and Noh Actor enact the emotions and events of that day, accompanied by biwa and flute music. Woven into the narrative is a pre-war rehearsal of a famous “trio” (the Dancer, Noh Actor and Koto Player) of the 15^th century Noh play, Semimaru, which is a tale of a blind biwa player, exiled from the imperial court to Mt. Osaka, and his meeting there with Sakagami, his demented dancer-sister. After the bombing of Hiroshima, accompanied by the Koto Player (her childhood friend), the Dancer–who was blinded during the bombing–goes to the Island of Miyajima. Now known as the Blind Woman, she learns to dance again through experimenting with her four remaining senses (touch, taste, smell and sound) and, in a dream, encounters Amaterasu, the sun goddess, at the Itsukushima Shrine. The Noh Actor, now mute, goes to live in Kyoto, and becomes a restless monk. There–while playing the biwa, writing poetry and reciting, “like a mantra,” a text by Dogen, the 13^th century Zen monk-poet–he experiences “slippages of time,” sometimes believing he is back either in pre-war Japan, or his childhood, and at other times believing that he is Semimaru, the 15^th century blind biwa player.

The performance ends with Part 8 in the present with readings from the Hiroshima newspaper (Chugoku Shinbun) of that day, and references to events in Iraq, etc. by the Kuroko and the Mirror Holders. On the two balconies, the Koto Player (now dressed in regular clothing) and Amaterasu (now without a mask) address one another briefly.
After this, they and the three other actors move through the audience, improvising with half-sentences about “. . . present . . . mirrors . . .mind’s eye.” Finally, they stand on the stage in front of the video screen which reads “August 6, 2004.”

This experimental dance-drama draws upon many diverse sources, influences and media, e.g. Japanese mythology, religion, poetry and history, traditional and experimental dance and theater traditions, and video footage shot in California and Japan (in which Sano appears in her Amaterasu kimono and mask). Costume plays a major role in Amaterasu, the Blind Woman and Hiroshima, witness the several changes in the appearance of the Dancer/Blind Woman/Amaterasu, and of the Noh Actor-Monk to indicate their character/role shifts. The Kuroko (Akahoshi Masanori), a silent black-clothed presence, appears occasionally during the performance —this figure is a reference to both Noh and Kabuki stage traditions. In their search for solace and peace and for one another, the brother and sister are accompanied by three musicians—the Koto Player (Shoko Hikage), the Biwa Player (Mari Uehara), and the Flute Player (Tetsuhiko Fukuhara). There is also a recurring musical piano motif (on a CD), “Of Legends,” by Tony Chapman. Two further characters, who appear on the side balconies, holding large silver-painted fans, are the Mirror Holders #1 and #2 (Keita Yoshida and Izawa Haruhi). They periodically speak as they explain to one another and to the audience the actions of the other performers.