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Kawamura Mikiko | From Hijikata Tatsumi’s Hōsōtan
Kawamura Mikiko
Born in 1990. Began dancing at the age of 16, and creating her own works in 2011. Having won numerous awards, she has caught peoples' interest as an up and coming Japanese dancer. She has performed both in Japan and abroad, and did a 6 month residency in 2016 that took her across Paris, Lyon, Grenoble, Marseille and Le Havre while based at the Centre National de la Danse and CCNR. She performs not only in theatres, but also at outdoor and live events, is involved in video and music production, and makes accessories. She has been based in Minamiboso in 2019.
A Triangle of Respect and Envy
by iina naoto
Grotesque yet aesthetic, Hōsōtan explored the Japanese body and culture with a touch of Mannerism hovering over the entire piece. It has a dense beauty akin to the erratic strangeness of A Trip to the Moon by Georges Méliès. Yet whichever part you look at, it simultaneously comes across as amusing. Where Ohno Kazuo was stylish, Hijikata Tatsumi was refined. Both were witty yet serious. Kawamura Mikiko’s replication of Hōsōtan is based on Ōuchida Keiya’s preserved video documentation of the original stage performance, which was first performed in Hijikata Tatsumi’s Twenty-Seven Nights for the Four Seasons (1972, Art Theatre Shinjuku Bunka).
In 2021 Tokyo Real Underground (TRU), an online festival on the themes of “butoh” and “Tokyo’s underground”, was held under the initiative of Mizohata Toshio, and a number of ambitious works were filmed and streamed online in an attempt to explore a contemporary form of butoh. Kawaguchi Takao’s reproduction of Ohno Kazuo and Matsuoka Dai’s reinterpretation of Ohno Yoshito’s work already existed, and so Kawamura Mikiko was invited to re-perform a piece by Hijikata Tatsumi. These pieces were presented as part of TRU’s THREE and Hologram at Home, and are also shown here as the opening sequences in the first, second and third episodes of Re-Butoooh.
In About Kazuo Ohno, Kawaguchi Takao copies the dance movements from works by Ohno Kazuo, as seen in preserved video documentation of Ohno Kazuo’s performances. All scenes are taken from works were originally directed by Hijikata, a deliberate choice by Kawaguchi. While details of Ohno Kazuo’s dances were improvised, key elements of the works were choreographed. These elements ensured the work could be reproduced, but the improvised details made his entire performance appear as a unique, one-time event. His images for this dance and the motifs in his movements were strongly connected, and even though the embellishments were different, the message of his dance never wavered. By comparing footage of the same work performed in different years, we can see that Ohno Kazuo likely repeatedly referred back to the notes he made during the creation his works.
For Hijikata Sanshō, Matsuoka Dai received direct choreographic guidance from Ohno Yoshito, who in turn had originally received the choreography from Hijikata Tatsumi. Hijikata Sanshō has a set pattern, and it is evident in the performance that there is a specific aesthetic to it. Matsuoka appears to take great care in order to ensure the pattern is not broken. We also had Matsuoka, who is also an active butoh dancer with Sankai Juku, perform in the same head-to-toe white paint and outfit that Ohno Yoshito performed in. I was once told by Ohno Yoshito that the image behind this white wash is the image of a foetus, a being of the future as of yet unborn. Written in Ohno Kazuo’s creative notes for Dead Sea are the words “unknown being (Ohno Yoshito)” and “the lighting is either salt, or a pillar of salt”. Ohno Yoshito often spoke of Hijikata. Once he got drunk and danced what he described as an imitation of Hijikata for me, and there was another time he described the differences between Ohno Kazuo and Hijikata Tatsumi’s intents in using white paint. The way he spoke about it revealed his great respect and admiration for Hijikata.
For William Klein’s Dance Happening, which was shot in Tokyo in 1961, Ohno Kazuo, Ohno Yoshito and Hijikata Tatsumi all appear in the same photographs. While compiling all this research, it seemed to me that the relationship between these three was a “triangle of respect and envy”. I hope to write more about their mutual envy, and not just respect, in another article some time in the future.
Out of my fantasy of bringing these three together in the same space, I came up with the idea for THREE. In the online talk about THREE held as part of the Tokyo Real Underground, we also showed some of the original footage this work is based on. The talk itself was magical, including performances by Kawaguchi Takao, Matsuoka Dai and Kawamura Mikiko.
From Hijikata Tatsumi’s Hōsōtan
Performance: Kawamura Mikiko
Costume: Kitamura Noriko
Film Production & Editing: iina naoto, Yoshida Naohiro, Kawamura Eri
Stage Management: Roshi (Sunagumi)
Lighting: Mori Noriyuki (balance,inc.DESIGN)
Sound: Cōda Noriaki
In cooperation with SAISON Foundation