Restoring a promise
1939 Kabuki theatre model now on permanent display
In the summer of 1939, Japan’s Shochiku Company, sent a wooden model of a Kabuki theater scene from the play Kanadehon Chushingura, across the Pacific to the University of Hawai‘i.
An enduring symbol of the goodwill between Japan and the United States that has been fostered by UH, the Kabuki model is now on permanent display in the Asia Collection Reading Room at UH Mānoa Hamilton Library. A reception on Aug. 18, 2025, celebrated its restoration and new location, which fulfills a promise made long ago.
Kabuki theater model at Hamilton Library. Photo by King James Mangoba
A model of cultural exchange
Gregg Sinclair, founding director of the University of Hawai‘i’s Oriental Institute – a precursor of today’s East-West Center that existed from 1936-1940 – had requested the Kabuki model to promote cultural awareness.
The model arrived on campus 15 years after the first English-language Kabuki theater production at UH in 1924, and the year before the ambitious Oriental Institute would be interrupted by World War II. At the time, the library held around 2,500 volumes in Japanese. Today, that number approaches 150K.
According to university archives, Sinclair worked with what are now the Japan Foundation, a cultural exchange organization, and Mainichi Shimbun, one of Japan’s major national daily newspapers, to facilitate the request for the model. Shochiku, which managed Kabuki performances in Japan, agreed to honor his request.
Takejiro Otani founded Shochiku in 1895. According to his grandson, Nobuyoshi Otani, he worked with Genjiro Hasegawa (Kanbei Hasegawa XVI), a master carpenter of the Kabuki-za Theatre, to build the intricate model over three months’ time.
Nobuyoshi Otani is currently honorary chair of Shochiku, which despite having grown into a major Japanese entertainment company that now includes film and theater production, as well as real estate and merchandise sales, remains true to its origins by continuing to promote Kabuki theater.
“I have heard that before the donation of the stage model, there was a history of Japanese immigrants to Hawaiʻi building playhouses and staging productions, and I feel that it is because of this cultural background that the stage model has been carefully preserved to this day,” Otani wrote in a letter to College of Arts, Literatures, and Letters Dean Peter Arnade dated Aug. 1, 2025.
“This beautiful model was made and gifted to us, along with a Kabuki actor doll, with the promise of perpetual display on campus in summer 1939,” said Mitsutaka Nakamura, the Japan Studies librarian in Hamilton Library’s Asia Collection.
Nakamura intends to keep that promise.
He said the Kabuki theater model had been displayed and stored in various locations over the years, including Kennedy Theatre and more recently in the Special Collections cage at Hamilton Library. Over time, the condition of the wooden model deteriorated, and its accompanying Kabuki actor doll was lost.
In honor of the 100th anniversary of English-language Kabuki performances at UH last year, the model was renovated and restored to its original charm. The project was made possible by Julie Iezzi, UH Mānoa theater professor, and financial support from the Department of Theatre and Dance.
Artist Meg Hanna-Tominaga, a UH Mānoa theatre graduate in design who apprenticed in Japan, consulted with artisans there on the restoration work. The model now sits atop a beautiful monkey pod stand crafted of Mānoa timber by local carpenter Todd Blankenship and is protected by an acrylic case.
“This combination of the Kabuki theater model, case and stand symbolizes our enduring bond between Shochiku and UH, and Japan and Hawai‘i as well,” Nakamura said. He hopes to also restore the Kabuki actor doll to the model in the future.
“I am sure that my deceased grandfather would be pleased to know that you have kept your promise of permanent preservation. We hope that you will continue to protect the display as a testament to the cultural exchange fostered by our predecessors,” Otani wrote. “We look forward to the succession, development and fruitful achievement of English Kabuki in the Department of Theatre and Dance.”
Julie Iezzi and Ichikawa Monnosuke VIII with the Kabuki model in the Asia Collection Reading Room at Hamilton Library. Photo by Scott Nishi/UH Foundation
Expanding UH’s Kabuki tradition
Kabuki master Ichikawa Monnosuke VIII (given name Takayuki Soma), who works for Shochiku, was on hand to celebrate the restoration of the model after his Kabuki workshop students performed their showcase on Aug. 18. Monnosuke’s wife, Yukika Soma, and daughter, Yume Soma, who also works for Shochiku, and Vice-Consul Shu Tabira of the Consulate General of Japan in Honolulu, also attended the reception.
Currently on display with the Kabuki model is the Exploring + Performing Kabuki @ UH Mānoa exhibit, which showcases UH students in Kabuki stage performances, Kabuki-related research at UH, and special collection resources in Hamilton Library.
“I feel the connection between Shochiku and the University of Hawai‘i through this model,” Monnosuke said through a translator. “With the exhibit of the model and all of these materials, students coming into the University of Hawai‘i have this opportunity to see what we do here.”
Iezzi spoke at the reception of what a great honor it is for the students to be able to work directly with a Kabuki actor of Monnosuke’s caliber.
“Monnosuke-san has been on the stage since the age of 6. He’s a highly versatile performer. He can do male roles, female roles, traditional plays, and he’s appeared in a lot of contemporary and newly-written Kabuki plays. There are few actors who have that breadth and that depth,” she said. “So we are so incredibly fortunate that he is interested in our program and interested in helping us to continue doing Kabuki here in Hawaiʻi.”
Iezzi said this was Monnosuke’s fifth trip to Honolulu to work with UH students, the first four times being in conjunction with The Maiden Benten and the Bandits of the White Waves production in 2024. This time, it was for the inaugural Kabuki workshop at UH.
2025 Kabuki workshop showcase at Earle Ernst Lab Theatre. Photo by Scott Nishi/UH Foundation
“It was his idea, actually—he was like, ‘We can’t let this go!’ He was so touched by everyone’s dedication and the progress they made,” she said of his experience with the Benten production.
So, he decided to take August off and come to teach the intensive workshop at UH.
“It’s because of that generosity and that spirit that we’re able to do this workshop this year, and next year, and going forward, and build from there,” Iezzi said. “It’s really because of him that this program can continue moving.”
Monnosuke, along with Vice-Consul Tabira, presented kantōshō, or fighting spirit awards, to Alex Rogals and Casey Schoenberger during the reception for making great progress during the workshop. He looks forward to continuing his Kabuki training at UH.
“For the next 100, 200, 300 years, I hope that Kabuki here at the University of Hawai‘i will continue, and I will continue working toward that myself,” Monnosuke said. “Let’s keep doing this!”
L-R: Vice-Consul Shu Tabira, Yume Soma, Alex Rogals, Yukika Soma, Ichikawa Monnosuke VIII, Julie Iezzi, Casey Schoenberger and Mitsutaka Nakamura. Photo by Scott Nishi/UH Foundation – see more event photos here.
