Traditional performing arts are plugging into modern audiences

Japan Times

17-05-2025

It could be a scene from a surreal dream — the animated virtual idol Hatsune Miku swaying her aqua pigtails on stage next to the renowned kabuki actor Nakamura Shido II. Since 2016, the unlikely duo have joined forces multiple times, and now they're back again — this time at the Osaka Expo, on May 24 and 25.
The show is called 'Cho Kabuki,' literally 'super kabuki,' and it represents a growing movement within Japan's traditional performing arts to bring high culture to the general populace — with a helping hand from technology.
Kabuki used to be entertainment for the masses and at times was even associated with prostitution and rowdy audiences. It's thought to have originated in the early 1600s from a female dance troupe that put on casual performances in Kyoto, though it subsequently became an all-male art form after women were banned from the practice. Major kabuki actors were celebrities who could set fashion trends, and their names were used to sell products ranging from kimono patterns to sake and food. It was only during the Meiji Era (1868-1912) that the image of kabuki began to transform, with its reputation as traditional high art and cultural heritage cementing in the early 20th century.
Kabuki is visually striking — with colorful costumes, white face makeup and dramatic poses — but its slow pace, stylized acting and archaic language often alienate modern audiences. Speaking to The Japan Times in 2020, Shochiku's Ippei Noma likened 'Cho Kabuki' to more of a 'rock concert' by nature, a show that amped up the music, lights and audience participation. This also brought updates to the language and references to help it resonate with modern audiences.
The upcoming 'Hanakurabe Senbonzakura Expo2025 Ver" performance tells a story set in the world of gods, where Miku stars as a princess, and sings and dances with Nakamura and other professional kabuki performers, who play spirits. |
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'Kabuki is a form of entertainment for the common people that evolved while incorporating production methods that suited the times,' Daisuke Onozato, chief producer of the Kabuki Production Department at Shochiku writes in an email to The Japan Times. ''Cho Kabuki,' which combines traditional classical production with cutting-edge modern technology, is a prime example of this.'
The 2016 show was the result of a collaboration between the telecommunications company NTT, media company Dwango and Shochiku, an entertainment and kabuki management company, aiming to utilize new technology to promote traditional culture. They decided to create a production with a new performer — Hatsune Miku, a virtual idol whose voice is created using Vocaloid software. This gave birth to the original piece "Hanakurabe Senbonzakura' (which combines 'Senbonzakura,' one of Miku's signature songs, and the classical kabuki play "Yoshitsune Senbonzakura"). Set in the world of gods, Miku stars as a princess, and sings and dances with Nakamura and other professional kabuki performers, who play spirits in a story of good vs. evil that spans a millennium.
The upcoming 'Hanakurabe Senbonzakura Expo2025 Ver" performance in Osaka adds a technological twist and one more cultural collaboration. In partnership with Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom, NTT launched the world's first IOWN (Innovative Optical and Wireless Network) international APN (All-Photonics Network) in August 2024, which boasts a faster and more stable transfer of information. The 'Cho Kabuki' stage in Osaka will be connected online to Jiutian Folk Arts Troupe in Taiwan, and the groups will perform together simultaneously in both countries.
'Audiences in both Japan and Taiwan will experience the performance as if it were taking place on a single stage, creating an immersive experience across distance,' says Kumiko Oomori, vice president of R&D Marketing Group at the Marketing Department at NTT.
Kabuki has brought about technological innovations through the centuries. It popularized keren, visual tricks, which included revolving stages and trap doors and were introduced during the 18th century. Later, wire systems were developed to enable actors to 'fly' above the stage for supernatural characters or dramatic escape scenes. Against this backdrop, 'Cho Kabuki' can be seen as simply the art form in its 21st-century evolution.
Shochiku, the company behind "Cho Kabuki," inspired further invention centered around kabuki. In 2019, Dart, a Tokyo-based company, created "Kabuki no Hikari,' an immersive media art exhibition based on acts from the kabuki play "Yoshitsune Senbonzakura.' |
COURTESY OF DART
'Cho Kabuki' is already inspiring further innovation related to kabuki. Dart, a Tokyo-based company that connects businesses with artists and galleries, teamed up with Shochiku to produce " Kabuki no Hikari ,' an immersive media art exhibition based on acts from the aforementioned kabuki play "Yoshitsune Senbonzakura,' where the viewers can interact with the art through touching holograms and seeing their own shadows synchronize with the projections.
'Chairman Sakamoto of Shochiku, a company that continues to work on kabuki, once said, 'Nothing will spread if we just preserve tradition as it is. Tradition can only be passed down through innovation,'' says Yuki Yamamura from Dart. 'This made a deep impression on me, and I hope to be able to provide this experience to our customers.'
First held in Shibuya in early 2019 for a limited time, Dart is currently in discussions to offer "Kabuki no Hikari' to new venues.
Blending innovation and tradition may not be as straightforward in the world of noh theater, considered Japan's oldest major theatrical art form. Centered on minimalism and restraint, performances take place on a simple square wooden stage and movements are highly codified, where one action of a performer might unfold over several minutes. The practice is informed by both Shinto and Buddhism and still incorporates spiritual elements.
This is why Technoh Lab, a performance that is a combination of noh and techno music — as the portmanteau name hints — may sound borderline heretical. Launched in 2022, the event night is held periodically in Suigian, a restaurant and bar in central Tokyo that showcases Japanese traditional performing arts. It's the brainchild of Hidetomo Kimura, an artist famed for his Art Aquarium exhibitions. In addition to kagura, a Shinto ceremonial dance, and Nihon buyō, traditional dances performed at Suigian , Kimura wanted to bring noh to modern audiences, while respecting the original medium.
'If people think they'll see noh actors dance to techno, that's not what we're doing,' he says. 'I force them to see the real thing.'
Suigian restaurant in Tokyo stages various traditional performances on their authentic noh theater stage, including a sporadic Technoh event that blends noh theater and techno music. |
COURTESY OF SUIGIAN
Technoh Lab is a creative collaboration between DJ Ken Ishii and noh master Manjiro Tatsumi, a recipient of the general designation of Important Intangible Cultural Property. It begins with a short techno set by Ishii to — in Kimura's words — create a 'club-like atmosphere.' Then, the noh performance begins with Tatsumi taking the stage and musicians playing all the instruments of a traditional performance: nohkan (noh flute), taiko (stick drum), kotsuzumi (small hand drum) and ōtsuzumi (large hand drum). The noh performance is gradually integrated with lighting, techno music and visuals, building to a crescendo of masked performers on stage moving to techno music. They then retire, and the evening continues as a regular techno set with different DJs taking the decks.
Kimura believes that his approach reflects the core of noh as an art form open to interpretation. To him, noh is not an old form, but something inherently new and full of potential. 'Something that has continued for 650 years is not outdated, but there are always new teachings, including a spiritual aspect to it,' he says.
Speaking to The Japan Times in 2020, Shochiku's Ippei Noma likened 'Cho Kabuki' to more of a 'rock concert' by nature, a show that amped up the music, lights and audience participation. |
COURTESY OF CRYPTON FUTURE MEDIA VIA PR TIMES
Purists might beg to differ, but there is also a movement within the world of noh to open this art form to broader audiences. Soraya Umewaka, a contemporary theater director and actor who hails from a noh family lineage extending back for over 600 years, has been involved with innovative productions over the past decade. In 2019, in collaboration with the Brazilian government, she produced and directed a multimedia production called 'Hell Says Noh,' which was based on Brazil's Cordel genre of pop literature and featured karate, capoeira and projection mapping.
For Umewaka, 'minimalist aesthetics and emotional subtlety' are key elements that she tries to preserve when bringing new ideas to the world of noh. With this in mind, she believes there's scope to push the boundaries.
'The literary foundations of noh were established around 600 years ago, and scholars argue that the link between text and music solidified roughly 400 years ago. When this synergy is altered, the work may no longer be considered "noh" in a strict sense,' she says. 'Yet, in the broader world of art, anything is possible — and noh is no exception. Thoughtful new interpretations, supported by technology like projection mapping and VR, can make noh's symbolic language more accessible to contemporary audiences.'
Technological tools aside, what will matter is whether experimental kabuki and noh performances continue to emotionally resonate with audiences. In this sense, high and pop art might simply be two sides of the same coin — one that is continuously co-constructed by the generation that experiences it.
For more information on 'Cho Kabuki' go to group.ntt/jp/expo2025/event/chokabuki . For more information on 'Techno Lab,' go to technohlab.art