Ichikawa Somegorō VIII

Oda Nobunaga (Takuya Kimura) and Nohime (Haruka Ayase) were originally married to mend a hostile relationship between neighbouring regions. Unfortunately, they were like oil and water, making for a somewhat unhappy marriage. When Oda’s enemy, Imagawa Yoshimoto, attacks Owari with his vast army, Oda is devastated by the overwhelming gap in military strength. However, Nohime encourages him not to despair and the pair draw up a tactical plan that will allow them to overcome the odds.

열일곱 여름, 그 빛나던 계절에, 너를 만났다. 하이쿠를 좋아하는 과묵한 소년과 명랑하지만 콤플렉스가 있는 소녀. 작은 우연이, 평생 못 잊을 마법 같은 여름을 둘에게 선사한다.

Includes footage of the oral presentation of the third generation of Ichikawa Somegoro VIII and others. In June 2007, when he was two years old at the Kabuki-za theatre, he played the chivalrous Harusamegasa in his first appearance under his real name 'Fujimasai'. Koshiro Matsumoto IX says he started jumping around in the middle of the day and was made to study without knowing he wanted to play Benkei Rokkata By the age of four, he had become Kintaro Matsumoto IV and is now Somegoro Ichikawa VIII. The film presents 10 years of close-up footage.

Documentary programme closely following the simultaneous one-year succession of three generations of the prestigious Koraiya theatre. Koshiro IX and Shiro Matsumoto II, Somegoro VII and Koshiro Matsumoto X, and Kintaro IV and Somegoro Ichikawa VIII performed the succession on 2 January 2008 at the Kabuki-za theatre in Tokyo. The film follows the unwavering transmission of the art of father and grandson. Testimony from Koshiro X's sister, Noriyasu Matsumoto, and younger sister, Takako Matsu. Also features family ties and rare glimpses of Koshiro away from the stage. An insight into the amazing feat of three generations of Kabuki actors who assumed the name simultaneously, a rarity in the 400-year history of the Kabuki theatre.