Kyogen, which stands alongside Noh, Kabuki, and Bunraku as one of Japan's four great traditional performing arts, is an ancient comic theater with a history of over six hundred years. The Mansaku NOMURA family of the Izumi School has long been committed to international performances and cross-disciplinary collaborations, forging new paths for the art form. Mansai NOMURA, son of Mansaku, has expanded the horizons of Kyogen by showcasing his versatility in film, television, and contemporary theater. He is without question one of the most brilliant figures of contemporary Kyogen. Yuki NOMURA, Mansai's son, is also gaining wide recognition as a next-generation performer, active not only in Kyogen but also in stage plays, TV dramas, and even anime voice acting, expanding the fields of performance and creating more potential to the tradition.

In this program, Mansai NOMURA presents Mansai Boléro, a piece centered on the NOMURA family's iconic dance piece Sanbaso and enriched with RAVEL's celebrated Boléro. Premiered in Japan in 2011, the piece has continued to be performed in multiple versions ever since. Among the most notable is the 2025 collaboration with figure skating champion Yuzuru HANYU. This remarkable work will be presented exclusively at the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying). The program also features Tsukimi Zato (The Moon-Viewing Blindman), which tells a story of a blind man who encounters a gentleman under the full moon. What begins as a pleasant evening of poetry and sake takes an unexpected turn by the end. This absurdist-tinged piece has been highly praised during its tours in Europe and America. In Futari Bakama (One Hakama for Two), a newlywed man visits his wife's family for the first time, only to face the comic predicament of sharing his lone formal robe with his father. Will the father and son be able to complete their visit without giving themselves away? The Kyogen actors' witty language and nimble movements bring to life a humorous yet absurd tale full of mischief and laughter.

  Pre-talk  

2026/4/24(Fri)19:00 Playhouse Auditorium

2026/4/25(Sat)14:00 Playhouse Auditorium

2026/4/25(Sat)19:00 Playhouse Auditorium

2026/4/26(Sun)14:00 Playhouse Auditorium

  Creative and Production Team  

Performers｜Mansaku NOMURA, Mansai NOMURA, Yuki NOMURA, Hiroharu FUKATA, Kazunori TAKANO, Shuichi NAKAMURA, Go IIDA

Stage Manager｜Yasutaka KATSU

Stage Technician｜Naoto OGURI

Head of Lighting｜Kohsuke SUGIMOTO

Head of Sound｜Yasumasa OGASAWARA

Sound Technician｜Kyohei SAGARA

Producer｜Tomomi OYAMADA

  Team Introduction  

THE MANSAKU-NO-KAI KYOGEN COMPANY

The Mansaku-no-kai Kyogen Company was founded by Mansaku NOMURA II, and is now led by Mansaku and his son, Mansai II, member of a distinguished familial theatrical line that boasts a 250-year-history. Since the company's first tour abroad to the Paris International Theater Festival in 1957, Mansaku has been a pioneer in sharing the art of Kyogen with international audiences, giving performances and lectures throughout the world. Continuing his father's mission, Mansai performs 
Kyogen extensively, and is committed to exploring the possibilities of Kyogen as a contemporary performing art of Japan as a Living National Treasure. Mansai NOMURA and Yukio ISHIDA have been designated as holders of Important Intangible Cultural Property.

Mansaku NOMURA

Mansaku NOMURA is a Living National Treasure of Japan, born in 1931, the second son of the late Manzo NOMURA VI, who was also a Living National Treasure. Mansaku studied Kyogen under his grandfather Mansai NOMURA I and his father, Manzo. At the age of three, Mansaku made his stage debut in the role of little Monkey in Utsubozaru. He graduated from Waseda University with a degree in Japanese Literature. An outstanding leader in the Kyogen world, with his unparalleled stage performances of even the most demanding traditional Kyogen pieces such as Tsurigitune, Mansaku has also acted in modern and contemporary theater works, including Pierrot Lunaire, Shigosen no Matsuri (The Rite of Meridian) directed by Junji KINOSHITA, and Shukoh with ZHANG Jiqing. Mansaku also created and directed the "new" Kyogen piece, The Braggart Samurai, based on SHAKESPEARE's The Merry Wives of Windsor, which toured to Hong Kong and Australia and was also presented at the Japan Society in 1997.

Since 1957, Mansaku has been active in leading Kyogen workshops throughout the world at venues including the University of Washington, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Hawaii as a visiting Professor. Mansaku is the recipient of numerous awards including The Asahi Prize, Grand-prix of the Art Festival run by the Agency for Cultural Affairs of the government of Japan, the Tsubouchi Shoyo Prize, the Kinokuniya Theatre Award, and the Purple Ribbon Medal by the Japanese government. In 2015, Mansaku was honored with the Cultural Achievement Award by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology of the government of Japan, the highest ranked award offered to artists.

Mansai NOMURA

Mansai NOMURA was born in 1966 and studied under his father Mansaku II and his late grandfather Manzo VI (both Living National Treasures). He made his stage debut at the age of three.

His acclaimed performances go far beyond those of traditional Kyogen and Noh actors—he also played the title roles of Oedipus, directed by Yukio NINAGAWA, and Hamlet, directed by Jonathan KENT. He has starred in hit Japanese movies such as Akira KUROSAWA's Ran, Yojiro TAKITA's Onmyoji and Isshin INUDO and Shinji HIGUCHI's The Floating Castle (2012). Besides acting, he is committed to directing plays that merge classic and contemporary works from the East and West. In addition to his own creations of "new" Kyogen pieces including The Kyogen of Errors, based on SHAKESPEARE's The Comedy of Errors, which toured to London's Globe Theatre in 2002 and to the U.S. in 2005, his directing credits include Kuni-nusu-bito (adapted from Richard III), Yabu no Naka (In a Thicket), Kagamikaja (Mirror Servant) and Atsushi (adapted from the late Atsushi NAKAJIMA's Sangetsu-ki and Meijinden), for which he was awarded the Asahi Performing Arts Award and the Kinokuniya Theatre Award in 2005 for direction and composition.

In 2013, Mansai performed in the traditional piece SANBASO, divine dance, a collaboration with world-renowned visual artist Hiroshi SUGIMOTO that was co-produced by the Japan Society and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and took place in the Guggenheim rotunda. In the same year, Mansai also brought his production of Macbeth, in which he directed and played the title role, to the Japan Society.

He has received the National Arts Festival New Artists Award and the Ministry of Education's Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists. Mansai holds the distinction of Important Intangible Cultural Property: Nohgaku. He served as the Artistic Director of Setagaya Public Theatre from 2002 to 2022, and has been the Director of Hogaku (Japanese traditional music) of Ishikawa Ongakudo since 2021.