Being a member of the Japan-America Society has it perks because I got an e-mail about a rare opportunity to see Nakamura Kanzaburō XVIII (十八代目中村勘三郎) and Heisei Nakamura-za at the Warner Theatre in DC on July 26. I was so excited about going as I have never seen live kabuki. I was hoping to see Renjishi too, but it wasn not in the program. We got to see Kanjinko (The Subsciption List) and a slightly modernized Migawari Zazen (The Substitute). The costumes were so beautiful, especially the color combination and coordination of kimono, hakama, and nagabakama (long trailing hakama) . What I thought was really interesting was actually seeing the actors walk around in nagabakama trousers. It was “practical” to wear if you wanted to keep warriors from trying to assassinate or kill high ranking people of the shogunate back then. But still, trying to turn around while wearing them looks like a big feat.
Babel
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