Stepping out of Time

On a recent visit to Kyoto, I had occasion to interview Inoue Yachiyo V, head of Kyomai Inoue-Ryu [der Inoue-Tanzschule] and her daughter cum protégé, Inoue Yasuko. Both of whom are Kyomai teachers and crowning torchbearers of a tradition that has been taught by a succession of female dance masters. The interview afforded us the opportunity to discuss the prospects and relevance of this centuries-old artform in our rapidly changing world. In the realm of Nihon Buyo, (a blanket term for classical Japanese dance), the Inoue School is sui generis: in addition to being the only dance form studied by the Geiko, (Geisha) and Maiko (fledgling Geisha) in Kyoto’s Gion Kobu quarter, it also accentuates dance’s poetic dimension whereby the viewer’s imagination is subtly aroused. Generations of Kyomai masters have excelled in choreographing the jiuta repertoire, a genre of traditional Japanese music originally played on the shamisen which flourished in the Kyoto and Osaka regions.

My earliest encounter with jiuta-mai dance was one stay-at-home Sunday evening some forty years ago on a twelve-inch black-and-white TV set plagued with poor reception. Despite the sporadic blizzard-like picture and the sound surging in waves, the image of that lone sculpturesque jiuta dancer beguiled me like an entrancing melodic line whose initial impression never wanes. At times as immobile as a vigilant crane lurking in the shallows, the ageing performer left me awestruck as the fan unfurling in her hand unleashed a flutter of scattering ripples which flowed out of the box to etch themselves on my memory.

As good fortune would have it, Inoue Yachiyo V was scheduled to an appearance at the National Theatre of Japan in Tokyo several days later, at which she would present Zangetsu, a piece from the jiuta repertoire, and what turned into an occasion that offered living proof of her compelling universal appeal.