TOP > Episode2 Interview
Interview
Baku Ishii’s Mask, with Katsuko Orita
Baku Ishii’s Dance Video: Grotesque and Mask
Hiroshi Komatsu (Professor, Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Waseda University, film historian)
The amateur astronomer Shinichi Shimizu, also reputed as one of the recoverers of the Comet Daniel in 1937, was apparently an enthusiast of the Pathé Baby – a movie camera that shoots on 9.5 mm film –– that had just entered the Japanese market, and on which many motion pictures were shot. Thanks to his donating his 9.5mm film archives to the local library in his hometown of Shimada in Shizuoka Prefecture, we can now view segments of Grotesque and Mask, as choreographed by Baku Ishii.
The Pathé Baby camera projector was released in France in 1922 and the 9.5 mm film used in it was first imported into Japan in 1923. The initial importer was Takashimaya Iida Co. Ltd. (at that time, the department store Takashimaya’s trade department, later to become Marubeni Iida). Takashimaya was the Japanese general agency for the Pathé Baby camera. Before the Great Kantō Earthquake on 1 September 1923, this camera was solely available at Takashimaya. In the wake of the earthquake, however, the trader Bunzaburo Banno, who was active in the business world in Paris at that juncture, opened a shop that handled the Pathé camera in Tokyo’s Ginza district, as did the long-established photographic equipment store Asanuma Shokai who also began importing it. This resulted in an increase in the number of active amateur cameramen from 1924 to around 1926. In 1926, the Tokyo Baby Cinema Club was founded, where exchanges between members and cinema-related events increased over time. Shinichi Shimizu was also a member of this “club.” On 3 October 1926, two dances by the choreographer Baku Ishii were performed for amateur cameramen on the rooftop of the Mitsukoshi department store in Tokyo’s Nihonbashi district. Bunzaburo Banno’s Banno Shokai’s objective was to promote the sale of 9.5 mm cameras; he called upon the cooperation of Asahi Graph, a weekly gravure magazine published by the national daily Asahi Shimbun. They requested cooperation from Baku Ishii, who, on his return to Japan from Germany in 1925, had performed a series of new dance pieces at Tokyo’s Tsukiji Sho-gekijo Theater.
At that time, dancers tended to dislike having their dances filmed, but Ishii had already appeared in the German film production Wege zu Kraft und Schönheit, [Ways to Strength and Beauty, 1925]. It is unlikely that Ishii felt any resistance to dancing in front of amateur cameramen. Moreover, from the organizer’s perspective, no subject would highlight film’s aesthetic aspects as accurately as a film whose theme was dance. Originally, film visually documented an object’s movements, and the fact that dance was to be its theme would push such documentation to aesthetic heights. That explains why filmmakers have made dance a theme of their works ever since the beginning of film-making in the late 19th century.
While Mary Wigman’s aesthetic influence is noticeable in both Grotesque and Mask, there are no conventional dance “pas” in Mask. The spindle is motionless, concealed by cloth, and Ishii’s upper body, especially the arms, move in a highly expressive manner. This film reveals much about what he had learned in Germany.
At this film shoot, several “club” members shot motion pictures with Pathé Baby cameras. In addition to Shinichi Shimizu, the author knows of the existence of another cameraman who shot some footage on that day. Theoretically, there is only as much footage as the cameramen who participated in this film session actually shot; it is nonetheless highly likely that movements from other segments of Ishii’s dances have been documented on those films.
Translation: John Barret
Katsuko Orita (1936-2018)
Dancer. Daughter of Japan’s modern dance pioneer Midori Ishii (1913-2008), who was a student of Baku Ishii, and composer and violinist Izumi Orita (1908-1972). Performed her first recital aged 11. Won the Minister of Education Award [the most prestigious award] at Tokyo Shimbun’s National Dance Competition three times. As a dancer she received multiple awards, including the “Medal with Purple Ribbon” Medal of Honour in 2003, and “The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette” in 2009. Her work also expanded into the music and theatre industries, both across Japan and internationally.
Ishii Baku (1886-1962)
Born in Shimoiwakawa, a village in the Yamamoto district of Akita prefecture.
1911: Became one of the first students to study opera at the Imperial Theatre, and trained in singing, Japanese dance, Western classical ballet and acting.
1916: Performed his first work of “Dance Poetry” under the name Baku Ishii in a new theatre founded by Kaoru Osanai and Kosaku Yamada. Becomes associated with Junichiro Tanizaki, Haruo Sato, Tōkō Kon, and Seiji Tōgō. Forms the Tokyo Opera Company with Kouka Sassa, and performs Asakusa Nipponkan at Tokikan, triggering an upsurge in Asakusa Opera.
1922: Traveled to Europe with Konami Ishii, who was 15 years old at the time. Performed Mask and Captive Person etc. in various parts of Europe, starting with Berlin. Performed in the film Ways to Strength and Beauty (produced by UFA). Studies "rhythmique" at Dresden's Dalcroze Institute.
1925: Returned to Japan. Performed his first dance poetry performances since returning at the Tsukiji Small Theater, Tokyo, including Hōetsu and Meian.
1938: Opened the Baku Ishii Dance School.
1939: Involved in a traffic accident in Qingdao, while performing in Manchuria, loosing a significant amount of sight in both eyes.
1948: After his first post-war performance, his eyesight deteriorated further and he became blind.
1958: Performed Ningen Shaka for the 300th time.
1962: Passed away.
インタビュー
語り手 折田克子
聞き手 溝端俊夫
撮影・編集 飯名尚人
協力 石井みどり・折田克子舞踊研究所
挿入映像「マスク」
出演 石井漠
撮影 清水真一
協力 島田市図書館