Hitoshi Tanaka : Shuzenji Monogatari, 4th July 1999

 

Nihon Opera Kyokai

 

New National Theater Playhouse

 

Akihito Shikano/Michio Tatara (Yashao), Mayumi Fujita/Shinobu Futami (Katsura) Hiroshi Mochiki/Kazuhiko Ichikawa (Yoriie), Yasuyo Wazawa/Eriko Sekine (Kaede), Sumio Morita/Yasuhiro Miura (Haruhiko), Masako Iguchi/Mariko Ochi (Goro)), Mari Fujisawa/Koichi Higashi (Yukichika), Zenro Naya (monk), Hiroaki Murakami, Nobumi Kakinuma (soldiers)

 

Tokyo New Philharmonic Orchestra, Yutaka Hoshide (conductor), Shasen Tachibana (director), Zenko Taki (scenery) Tachibana Shizuhiko (choreography)

 

The premiere of Hitoshi Tanaka's new opera, Shuzenji Monogatari [The Tale of Shuzenji] was given in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Nihon Opera Kyokai, a group specializing in Japanese opera, who have presented 66 productions since 1966. Since1980 they have been managed by the Japan Opera Foundation, functioning as a sister organization to the larger, and better-known, Fujiwara Opera.

 

Japanese operas fall into two types, those inspired by native traditions and those derived from foreign models, albeit both being performed by essentially the same group of singers. Shuzenji Monogatari (the 'Tale of Shuzenji' or sometimes the 'Mask Maker's Story') is a good example of the former. The opera is a setting of a well-known play by Kido Okamoto, written in 1909 and first performed as a 'New' Kabuki play in 1911. This is not the first time it has been used for an opera. It was set by Osamu Shimizu in 1954. His version has been revived on at least six different occasions.

 

The story is set in 1204, in Shuzenji on the Izu Peninsula. Deposed Shogun Minamoto Yoriie is in exile. The mask maker Yashao has two daughters called Kaede and Katsura. Like her father, Kaede is content with an artisan's life, but Katsura dreams of something better. In fact she has fallen in love with Yoriie. The deposed Shogun has asked Yashao to carve his mask, but Yashao is dissatisfied with his work and will not deliver it because he feels the mask lacks 'life'. Yoriie comes in person to demand it and also asks for Katsura. Yashao agrees and Yoriie leaves with both Katsura and the mask.

 

The second scene takes place on the banks of a nearby river. Yoriie and Katsura's romance is interrupted by a party of assassins from Kamakura. They intend to raid Yoriie's household during the night and kill him. The third and final scene is once more at Yashao's house. Katsura enters mortally wounded. She has been trying to shield her lover by fighting wearing the mask, but Yoriie has been killed. After her day of glory Katsura is content to die. Yashao examines the mask realizing that it accurately expressed Yoriie's destiny. It is a great work of art. He looks calmly at his dying daughter, asks her to show him her face and draws her death portrait.

 

Tanaka's opera uses sung rhythms akin to those of Kabuki. At first it seems to be an endless series of declamatory recitatives that never quite take off, however the score has a lyrical quality to it and the plentiful use of woodwind gives it charm. Individual characters are well differentiated musically and dramatically, and the work rises to a moving climax.

 

The singing, and acting, of both casts was exemplary, in each case the singer playing Yashao dominated. Of the two, Michio Tatara had perhaps the more pleasing voice though Akihito Shikano had rather clearer diction. The staging was conventional: an open pavilion with a bridge, not unlike a No stage, and surrounded with tall bamboos, was used throughout. The opera began with the black kimono-clad director walking round the stage lighting candles.

 

Simon Holledge