Understanding 'Aterui': Kazuki Nakashima's Rock-Theater Epic | Kishida Prize Play Analysis

Introduction

Kazuki Nakashima (中島かずき) is the house playwright of the Japanese company Gekidan Shinkansen (劇団☆新感線). His play Aterui (アテルイ), staged by the company in 2002, won the 47th Kishida Kunio Drama Award in 2003. It takes as its hero the historical Emishi leader Aterui, who fought the armies of the Yamato court in the late eighth and early ninth centuries.

Gekidan Shinkansen: The Context

To understand Aterui, it helps to know Gekidan Shinkansen, the company for which it was written. The troupe began in Osaka in November 1980, formed mainly by fourth-year students in the performing arts department of Osaka University of Arts, with a production of Kohei Tsuka's Atami Murder Case.

Its "Inoue kabuki" (いのうえ歌舞伎) series is named after the company's leader and director, Hidenori Inoue (いのうえひでのり). The series, first marketed under that label in 1986, builds period dramas from dramatic stories drawn from myth and history, with action and showy, flamboyant staging.

Nakashima began writing for the company in 1985 with Honoo no Hyper Step, at the invitation of Inoue, whom he had known since high school. He has been its house playwright since, and he also works as a novelist and as a writer for manga, anime and tokusatsu series.

The Historical Aterui

The historical Aterui (阿弖流為) was a leader of the Emishi, the people of northeastern Honshu whom the Yamato court sought to bring under its rule. In 789, at the Battle of Subuse, near Aterui's base, Emishi forces dealt a court army a heavy defeat.

In 802 Aterui and his ally More (母礼) surrendered to Sakanoue no Tamuramaro with more than 500 followers. Tamuramaro asked that the two be sent back to their homeland to bring the Emishi under control, but the court nobles objected. The two were executed in Kawachi Province, in present-day Osaka Prefecture. The exact site is uncertain because the sources give the place name in different forms.

The Play: Narrative and Structure

Detailed published summaries are easiest to find for the 2015 kabuki version, for which Nakashima rewrote the 2002 script, so the outline below comes from that version. The court is attacking the Emishi in order to unify the country. Aterui, who has been exiled for defying his clan's god, returns with his lover Tateeboshi to defend his homeland and becomes the new leader of the Emishi. The court sends Sakanoue no Tamuramaro north as its general, and the two men, who recognize each other's worth, are set on a course toward a fated confrontation.

The relationship between enemies who respect one another is the axis of the story, and it echoes the historical record of Tamuramaro's plea on Aterui's behalf.

Stage Versions

The 2002 production played at Shinbashi Enbujo in Tokyo, with Ichikawa Somegoro (now Matsumoto Koshiro) in the title role. As well as the script's Kishida Prize, the production won the Asahi Stage Arts Award and the Akimoto Matsuyo Award.

In July 2015 the play returned to Shinbashi Enbujo as the first Kabuki NEXT production, Aterui (阿弖流為), written by Nakashima and directed by Inoue. Somegoro again played Aterui, with Nakamura Kankuro as Tamuramaro and Nakamura Shichinosuke as Tateeboshi.

That staging was filmed with 19 cameras and released in Japanese cinemas on June 25, 2016 as part of the Cinema Kabuki series, with a running time of 185 minutes.

Legacy

The move from a Shinkansen production to the kabuki stage and then to cinema has given the play a long life in several forms. It is also one of a number of stage works about Aterui; others include Warabi-za's musical and the 2017 Takarazuka Revue production by Star Troupe.

For those interested in exploring more Japanese theatrical scripts, visit our script library, where you can search for works by Japanese playwrights.