To the Future is a small GRAPH interview of junior actresses. This one was published in the February 2017 issue.
To the Future – Kozakura Honoka
Profile
Debut performance: Rose of Versailles, April 2013
Nicknames: Honoka, Ai-chan
Birthday: May 6th
Birthplace: Tokyo, Toshima ward
Blood type: O
Offstage thing she’s most interested in: I want to go to the Bregenz Festival1 in Austria and see the opera performed floating on the lake – it’s so romantic!
First Takarazuka show:
I saw the 2006 Flower Troupe production of Phantom, with Haruno Sumire in the lead. The first time my mother took me to the Tokyo Takarazuka Theatre I remember being in ecstasy about how gorgeous the theatre environment was.
School clubs:
I was in the Go club. I entered the Go club because I had been fascinated by the Go board and stones at my grandfather’s house, and I would even read books of joseki2 while on the train home from school – I was totally passionate about the world of Go (laughs).
Motivation for taking TMS entrance exam:
The first time I saw Phantom, I was totally spellbound by the sparkling world of the opera house and the beautiful music, as well as Sakurano Ayane’s performance as Christine and the duet dance scene, so I thought ‘It would be wonderful if I could perform on that stage as a musumeyaku some day…’
Memories of the debut performance:
When they first let us into rehearsals and I was permitted to watch them rehearsing the Bastille scene of Rose of Versailles, I was so moved that I cried really hard every time. I thought ‘someday I want to act in such an emotional scene!’
A role that had a deep impression:
The role I was able to play in the shinjin kouen of Samurai THE FINAL, Ootani Fuyu. For the first time I had a solo while crossing the Silver Bridge, acting scenes with a partner, duets…it waas full of so many things I had never done before. Hinami Fuu-san, who had the main cast role, taught me everything from square one, and I learned so much from her about being a musumeyaku and what ‘performing’ is. It was such an important experience for me.
Senior actresses I admire:
Sakurano Ayane-san and Hinami Fuu-san. I admire Sakurano-san’s beauty as a musumeyaku and her smile which seems to envelop the whole stage in warmth. Hinami has constantly taught me so many things. I respect her deeply both as a performer and as a kind person.
Dream as a performer:
No matter what the situation, I want to be close with the otokoyaku and exist as a musumeyaku, I want to be my own kind of ‘flower’… Someday I want to be a gorgeous, charming performer, so that people will call me ‘a musumeyaku in the best traditions of Takarazuka’. That’s my dream!
1 – This music/opera festival features opera performances on a stage built into a lake, and performances often use the surrounding water in the staging.
2 – A set series of moves for Go.