2023-05-02 03:00:08
The story is one of revenge. That of a warrior, Iwami Jutaro, who runs around Japan in search of his father’s murderer. Along the way, he multiplies the exploits, defeats a giant snake, eliminates a baboon. If the episode is legendary, the character lived well in the XVIe century. Kabuki, the traditional Japanese art of song and dance, is about to bring him back to life in his Kabuki-za temple in Tokyo. In the lead role, Maholo Terajima, a young 10-year-old Franco-Japanese will make his first appearance on stage on May 2 as an officially recognized kabuki actor, under the name Onoe Maholo I.
His entry into this closed guild is a mini-revolution. Maholo is indeed not the heir to a line of male actors, as tradition would have it. He is the son of the great “classic” actress Shinobu Terajima, herself the daughter of Onoe Kikugoro VII, “living national treasure” of kabuki. The actress has never been able to tread the flower path, this access route to the main kabuki stage, because she is a woman. Kabuki is a world reserved for men, who even assume the female roles: onnagata.
Specially written for the dubbing of Maholo, the play The Young Warrior of Reputation is signed by renowned kabuki author, Toyoshige Imai. The work has two parts, one of dance, the second of combat. On stage, for the twenty-five scheduled performances, the young Maholo’s grandfather will stand by his side. Onoe Kikugoro VII directs the kabuki house Otowaya, created in Kyoto by his ancestor in the XVIIIe century and which gave a line of actors specializing in the roles ofonnagata. Maholo’s appearance on stage takes place within the framework of the traditional annual Dan-Kiku Sai festival, organized since 1936 and which this time will have a doubly French touch, Chanel and agnès b. having chosen to accompany the debut of the young actor.
“I’ve loved kabuki since I was little,” explains Maholo, in the large family home in the heart of Tokyo. Dressed in wide pastel green trousers under a black haori, a traditional jacket stamped with the family symbol, he appears a little shy, but his bearing is already elegant and haughty. “He has always been fascinated by this world. He never shunned the four-hour performances and cried even if we wanted to leave before the end. One day, when he was 3 years old, he got down on his knees and asked his grandfather: ‘Put me on stage’”, remembers his father, the French artistic director Laurent Ghnassia. Shortly after, this grandfather if “admired” gives his consent. Maholo made his first appearance on stage during the 2017 Dan-Kiku Sai festival. Since then, he has been learning and performing three shows a year on average.
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