In this feature from Kageki, several siennes talk about skills they have that they don’t get to show off on stage. This issue features Tooma Kazuki, Ooki Makoto, Aizuki Hikaru, and Kanoha Toki.
Takarasienne Talent Showcase!
Tooma Kazuki, Snow Troupe – Stage combat
While I would watch period dramas almost every day since I was little, and had the vague idea ‘fight scenes are really cool’, the thing that inspired me to actually start doing stage combat was in middle school, when I saw a fight scene in a Japanese-set stage play. Combined with the sound and lighting direction, the dynamic stage combat had a big effect on me, so I searched out a stage combat school and began taking lessons. I really enjoyed it, and I’d take a wooden sword to school and practice forms in front of the house at night. Also, when I learned of Fukumoto Seizou1, I became interested in playing the losing role. As I learned how to be ‘cut down’, I understood how much effect the reaction and use of the stage when losing had on creating depth to a combat scene. While I like the more orthodox style of fight scenes, I’d like to try doing higher-impact fight scenes that incorporate acrobatics.
Ooki Makoto, Star Troupe – Sanshin (Shamisen)2
I took piano starting when I was 2 years old, and as I encountered and tried out other instruments I also became interested in violin. I thought there was a lot of freedom in holding my own instrumentas I played, and it was really interesting to make the sound change by pressing different places on the neck. My mother was a teacher of koto and sanshin, and when I began trying to play a sanshin at the house, thinking it looked sort of like a violin, that was my motivation to start taking Jiuta3 lessons at my mother’s studio, starting in about the 5th grade of elementary school. Practice sessions were strict and she’d scold me for the slightest variation from proper form, and most of all, sitting in seiza would get terribly painful, but afterwards we would have tea and sweets which was enough fun to make up for it (laughs). In Jiuta sanshin, you make each note resonate deeply as you play and the appeal is in its classical austerity. Sometime I’d like to try out one of those shamisen-shaped shoulder keyboards.
Aizuki Hikaru, Cosmos Troupe – Skiing
Ever since I was in kindergarten, me and a friend’s family would all go skiing together over spring break, and I’d take classes given at the ski resort. I went from ‘Calimero’4, to ‘chick’ to ‘chicken’…and so forth (laughs), gradually advancing to the point where I could get certification. Since I was a little kid it’s not really such a big deal, but I got a first-rank Junior Skiier certificate. That’s around the level where you can ski parallel even on a bumpy course. I decided to take the TMS entry exam in around 5th grade, so after that I couldn’t go any more since I couldn’t risk an inquiry. But I love the scenery I can see from the ski lift, and driving through the wind as I glide through that pure white world – it’s really thrilling.
Kanoha Toki, Moon Troupe – Folding paper cranes from a 1cm square
I started one day in middle school when I had a break and, not thinking much of it, cut some paper up into little pieces and started folding. At first I used approximately 3cm squares, but for some reason I thought ‘I want to go to extremes!’ (laughs) and so I gradually went smaller and smaller until I could do it with a 1cm square. I tried challenging myself with an 8cm square once, but even with just a 2mm difference it was really difficult, so I haven’t made it over that barrier yet (laughs). The trick to it is to place my elbows firmly on the table to keep my fingers steady, and hold the paper in the air as I fold it. Ever since I was Ken-1, I’ve had that written in Takarazuka Otome in the ‘Special Talents’ column, and I even remember that during the run of my debut performance, Assistant Director Ishida5 said ‘that’s really interesting’ to me… Sometime I’d like to try for the Guiness World Record (laughs).
1 – A Japanese stage combat performer known for playing the losing combatant. A performance demonstration can be seen here.
2 – A three-stringed plucked instrument. Sanshin is the Okinawan variant.
3 – An example of this genre of sanshin/shamisen music can be found here.
4 – Calimero is a Japanese cartoon chick character.
5 – Unclear, but seems to refer to Ishida Masaya.