‘Hold that Pose!’ Photography and kabuki in Kitano Takeshi's Kikujiro

Abstract

This article examines Kitano Takeshi's film Kikujiro (Kikujirō no Natsu, 1999) from two directions: first, as an as an experiment in moving versus still photography, and second, as an exploration of time, memory and Japanese identity. I argue that it is in Kitano's cinematic use of elements from the kabuki drama that the two aspects come together. Kitano plays upon the conventions of both kabuki and film media to highlight the significance of the ‘still shot’ as it functions in human memory. By presenting moments of the story in the format of a child's photograph album, Kitano is able to explore ideas of ‘adult’ and ‘child’ as equally arbitrary constructions. Throughout Kikujiro, Kitano draws on a rich tradition of film, drama and television convention in order to explore the idea of where identity comes from – does it come from the past, the present, or do we make it up ourselves? Kitano places emphasis on the still mie pose to heighten emotion and draw attention to the present moment. By contrasting this method against that of photography, Kitano juxtaposes past and present modes of expression, enabling him to interrogate notions of time and the supposed timelessness of art. Finally, Kitano's critical use of the past locates identity not in some distant, unobtainable myth of the nation, but in the lived experience of each individual as a human being.

Keywords:

• Kitano Takeshi
• Japanese identity
• Japanese film
• filmmaking
• photography
• kabuki
• Japanese media
• nationalism
• history and memory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Fireworks won the Golden Lion award at the Venice film festival in 1997, while Zatoichi won the Silver Lion award in 2003.

2. At the Japanese Academy Awards Kitano was nominated for Best Actor for Fireworks and Violent Cop (Sono otoko, kyōbō ni tsuki, 1990), and Best Supporting Actor for Demon (Yasha, dir. Furuhata Yasao, 1985) and Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (dir. Ōshima Nagisa, 1983). He won the Kinema Junpo Award for Best Actor in Blood and Bones (Chi to hone, dir. Sai Yōichi, 2004) and the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Actor in Fireworks.

3. For more on manzai comedy see Stocker (2006), Bensky (1998), and Kitano (1993, 1988).

4. See Phipps (2004). Kurosawa Akira reported a similar change in the critical reception of his films after Rashomon (Rashōmon) won the Golden Lion award at Venice in 1951: see Cardullo (2008, p. 85).

5. Film classification and regulation in Japan is handled by the self-regulatory body Eirin (short for Eiga Rinri Kitei Kanri Iinkai, translated as the Motion Picture Ethics Regulation and Control Committee), established in June 1949. It initially comprised representatives from the major film studios but later expanded to include representatives from educational and political institutions. See Cather (2012, pp. 79–80).

6. Eirin's focus on protecting children has been remarkably consistent through time. For the current Eirin ratings system and mission statement see the website, http://www.eirin.jp/english/008.html.

7. On Tanizaki Jun'ichirō and the search for mother see Long (2009). On the writing of ‘home’ as a search for national identity in Japanese literature see Dodd (2004).

8. This is clear from the title of Iles’ (2008) book. On the search for authenticity in Japanese literature see Yamanouchi (1978), Hutchinson (2011) and Washburn (1995).

9. See Iida (2002) for a useful overview of the representation and negotiation of identity in the Japanese arts. Davis (1996) also explores the idea of ‘Japaneseness’ in film through the wartime aesthetics of nationalism, which carried over into later cinematic works.

10. This holds whether Kitano is in fact Korean in descent or only perceived as such, since the perception itself could produce marginalization. While John Lie takes Kitano's Korean heritage as fact (Lie 2001, p. 74), drawing on work by Nomura (1996, pp. 8–9), Aaron Gerow is more circumspect, pointing out that Kitano himself has been ambiguous on the topic and may not even know himself, due to a clouded family history (Gerow 2007, p. 231 n. 11).

11. Kitano's film Zatoichi is notable for its sensitive treatment of gender fluidity.

12. Calls to get away from the national cinema model include Freiberg (2000) and Yoshimoto (2000).

13. While a name is only one part of a person's identity and does not stand in for the whole, it is an important signifier, the revelation of which is often used in films or other creative works as a moment of significant self-knowledge for the main character. In his discussion of the classic matatabi mono film, Mother Under the Eyelids (dir. Inagaki Hiroshi, 1931), Alan Tansman (2001, p. 149) argues for the significance of the main character's name, since ‘he embodies his home and his name is inscribed in his identity’.

14. On the history textbook controversy in Japan see Nozaki (2008).

15. Much has been written on the representation of Japanese identity through the ideas of ‘self’ and ‘other’. For a literary discussion see Hutchinson and Williams (2007); for a cinematic discussion see Gerow (2002). Gerow comments on the increasing tensions between ‘self’ and ‘others’ in Japanese films of this period, as Japanese identity was increasingly defined in terms of contrasts against minorities and other ‘non-Japanese’ outsiders. Phillips and Stringer (2007, pp. 19–20) called for a greater academic focus on the transnational context of Japanese cinema, answered by scholars such as Hunt and Wing-Fai (2008) as well as Ko (2010). The connections between Japanese and Korean cinema are fruitfully explored by Bowyer (2004) and Taylor-Jones (2013).

16. The titles of DVD chapters correspond to the chapters of Masao's album, creating a non-diegetic parallel of the film's segmentation for the DVD release.

17. The tableau is used to particular effect in Sonatine. See Abe (2004, pp. 105–146) for a thoughtful treatment of this film.

18. We see this technique particularly in the works of Miyazaki Hayao, who often includes close-ups of frogs, ladybirds or other small creatures to contextualize the action of an outdoor scene. See for example the frog's perspective on the bus stop scene in Totoro (1998).

19. This is Abe's contention (Abe 2004, pp. 245–246).

20. The mie pose defines kabuki to such an extent that Leiter titled his volume of collected writings Frozen Moments (Leiter 2002).

21. Although Ichikawa was initially opposed to appearing in the vulgar new medium, Shibata convinced him it would be important for posterity. See Richie (2005, pp. 17–18).

22. Good examples are the focus on Okinawan costume and dance in Sonatine (1993) and his great attention to period costume detail in the jidai-geki, Zatōichi (2003). Kitano was helped in this respect by having Kurosawa Kazuko collaborating with fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto on the costume design, with a wealth of experience from her father's jidai-geki sets over the years.

23. For details on kabuki makeup and costume see Shaver (1966). A good illustration of the Benkei costume is found on page 155.

24. On the constructed nature of photographic ‘truth’ see Sontag (1977) and Thompson (2003).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rachael Hutchinson

Rachael Hutchinson is Associate Professor in Japanese Studies at the University of Delaware, USA. She received her D.Phil. from the University of Oxford in 2000, and her research addresses representations of Japanese identity in literature, film, manga and videogames. Her major publications are Representing the Other in Modern Japanese Literature: A Critical Approach (co-edited with Mark Williams, Routledge 2007), Nagai Kafū’s Occidentalism: Defining the Japanese Self (SUNY Press 2011), and the edited volume Negotiating Censorship in Modern Japan (Routledge 2013). Her work on Japanese film is included in Remapping World Cinema (ed. Song-Hwee Lim and Stephanie Dennison), World Cinema's ‘Dialogues’ with Hollywood (ed. Paul Cooke). Her latest book is The Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese Literature, co-edited with Leith Morton. She has published in Japan Forum, Monumenta Nipponica and Games and Culture.

Rachael Hutchinson is at the University of Delaware, 113 Jastak-Burgess Hall, Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, University of Delaware, 30 Main Street, Newark DE 19716, USA. She may be contacted at [email protected].