I came for ‘Chō no Michiyuki’, and for these two: Somegoro and Danko. So lovely at the start, and by the end so unbearably sad… I had no idea a single dance could move me this much. Another wonderful day, as always.
What was on the Evening Show?
The Evening Show was a double bill: ‘Onihei Hankachō: Kettō’ and the dance ‘Chō no Michiyuki’. It was the latter I had come for.
A ‘michiyuki’ is a scene that shows a man and a woman travelling a road together through dance. More often than not, it is a road towards a double suicide, or a road that belongs to the next world rather than this one.
Sukekuni and Komaki, the couple in ‘Chō no Michiyuki’, were lovers who lost their lives standing in for their lord, and never got to be together in this world. After death they become a pair of butterflies, wandering a field of flowers… a heartbreaking story.
‘Chō no Michiyuki’: from delicate to hell
In the first half, the two appear as they were in life, dancing while shyly recalling how they first met. This is the stretch in which you are free to simply gaze at them — how lovely, how delicate, how pretty she is, how handsome he is.
Then in the second half, the torments of hell come for the two butterflies. The moment their costumes flipped open — a ‘bukkaeri’, in which the hem falls away to reveal a different pattern underneath — and they turned into butterflies, I nearly gasped out loud.
But what makes this piece so sad is that you cannot enjoy that gasp wholeheartedly. The more beautifully the costumes change, the further the story slides towards ruin, and it simply made me sad. All I could do was watch as the two shielded each other and slowly gave out.
A doomed love, like Romeo and Juliet — except this one offers no consoling happy ending, so the aftertaste sits heavily. Then again, Romeo and Juliet does not have one either…
I watched from the second level, a little removed, as though watching over the two of them from a distance — which suited this fragile piece rather well, I think.
The other play: ‘Onihei Hankachō’
The other half of the Evening Show was ‘Onihei Hankachō: Kettō’, starring Koshiro Matsumoto. It is Shotaro Ikenami’s much-loved novel turned into kabuki, with Koshiro himself handling the structure and direction.
‘Chō no Michiyuki’ was supposed to be the reason I came, and yet I thoroughly enjoyed this too… and before I knew it, there I was clutching an Onihei acrylic stand (laughs).
The interval, and finally a medetai-yaki
When it comes to interval snacks at the Kabukiza, it has to be the medetai-yaki. I so often fill up on my bento and miss out, so the days I do get one are a real treat.
Bento, or taiyaki… this time I managed both 😂 delicious.
Final thoughts
‘Chō no Michiyuki’ was an unforgettable dance, one in which beauty and sorrow sit side by side. That fragility came from these two in particular, Somegoro and Danko — I still find myself thinking about it.
A story heading straight for ruin, and yet I want to see it again. Kabuki dance has that strange pull to it.
