Kodo / Kitamaesen Co., Ltd.
July 2014 Press Release
In May of 2012, Kodo welcomed Kabuki luminary and living national treasure Tamasaburo Bando as our artistic director. Since that time, we have been striving to include more innovative Taiko performances, a higher level of artistry, and new expressions under the guidance of Tamasaburo. Kodo One Earth Tour: Legend, the first programme under Tamasaburo’s direction, connected new work of his own creation with Kodo’s renowned staple programme. The result captivated audiences with finely-honed bodies and a passionate approach to Taiko. This programme represented a pinnacle of good spirit, honed technique and optimal physical condition.
The second programme, Kodo One Earth Tour: Mystery, recreated for the stage the “mystery” of spirituality and prayer in Japanese folk arts. Tamasaburo and Kodo members pursued new expressions in this programme by incorporating new theatrical moves in an otherworldly space where light and darkness intersected.
Photo: Takashi Okamoto
Now, the third and newest programme, Kodo One Earth Tour 2014: Eternity, is the boldest step to date in this evolutionary process. It expresses the kind of “eternity” human beings glimpse when we come face to face with the workings of nature. The tour premieres on Sado Island and visits major cities across Japan in November and December.。
Mankind wishes life was eternal. We have been dreaming of achieving eternity since the dawn of time, but no one has ever actually succeeded at this. Ironically, the yearning for eternity itself is also short-lived. While we all understand this paradox, we still search and long for eternity…
When I was mulling over the theme of eternity, it occurred to me that "the workings of nature" unfold in spiral patterns. By enumerating "the workings of nature," maybe we could express "eternity." Strictly speaking there probably is no such thing as "eternity," but as things that are connected to it, there's dawn, light, rain, wind, clouds, waves, stars, dusk, the night sky, and amongst all these, I saw "human beings."
Tamasaburo Bando
16 performances in 10 venues including Tokyo and Osaka. This programme will be also performed throughout Japan from June to July and September to October in 2015.
Kodo One Earth Tour: Eternity Rehearsal. April 2014 at Kodo Village Rehearsal Hall
Photo: Takashi Okamoto
Kodo
Kodo Village, 148-1 Ogi Kanetashinden, Sado, Niigata 952-0611, Japan Tel. +81-(0)259-86-3630 Fax. +81-(0)259-86-3631 Email: heartbeat@kodo.or.jp