Appreciating the beauty and sophistication of Japanese traditions American Kabuki Actor
Cultural News, June 2005
Nakamura Gankyo is a Los Angeles-born kabuki actor in Japan.
By Cultural News Contributors
(Japanese names appear in family names and given names order)
Ka (singing) - Bu (dancing) - Ki (acting): Kabuki traces its roots to the early 17th century Kyoto – practically the same time opera was born in Italy. Kabuki actors are able to sing, dance and act out the numerous kabuki plays, playing everything from women, children, and savage warlords, to fairly tale animals come to life.
Traditionally, kabuki was a family business. Therefore, only those born into one of the 40 or so kabuki families could begin their acting training from childhood and make a name for themselves as kabuki actors. Being that only men were allowed to act in kabuki theaters, an elite set of them spent the past 400 years trying to master this traditional performing art.
In the midst of this hidden and exclusive world, an American youngster from Los Angeles tries to define the "Japanese" of his ancestry, while translating the beauty of this hard to understand art in hopes of sharing it with others, especially other Americans.
American kabuki actor Nakamura Gankyo, 23, apprentice of top kabuki actor Nakamura Ganjiro III, was born in Los Angeles as Kanesaka Ken, third child of Tokyo-born father, Kenji, and Hawaii-born and Hiroshima-raised mother, Yukari. In 2001, at the age of 19, Gankyo was selected as one of ten trainees of Kamigata Kabuki Juku in Osaka, which is run by the entertainment conglomerate Shochiku Company. Nowadays, the Kabuki circle opens doors to the public in order to preserve the traditional performing arts with the help of government funds and private efforts like that of Shochiku. In Tokyo, Kabuki Actor Training Center has been opened as a part of the National Theatre in Chiyoda ward.
Gankyo is the first American who entered the kabuki world. The former UCLA student was studying political science at the prestigious Tokyo University when he made his decision to start his kabuki training. Gankyo previously had plans to become a lawyer in the United States. While about half of the students dropped out of the program, Gankyo finished the two year program in 2003. Subsequently, he became an apprentice of Nakamura Ganjiro III, who is one of the top kabuki actors and a Living National Treasure of Japan. The stage name of “Nakamura Gankyo” was given by Master Ganjiro III. Part of his name, “Kyo,” was derived from “Kyoto.”
His debut was in April 2003, when he played on the stage of the renowned Minamiza Theatre in Kyoto. “Master Ganjiro gave me this name so that I can always remind myself of my starting point as a kabuki actor,” Gankyo recalls. However, it has not been an easy process for the young American man living in the traditional circle. At times, he was confused by the highly disciplined hierarchy system called “Senpai” and “Kohai” – elder and younger – a relationship that is the backbone of traditional values in Japan.
Other times, he was embarrassed because he was told a foreigner was not wanted as a kabuki actor. “But Master Ganjiro was broad-minded and told me that it was a good thing for people from outside of Japan to study kabuki,” Gankyo says in beautiful, fluent and polite Japanese. It is hard to believable that he did not speak Japanese well before the kabuki training.
Nakamura Gannosuke of Tokyo, 57, who is a “Senpai” for Gankyo and has had more than a 30-year kabuki acting career, also says that non-Japanese are welcome to become kabuki actors as long as they study Japanese traditions and kabuki very hard. “Gankyo is so eager to learn kabuki,” Gannosuke says, “and he has the ability to deliver and I think it is partly because he is an American.”
Gankyo had started Japanese dancing lessons as early as three years old at Bando Mitsuhiro Japanese Dancing School at Harbor City in Los Angeles. “Ken (Gankyo’s real name) was ready for dance lessons even though he was only three years old,” Mme. Bando says, “I think he had already started dance lessons before he was born because his mother used to take Ken’s older sister to the dance lessons when she was carrying Ken.”
In 1998, when Gankyo was 16 years old, he earned his natori title “Bando Hiroshichiro” as the first American man in Bando School’s history. “Madame Mitsuhiro taught me very authentic Japanese dances, so I could dance decently in Japan,” Gankyo says. Mme. Bando Mitsuhiro who has been teaching Japanese classical dance in the United States for 36 years, was an apprentice of the late Bando Mitsugoro VIII, a renowned kabuki actor and dancer, and was given her teaching credential by the late Mitsugoro VII in Kyoto 51 years ago. Bando Dance School has been derived from the Bando Family of kabuki circle 85 years ago. Bando School preserves the kabuki acting element heavily among Japanese classical dance schools.
In the Kamigata Kabuki Juku training course, he learned traditional dancing, tea ceremony, flower arrangement, shamisen, ohayashi and even kimono dressmaking. The class begins at 10:30 a.m. and continues until 6 p.m. every day. “I found those Japanese arts are related with each other. Even the slight moment of breathing when you arrange flowers is similar to the moment of breathing when you dance,” he says. Gankyo says that kabuki actors have to know all these arts because each element is important for acting. “For example, acting a woman’s role sometimes requires sewing. So, dress making, sewing with a needle, is important acting training as well,” he says.
Gankyo learned the difference between Kamigata kabuki and Edo kabuki. Kamigata literally means “Upper Ward” and reflects the Osaka-Kyoto region. Kamigata kabuki requires actors to show the subtleties of human nature and is sensitive and romantic in feel. The nature of this character is called “Wagoto.” On the other hand, Edo kabuki is dynamic and exaggerated in every action. The nature of this character is called “Aragoto.” Gankyo says that Kamigata kabuki is interesting because it has a more flexible attitude toward acting styles. The Kamigata style changes storylines to draw the principal actors’ character, while Edo kabuki does not challenge such an attempt. In comparison, Edo kabuki actors are fixed to their role; either male or female, Kamigata kabuki actors play both male and female roles. “I’d like to be a skilled actor who can act different characters perfectly,” Gankyo says.
It is his Hawaii-born and Hiroshima-raised grandmother’s will that Gankyo started learning Japanese traditional arts. “I still remember that my grandmother used to tell me to learn and preserve beautiful Japanese traditions and to remember where our family came from,” Gankyo says, “she also taught me how important it is to have a dream.” Gankyo adds that having a dream always provides him mental vigor to live actively, especially, when he is in challenging situations. “Even when I feel tired, I can wake up with full energy in the morning by thinking of my dream,” he says.
In his future, Gankyo wants to contribute to the development of Japanese culture in Japanese American communities in the United States. “I want to be a leader who can help children to have dreams, who can help children to achieve their dreams,” he says, “I’ve been lucky to have met all these great people and to have pursued my dream. So it’s my turn to give this opportunity to the next generation. In order to do that, I need to acquire real, authentic Japanese traditional arts.”
As a member of Shochiku Chikamatsu-za troupe, Gankyo will return to Los Angeles and perform in two scenes of “Sonezaki Shinju” at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts from June 21 to June 24.
The Cultural News Contributors include freelance writer Fumie Iida in Los Angeles.