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| Tatsumi Hijikata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Tatsumi Hijikata |
| Native name | 堀尾 茂? |
| Birth date | 1928-03-09 |
| Death date | 1986-01-21 |
| Birth place | Akita, Japan |
| Occupation | Choreographer, dancer, artistic director |
| Known for | Ankoku Butoh |
Tatsumi Hijikata Tatsumi Hijikata was a Japanese choreographer and dancer who founded Ankoku Butoh and profoundly challenged postwar performing arts. He developed a radical movement practice that engaged with traditional Noh, Kabuki, Zen Buddhism, and avant‑garde currents from Paris to New York City, influencing generations of performers, choreographers, and visual artists across Japan, France, and the United States. Hijikata's work intersected with figures and institutions such as Yoko Ono, Kazuo Ohno, Butoh companies, and experimental venues like Tokyo Festival and Festival d'Avignon.
Born in Akita Prefecture, Hijikata grew up amid rural surroundings and the social upheaval of Taishō period and Shōwa period Japan, encountering local folk arts, regional festivals, and the legacy of Edo period performance forms. He moved to Tokyo where he came into contact with avant‑garde circles centered on institutions like Waseda University and venues such as Sogetsu Hall, sharing stages and discussions with artists from Japan Society‑linked exchanges and critics from Asahi Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun. Encounters with dancers and theater practitioners—linked to companies like Shochiku and theaters such as the Imperial Theatre—shaped his response to mainstream Kabuki and postwar aesthetic debates.
Hijikata coined and articulated Ankoku Butoh in reaction to prevailing trends in Western ballet, modern dance movements influenced by Martha Graham, and experimental theater by groups like Angura, while dialoguing with practitioners from France and Germany. He formulated the term in contrast to institutions including Nippon Bunri University and performance schools modeled on Royal Ballet pedagogy. Rooted in collaborative exchanges with visionary elders from the Onnagata tradition and improvisational impulses tied to venues such as Hakuhinkan, Ankoku Butoh reworked motifs from Butoh predecessors and contemporaries, aligning with countercultural practices responding to events like the Anpo protests.
Hijikata organized and performed in seminal pieces staged in theaters and festivals including Shimokitazawa Theater and international programs at Festival d'Automne and Dance Theater Workshop. Major works included choreographies often staged with titles referencing classical and modern texts and settings encountered in libraries of institutions such as National Diet Library and Tokyo University of the Arts. He collaborated with composers and musicians associated with Tadashi Yoshida, Toru Takemitsu, and ensembles tied to NHK Symphony Orchestra recordings. Tours and residencies brought him into contact with curators from Museum of Modern Art, Centre Pompidou, and critics writing for Le Monde and The New York Times.
Hijikata synthesized elements from Noh, Kabuki, Zen Buddhism, and writings by authors such as Yukio Mishima, Osamu Dazai, and Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, while absorbing visual cues from painters like Yayoi Kusama and photographers exhibited at Tokyo Photographic Art Museum. He engaged with the philosophies of Nietzsche, the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung as mediated by Japanese intellectuals, and theatrical experiments connected to Antonin Artaud and Jerzy Grotowski. Musical collaborations linked him to scores and improvisations in the spheres of John Cage and Toru Takemitsu. His aesthetic dialogues included references to film directors such as Akira Kurosawa, Nagisa Oshima, and Shohei Imamura, whose cinematic language resonated with Butoh’s imagery.
Hijikata worked closely with dancers and choreographers including Kazuo Ohno, Min Tanaka, Atsushi Takenouchi, and international artists who taught or performed alongside him at centers like Teshigawara Studio and workshops funded by organizations such as Japan Foundation. He influenced collectives and companies including Dairakudakan, Sankai Juku, Butoh Company Mao, and younger practitioners who later joined festivals like Setagaya Public Theatre programs. Collaborations extended to musicians, visual artists, and filmmakers affiliated with institutions such as NHK, Shochiku, and independent labels circulating in Shinjuku and Shibuya experimental scenes.
Critical reception varied: Japanese periodicals such as Asahi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun published reviews alongside international coverage in The New York Times, Le Monde, and Der Spiegel. Hijikata’s legacy is preserved through archives at institutions like National Theatre of Japan, collections held by Intermediatheque, and retrospectives at Festival d'Avignon and museums including Centre Pompidou and Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. His influence endures in contemporary choreography, performance art curricula at Tokyo University of the Arts, and in the practices of artists associated with networks such as Butoh International Exchange and independent festivals like Kochi Biennale.
In later years Hijikata spent time between Tokyo and seaside retreats in Kanagawa Prefecture, continuing to produce works amid health challenges and debates with cultural institutions such as Ministry of Culture (Japan). He maintained exchanges with international artists visiting from France, Germany, and the United States until his death in 1986. Posthumous publications, exhibitions, and films produced by companies like Shochiku and publishers including Kodansha have continued to shape scholarship and public memory.
Category:Japanese choreographers Category:1928 births Category:1986 deaths