Bando Tamasaburo Analysis

Introduction

Bando Tamasaburo V is a Kabuki actor, to be precise, he is an Onnagata, specializing female roles in Kabuki. He is one of the most famous Onnagata and Kabuki actor ever. He has been the Living National Treasures of Japan, the 2011 Kyoto Prize Laureate in Arts and Philosophy, the recipient of the Imperial Award and the title of Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters) (Bando Tamasaburo V profile n.d). Tamasaburo is not only work as a Kabuki actor but also a dancer, adirector, a movie actor. Besides that, he has exprienced others form of theatre such as Shakespeare play and Kunqu- a chinese opera (Bando Tamasaburo V profile n.d). It is no doubt to say that he is an amazing person,

He enjoys being on stage, creating multitudinous spectacular performances, and, the most important, devotes his whole life to the art in general and to Kabuki in particular. This essay is going to explore what makes Bando Tamasaburo V.

A Kabuki actor

An Onnagata, a male kabuki actor specializing the roles of woman is the major reason that people acknowledge him. Becoming a Kabuki actor, to Tamasaburo, it could be known as a destiny. He was not being born in a performing family, however, due to many reasons, objectively or subjectively, he has become a Kabuki actor, a very talented Kabuki actor. Firstly, he enjoyed moving the body and pretending to be someone else since he was a child (Bando, 2011), or in other words, he enjoyed acting on stage. In fact, Tamasaburo (2011) stated that this has been his sole motivation for acting, right up to this day.

Secondly, he loves dancing. Tamasaburo (2011) stated that:

This is mostly true, but I am not sure if my love of dancing developed before or after that period. Actually, I would venture to say that it was an ingrained

Entered the world of Kabuki as a child, and ‘without the foggiest notion of what I would eventually become and, before I knew it, I had become a Kabuki actor’ (Bando 2011). Growing up in Kabuki-za theatre, he has chances to watch the senior actors performing on stage, to truly feel the essence of Kabuki since the young age. Therefore, this allows Tamasaburo to grow his love and passion to be a Kabuki actor, to be an Onnagata.

Living in such artistic tradition environment, Tamasaburo was surrounded by many respectable predecessors, yet during his young age, there were three persons inspiring him the most, they are his foster father Morita Kanya XIV and the two apprentices of him, Bando Tamon and Bando Yagoro. As a father and a tachiyuka, another type of Kabuki actor, Kanya taught him all about the characteristics of a good person as well as a standard Kabuki actor, meanwhile, Tamon and Yagoro, especially Tamon who is also an Onnagata, taught him the path to accomplishedly represent a character and the very minor elements to truly success in the role of an Onnagata. It has to be said that having those people to watching him growing in his career is a providence to