Kabuki at the University after WWII
Kabuki in English was revived at the University in 1951 with House of Sugawara (Sugawara Denjū Tenarai Kagami) in the newly formed Department of Drama and Theatre, under Dr. Earle Ernst. He had recently returned to Hawaiʻi after serving in the Allied Occupation Censor Division in Tokyo, where he was responsible for overseeing kabuki productions. Ernst also translated and directed Benten Kozo in 1953. When the John F. Kennedy Theatre opened in 1963, the inaugural season included a remount of the kabuki play Benten Kozō, this time with costumes and wigs rented from Shōchiku Corporation in Japan, and grand kabuki actor Onoe Kuroemon II invited for a short residency to coach student actors. Thereafter, grand kabuki actors, working in tandem with local artists and UH faculty and staff, became standard working model for UHM kabuki productions. The beautiful new 600-plus seat theatre, enabled productions on an even grander scale than had been possible in Farrington Hall, built in 1931, where earlier productions had been staged. To this day Kennedy Theatre remains the only theatre building in the U.S. to be designed with a permanent hanamichi.
James R. Brandon translated and directed UH kabuki productions for three decades from 1970 to 2000, continuing to collaborate with local and visiting Japanese artists. These included Onoe Kikunobu, nisei nihon buyō dancer, who collaborated on kabuki productions at UH, working as choreographer, movement coach, and costuming and dressing consultant for six decades, from 1951 through 2011; Jōji Wago, nisei wig master (tokoyama) and makeup artist, and grand kabuki actor and head teacher at the National Theatre of Japan kabuki training program, Nakamura Matagorō II. Musical accompaniment reached new heights during this time, as the Department of Theatre and Dance began working closely with Music Department Ethnomusicologists Barbara Smith, and later Ricardo Trimillos, who served as musical directors, and accomplished musicians such as nagauta shamisen players Yamada Chie and later Kineya Wahatsu lead the kuromisu (offstage) nagauta ensemble. Professional kabuki narimono performer Kashiwa Senjirō began regular guest residencies to train students in kuromisu percussion starting in 1995.
Julie A. Iezzi succeeded Brandon, continuing the English language tradition. By the 2010s, many of the elders who had long supported the highly specialized areas needed to produce kabuki had passed on, so after a focused effort to rebuild the knowledge and revitalize interest to ensure the continuation of Hawaiʻi Kabuki in the future, plans were made to celebrate the Centennial of English-language kabuki at the University in the 2023-2024 academic year. A team of seven artists from Japan, including four kabuki actors, Ichikawa Monnosuke VIII, Ichikawa Komazō XI, Ichikawa Takisho and Ichikawa Utaki, kabuki percussionist Kashiwa Senjirō, professional wig artist Nagano Isamu from Osaka, and Minō Kabuki Preservation Society head, Oguri Sachie, worked tirelessly with project director and translator, Iezzi, over four years to bring the production of The Maiden Benten and the Bandits of the White Wave to fruition.
After six performances at the Kennedy Theatre in April, a cast and crew of forty made a historic satogaeri (homecoming) tour to Japan, sharing a joint bill with the Mino Kabuki Preservation Society for two performances at the Seiryū Plaza in Gifu (June 1) and the historic Aioi-za in Minō (June 2). This welcoming of Hawaiʻi Kabuki into the jikabuki (regional kabuki) was a fitting way to celebrate the centennial and bring a 130 year history full circle.
Togashi Musicians
