Red Data Girl - Series 1 & 2

The First Makeup - 25

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Red Data Girl: The First Makeup
By Noriko Ogiwara
Chapter 4: Hodaka
Part 3 (1 of 3)

The sounds of a group of shamisen playing in unison a long with a male singing voice filled the room. This was certainly the music Izumiko had heard the last time she had come to the seminar house. It was a naga-uta, a traditional type of song accompanied by shamisen. Izumiko couldn’t say that she was particularly familiar with the music though.

Standing in the middle of the room, Honoka adjusted her long kimono sleeves and knelt down. She brought her hands together and bowed deeply. When Izumiko bent her own head in response, Hodaka laughed.

“No, you don’t need to do that. It’s just a greeting towards the people watching the performance. It’s a protocol from the days of the Tokugawa shogun. Performers have to acknowledge where he would have sat. That’s all.”

Honoka began her dance. Izumiko, flustered from Hodaka calling her out on her mistake, decided she should just sit in her seat and watch.

“This dance is part of a piece originally performed by young women called pages in the inner Edo Castle. It celebrates the early spring. In those times, it was especially important to acknowledge the shogun’s seat. It improved the dance itself. Have you ever seen the Kabuki play, Kagami Jishi?”

Relaxing into her chair, Izumiko nodded.

“Yes, once.”

“The story line is based on the Noh play Shiyatsu Kyou. Kagami Jishi is simply a Kabuki adaptation. Do you know anything about Noh plays?”

“No, I don’t know anything about them.” 

Izumiko worried that her response might end their conversation, but Hodoka didn’t seem bothered. He began to explain.

“Kagura and Shishimai, the lion dance, are performed at New Years. Noh has the same roots as the lion dance. Those roots are the basis of all Japanese traditional arts. Originally, professional performers came to Japan from the mainland. But normal laypeople would have celebrated the changing season in their villages by dancing around door to door and sharing the celebrations with everyone in the community. These activities were connected to Shinto rituals. However, there were some people who disliked the connections and that’s where Noh began. Separation of performance and religion was the birth of Noh and Kabuki.

I think I’ve heard about how people used to dance around their villages before… Izumiko thought. Before ascetic monks had been mostly eradicated and sent into hiding, they had been a part of such events. Yukimasa had told her that. And Mayura had mentioned that diviners had been a part of the same sort of celebrations. She did recall that most performers back then had been travelers. Professionals would not have always been available and thus, the jobs would have fallen to others.

As she thought this over, Izumiko nodded. She was still listening. Hodaka continued.

“What Honoka is performing now is the first half of the Shun Kyou Kagami Jishi. It’s a dance that was performed for the shogun by humble, pretty pages. In the second half, the page pretends to be possessed by the lion spirit. It’s the highlight of the Kabuki play. The page dances with all her might until she has no energy left to use.”

Izumiko could see how Honoka could play the part of a pretty page well. She had never seen any other girl move the way Honoka was moving now. The dance appeared to flow out of her. Her long sleeves swayed back and forth as moved, her back straight as the dance prescribed. Hodaka bit her lip in concentration. She was beautiful, absorbed in the dance, each movement entirely uninhibited.  After a bit, her freehanded dance ended and she picked up a fan from the floor before returning to the middle of the room.