A press conference was held in Tokyo on April Getsuku to announce the production of "Noh Kyogen: The Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi ," a Noh and Kyogen play based on Ryoko Ryoko Yamagishi 's masterpiece manga, " The Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi " Yamagishi and Mansai Nomura also appeared. Mansai, who is in charge of directing and plays Prince Umayado, described the original work as "out of the ordinary," expressing its appeal. "I think the true essence of Noh and Kyogen lies in the fact that it's out of the ordinary, or rather, how it leaps forward," he said, and expressed his enthusiasm, saying, "It may be presumptuous to say that The Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi found its heart in Noh and Kyogen, but I would be happy if Yamagishi-sensei would say so."
"-Noh Kyogen- ' The Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi'" will be directed and performed by Mansai, and supervised and performed by Living National Treasure Otsuki Bunzo. Mansai will play Umayado Prince, Fukuo Kazuyuki will play Soga no Umohito, and Otsuki Yuichi will play Tojikoro-onna. The show will be performed at the Kanze Noh Theatre GINZA SIX (Chuo-ku, Tokyo) from August 7th to 10th. Tickets will go on pre-request (lottery) sale at Lawson Ticket from 6pm on Getsuku.
When asked about the important points in adapting the work into Noh and Kyogen, Mansai said, "It's important to express the essence of the work. Techniques are used to achieve this. We start with the form, but in reality, this can sometimes be reversed. In that sense, I'm grateful to have the opportunity to take on this bold challenge." He explained the original work, saying, "It requires a lot of information to turn into Noh, so much so that each character could make a Noh play," and how to symbolize it in order to make it into a work. Rather than doing everything logically, I wanted to use scenes that included a kind of symbolism to connect or transcend something. I think that's the scale of this work, and I thought I could express that in Noh and Kyogen."
"Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi" is a manga serialized in the manga magazine "LaLa" (Hakusensha) from 1980 to 1984. It tells the turbulent story of Prince Umayado (Prince Shotoku) and Soga no Emishi (Soga no Emishi). It won the 7th Kodansha Manga Award in the girls' category in 1983. It was published in 1994 as the inaugural issue of the Hakusensha Bunko series.
