'Kokuho' illuminates the high price of becoming a national treasure

Japan Times

06-06-2025

Japan's ningen kokuhō (living national treasures) are a select group of artisans and performers who are recognized for mastery of their craft. Shuichi Yoshida's 2018 novel "Kokuho" traces the life of one such individual, an orphan from a yakuza clan adopted into a family of kabuki stars, whose tumultuous journey through the world of classical Japanese theater leads to the top — but at a price.
"Kokuho" has now been adapted into a film by Korean Japanese director Lee Sang-il which, following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this May, hits Japanese cinemas Friday. The sumptuously shot film spans three hours and half a century of story, and stars Ryo Yoshizawa ("Kingdom") as orphan-turned-kabuki legend Kikuo alongside industry veterans like Ken Watanabe ("The Last Samurai"), who plays Kikuo's adopted father and a kabuki master in his own right.
Lee tells The Japan Times that while the provenance of the film is ostensibly Yoshida's 2018 novel, his desire to make a film about kabuki goes back much further, to shortly after he adapted Yoshida's novel "Villain" for the screen in 2010.
"I told Yoshida I wanted to do a movie about kabuki and ... what kind of characters I wanted to feature," says Lee, 51. "We both had our own projects for years after that, but at one point, Yoshida told me that he had started to do some research into kabuki. I thought, 'Oh! That idea I mentioned sparked something within him.'"
Lee, who debuted as a feature film director with 2002's "Border Line," explains his interest in kabuki came from a desire to explore forms of storytelling outside cinema.
"Up until 'Villain,' I was primarily interested in movies, but I started to get interested in forms of traditional Japanese expression. Among those, kabuki is both popular but incredibly deep with elements you can't see on the surface," Lee says. "Even the same play can be very different depending on when it's performed and who stars in it."
Yoshida's take on Lee's original concept took its own twists and turns, but the resulting novel retained two key elements: Its lead, Kikuo, is an onnagata, a male actor who plays female roles, and the film traces the course of his life, from his childhood as the son of a slain yakuza boss in 1960s Nagasaki to his official designation as a ningen kokuhō.
To mark the passing of time visually, Lee gave each of the film's three main sections (youth, adolescence and middle age) a distinctive look by applying different color grades — the digital equivalent of changing film stocks.
"We also thought about our characters' relationships, and how their positions flip from period to period,' says Lee. 'Are they at the height of their career or at a low point, and how does that change how they interact? By showing that, we could clearly show how time had passed.'
One partner in bringing the film's look to life was Tunisian cinematographer Sofian El Fani, whom Lee first worked with on the television drama "Pachinko."
"Sofian really watches the actors to see what they're trying to express," says Lee. "'Pachinko' was filmed in English, Japanese and Korean, the latter two of which he didn't understand, but he picked up perfectly on what the actors were feeling."
Ryo Yoshizawa (left) and Ryusei Yokohama star in 'Kokuho' as siblings-by-adoption turned rivals. |
© Yoshida Shuichi / Asahi Shimbun © "Kokuho" Film Partners
Key to bringing "Kokuho" to the screen was finding the right actor to play Kikuo. Lee needed an actor who could both embody the complicated, sometimes ruthless character and dedicate over a year to training for the performance.
"Yoshizawa saying yes to the film was the determining factor in whether I would make it," says Lee. "In fact, I offered the part to him five or six years ago, before there was any guarantee we could get the funding to make the film.
"I saw in him the same idiosyncrasies that Kikuo had in the book," says Lee. "On the outside, they're like dolls, but their insides are like black holes. I couldn't think of any other actors who had that aura."
To play Kikuo's adopted father, Lee turned to Watanabe, the Academy Award-nominated actor whom he has directed twice before: in "Unforgiven" (2013), a spin on the Clint Eastwood western, and in another Yoshida adaptation, "Rage" (2016).
"Ken has appeared in many films and TV, often as a kind of a tough guy with a lot of pride and strength," says Lee. "But I usually go against that public image and ask him to display weakness, characters with some kind of internal struggle.
"In real life, he's overcome terrible illness," continues Lee, referring to Watanabe's bouts with acute myeloid leukemia and stomach cancer. "He's seen the worst and come out of it. So I think that 'shadow' is within him, and I think it's interesting to ask him to do roles that come into dialogue with that."
Ryo Yoshizawa trained for over a year to play the Kikuo, a kabuki actor on the path to becoming a nationally recognized master of his craft. |
© Yoshida Shuichi / Asahi Shimbun © "Kokuho" Film Partners
In "Kokuho," Watanabe plays a famous kabuki actor raising his biological son Shunsuke (Ryusei Yokohama) as his successor. But after bringing Kikuo into his family, Watanabe's character must choose between his bloodline and talent when he realizes his adopted son may have more potential than his biological one.
For Yoshizawa and Yokohama's many kabuki performances — first as partners and later as rivals — Lee depicts the view from the audience, who are swept up by the exquisite dancing, makeup and costumes, but also takes us right up alongside the actors, who fight to maintain the illusion through intense physical and emotional pain.
"When an audience watches a kabuki play, they focus on who's in the spotlight. But I have a feeling that's not all that's touching them," Lee says. "There's so much effort that goes into the final performance, and the audience feels that, maybe unconsciously. When an actor finishes their performance and leaves the stage, some kind of atmosphere, some kind of afterimage, lingers. I wanted to capture that experience on film."
Director Lee Sang-il says his interest in kabuki came from a desire to explore storytelling in different forms of traditional Japanese expression. |
Matt Schley
The director also worked hard to make sure the kabuki scenes were integral to the overall story rather than serve as their own distinct sections.
"The story and character relationships needed to carry on into the kabuki scenes, to synchronize," says Lee. "The kabuki has its own story, but at the same time, it's reflecting the relationships between Kikuo, Shunsuke and the other characters."
Another theme is the loneliness endured by a performer striving for kokuhō-level greatness like Kikuo.
"What is a living national treasure, anyway? In the film, we depict it as someone who's able to see something that others can't, a kind of 'landscape' that no one has ever seen," Lee says. "That's quite a lonely situation to be in. And when you reach for something of that level, you can't hold on to anything, or anyone, else. It all slips through your fingers."
In that sense, Lee says there may be a connection between the worlds of kabuki and filmmaking.
"The art forms are different, but the pursuit is similar. There are people in both who want to keep going further and higher."
"Kokuho" is screening in cinemas nationwide. For more information, visit, kokuhou-movie.com (Japanese only).