Tekken, a comedian and flip book artist, plays the role of artist Koryusai Isoda in the historical drama " UNBOUND (Berabou) " (NHK General TV, Sunday 8pm and others), starring Ryusei Yokohama Yokohama. He talked about his first attempt at practicing ukiyo-e and the "connection" he felt with the character Koryusai.
◇ "If I can't draw, there's no point in being invited."
Tekken's character, Koryusai, is an ukiyo-e artist who worked on "Hinagata Wakana's First Pattern," which was planned by the main character Tsutaju (Yokohama) and published together with Nishimuraya Yohachi (Masahiko Nishimura). He will appear in the fourth episode, "The Sweet Trap of 'Hinagata Wakana'," which will air on January 26th.
Tekken-san practiced ukiyo-e painting intensively to play Koryusai. Usually, an actor performs a long shot and a close-up is taken of a professional's hands, but in Tekken-san's case, he was actually filmed painting the ukiyo-e.
He usually draws using ballpoint pens and magic markers, and said that this was his first time drawing with a brush. "I thought I was good at drawing, so when I practiced with my ukiyo-e teacher, I was surprised at how bad I was. It's very difficult to vary the thickness and thinness of the lines, and it was very hard to be able to draw thin lines with a brush," he recalled.
Ukiyo-e artists in the Edo period would draw a rough sketch, then place paper on top of it and trace it to create a clean copy, but because the realism of the painting could not be conveyed through a camera, for filming they decided to draw directly on the paper without a rough sketch.
"Because I didn't have a preliminary sketch, I'm actually better than the artists of the Edo period (laughs). I'm a terrible actor, my pronunciation is slurred, and I'm not good at delivering lines, so I think I was chosen for the role of Koryusai because I was 'someone who could draw.' So, there would be no point in me being called if I couldn't draw, so I thought I would at least try to draw the bare minimum for this scene. Recently, my farsightedness has gotten worse, and after drawing an ukiyo-e with thin lines for about four hours, I get a headache... So for a month, while working on other flipbook manga, I spent about four hours practicing ukiyo-e."
◇At his peak, he would draw flip books for 20 hours a day
Tekken was in charge of the animation that appeared in the Asadora drama "Amachan" that aired in the first half of 2013, and at the time he says he spent 20 hours a day drawing flip books.
"At the peak, I would draw flip books so much that I couldn't sleep, but there's a limit to how long I can concentrate, so now I limit it to eight hours. However, recently I've also been practicing ukiyo-e, so I was drawing for about 10 hours a day. Drawing flip books for 20 hours a day gave me the concentration and perseverance, and I think it's thanks to that experience that I was able to concentrate and continue drawing ukiyo-e, which has fine lines."
Tekken, who practiced ukiyo-e, said he felt a certain connection with Koryusai. "It seems that women at the time looked at Koryusai's drawings like fashion magazines, so I thought he must have been at the cutting edge. There were people in the Edo period who drew pictures like me and made a living from them, and I also work on flip books, a unique type of illustration, so I felt like I had a connection with Koryusai."
"I researched Koryusai before filming began, but there was almost no information about him. He is a truly mysterious character, and I guess that mysterious aspect suited me well. My ukiyo-e teacher also said that since the character Koryusai is a bit of a niche character, this might be the first and last time, and that I might be the first and last person to play the role. If Koryusai appears in another production, I would like to be chosen again. I want to be known as 'Tekken when you think of Koryusai.'"
Finally, he appealed to the viewers, saying, "I don't have many scenes and my lines are short, so don't set yourself high standards (laughs). I think my only talent in the show is drawing, so what I can do is draw ukiyo-e. I'm living up to expectations in that regard, and actually I haven't been on TV for about three years, so it was fun to film after such a long time."
