A new documentary film on traditional culture, planned and produced by the Pola Foundation for the Promotion of Traditional Culture, has been completed. The 50th film presents the essence of Kyogen, which transcends the generations of Mansaku Nomura, Mansai and Hiroki, spanning three generations of father and son.
Izo (voice)
Izo, a Ronin, and Raiden, an orc, work to bring a young elf girl and the wand she carries to the land of the elves in the north.
Documentary by film director Isshin Inudo on three generations of the Nomura family of the Izumi school of Kyogen: Mansaku Nomura (89), Mansai (54), and Yuki (20). Summer of 2020. Yuki is to play an important role in the future of Kyogen. He will play four roles in "Nasu Yoichi Narrative". His father Mansai and grandfather Mansaku continue to rehearse. Mansai, as artistic director of the theater, is searching for the performing art of the Corona disaster for the sake of his family. Mansaku talks about his current state of mind in light of the hardships he endured during the war. And then, Hiroki's big day arrives. What is in store? This is a new documentary that makes the most of the 8K capabilities to convey the physical presence of each of the three generations and the details of their movements.
The three generations of the Nomura family - Mansaku, Mansai and Yuki - who carry the 650-year history of Kyogen and pass it on to the future, perform the ultimate difficult piece, Sanbaso, in Paris. The film follows the 'challenge' of the three generations of the Nomura family, each of whom is living in the present.
Kyogen performers Mansaku Nomura, Mansai and Yuki, three generations of father and son! Kyogen is a human comedy! What is the goal of the father and son Kyogen performers who live in the traditional arts?
Kyogen performer Mansai Nomura is taking on the challenge of various attempts to convey the appeal of Kyogen, a traditional art form with a 600-year history, to the modern age. While carrying the weight of the Nomura family's legacy, which was spun out by his father Mansaku, a living national treasure, and others, he has been lightly expanding his field of activity to appear in films and dramas and stage productions. These various activities are nothing other than the path of Mansai Nomura, a kyogen performer who conveys the appeal of kyogen with its profound expressive power to the present day. Through the figure of Mansai, who is always creating new challenges, this programme introduces the appeal of the "traditional Japanese performing arts" in the "present".
Hisaki / Jubei
Deep in the Valley interlaces a story of young romance set in Yanaka (part of old downtown Tokyo) with a Japanese period drama based on Five-Story Pagoda, a classic literary work by Rohan Koda. In the contemporary story, Kaori, a young woman working for a non-profit organization that restores home movies, learns that there used to be a five-story pagoda in the middle of Yanaka Cemetery. It burned down in 1957, and rumor has it that someone has an 8mm film of the fire.
Kyogen actor Nomura Mansai's eldest son, Yuki (3 years old at the time), was chosen to play the role of a child monkey in the kyogen play Utsubo Saru, and together with Mansai's father, Mansaku, the three generations of the family made their first appearance on the stage. The first half of the programme is a documentary following Yuki as he trains for the traditional performance, and his father and grandfather as they strictly instruct him.
