2020/12/31 (Thu) Japanese traditional dance Yamamura-ryu : YouTube official webcast #1"CHOROKEN"

I am Yamamura Tomogoro, 6th generation grand master of Yamamura-ryu, one of the Japanese traditional dance schools. About 200 years ago in Osaka, the Yamamura-ryu was established by the first generation of Tomogoro Yamamura who was both an actor and choreographer for Kabuki. Now the school is famous for “jiuta-mai” which focuses on calm movement of circulation.

This humorous dance “Choroken” has rarely been shown to public and only performed at the special occasions, such as the 150th and 200th anniversary of the school foundation. And also when I inherited the name and became Tomogoro (III), I performed this “Chroken” which you will be seeing in the video. In this song, there is a phrase “We shall expel all the difficulties and epidemics.” That’s why I have chose this performance for our first YouTube video and am posting it at the end of this year sincerely wishing a happy one to come in 2021.

What is “Choroken” ? It started to appear in Kansai Region in Japan in late Edo period. They were called “kadozuke-geinin” literally means a performer at someone’s door. They knock on the door, call out any auspicious phrases and receive some money for bringing happiness. It was commonly seen during new year holidays and this performance well depicts the heartwarming commoners’ daily life back then in a humorous way.

“Jiuta-mai” and Yamamura-ryu (school) has a long history and the way it has been handed down was quite unique. Only the ones who devote themselves for certain periods of time and qualified would be allowed to learn further performance. We call it “YURUSHIMONO”, performance with permission. Given this tradition, I am afraid that it is quite difficult to show all the performances inherited in our school through YouTube. We can introduce Yamamura-ryu’s variations or short works which are rarely performed on the stage, so that these works would not to be forgotten or vanished.

I hope you will enjoy the world of “Yamamura-mai” (Yamamura dance style).



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