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MAHABHARATA SENKI. Presented by Shochiku Co., Ltd. Kabuki-za Theatre, Tokyo, Japan. 1-25 October 2017.
As part of the celebration for the 60th anniversary of the 1957 cultural agreement between Japan and India, a Hindu masterpiece was adapted for the Japanese audience in 2017. Mahābhārata Senki (The War Chronicles of the Mahabharata) demonstrates the extent to which kabuki theatre has reinvented itself and yet remains an integral part of Japanese tradition. The plays opening scene presents a visual treat as spectators are wonderstruck by the transformation of kabuki and its age-old repertoires into a foreign atmosphere depicting the garden of heaven. The splendid mise-en-scene of act 1, scene 1, reveals an assembly of the Hindu gods Surya, Indra, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, who are all solemnly seated, wearing resplendent kathakali-style costumes and glittery makeup, typical of the Indian dance-drama form (Fig. 1).
The Indian epic Mahabharata, which depicts the power struggles between two branches of a royal family, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, has found expression in various versions of drama, literature, theatre, and film, including Peter Brooks stage play and subsequent film in the 1980s. Shochikus grand kabuki is adapted from an earlier Indian storyline.
In the Mahabharata, Karna, the son of Surya (the Sun God), and Arjuna, the son of Indra (the God of Lightning), are born to the same mother, Princess Kunti (who later becomes the queen of Hastinapura or the Kingdom of Elephants). The princess' sons are fated to follow different paths: Karna is brought up by his stepparents, who are not of royal origin, to become a valiant warrior. Arjuna, in contrast, enjoys a royal upbringing as the third among the five Pandava princes. Prince Duryodhana and his brothers, the Kauravas, are bitter rivals of Arjuna and his brothers, the Pandavas, in their struggle to gain succession to the throne.
The Mahabharata Senki naturalized this Indian story for the Japanese audience by altering it to suit kabuki's conventions. The characters are renamed in kabuki-esque Chinese characters using their phonetic equivalents. In fact, the employment of the takemoto (narration) and the nagauta (chanting) musicians accompanied by the shamisen instrument and pounding percussion music heightens the angst of the characters grappling between giri (obligation) and ninjö (human feelings). Further, kabuki's unique stage devices...