Japanese theatre and my lecture
on Bangladeshi art in Tokyo
by Sayeed Ahmad
With Jukichi Uno director and actor (left),
At a dinner given in my honour after my lecture
at the Japanese Artists’ Association,
organised by Mr Kurada. Tokyo, 1981 (right)
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In 1980, on my second visit to Japan, I met Jukichi Uno, actor-director-playwright. He was 65 or so years old. I went to meet him at the appointed time and found him engrossed with a book of paintings. He arose quickly and said ‘I should have welcomed you at the door in Japanese fashion. I’m so sorry, now I’m aging and am not so alert.’ I replied, ‘That’s no problem, I’ve come to meet you’. He offered me a small mandarin orange; I had never eaten such a tasty orange before. He told me his wife had planted a special species and nurtured it. ‘Please enjoy the fruit as we talk.’
Mr. Uno had written a social play in the 1940s which gained public attention but it did not go well with the authorities and was closed down. It was later staged in 1980 and took the audience by storm. He wrote a book on Chekov’s life and works, giving detailed documentation on the playwright. He was a prolific writer and director and believed that the stage was the best tool to bring important social change.
Mr. Uno was a very close friend of Akira Kurosawa. He had acted in many of his films. We spent many hours of the evening sharing our common love for theatre, the stage and films.
Another extraordinary personality I met in Tokyo was Mr. Ozama Takizawi. It is not permissible for outsiders to enter the rehearsal of plays, but due to Mr. Takizawa’s help I was able to attend a rehearsal. I was amazed at the discipline followed there. One would almost think the actors were actually on stage. Some performances have rehearsals for up to three months. Mr. Takizama presented me with the blue prints of the set designs of his play ‘After the Dawn’ as a memento. I praised the actors and technicians for their unique, ability and dedication.
I also met Mr. Suzi Terayama, a famous actor-director of Japan. He was a firebrand. He was suffering from a bad cold, and kept sneezing off and on, and apologized repeatedly for his condition of running nose and eyes. In Tokyo’s hot and humid summer to have a cold was certainly a discomfort. Despite that we got locked into meaningful discussion and I came to know that he had made many experimental productions and had opened a new genre in Japanese theatre. He explained how audiences attending his play were given a 30-page brochure to read about the play before the curtain went up.
In I 968 I had witnessed a new movement in stage productions in New Jersey called ‘Living Theatre’. The play was ‘Paradise Now’. It was many years later that such kind of play was staged in Tokyo. The theme of the play he said was that human beings cannot do without slaves. They must suppress somebody. All human beings enslave and desire to be Master.
Suzi and I spent a marvellous one-hour talking as if we had known each other for years. I invited him to come to Bangladesh. On my return to Dhaka I received a letter from Suzi Terayama saying he would soon be visiting Bangladesh to learn more about our theatre. Strange as life is, a few weeks later I was informed by the Japanese Ambassador that Suzi had passed away. I sent a letter of condolence, through the Ambassador to pass on to his family. No tribute was enough for this great man.
To continue, my sojourn in Tokyo I was scheduled to lecture at the invitation of Japan Artists’ Association on Paintings of Bangladesh. It was the first time I was to have the privilege of speaking in Tokyo. I lectured for an hour with slides and then took questions from the audience. The artists present were seriously interested in Bangladeshi art. Such kind of interactions have a two-way benefit. While I contribute to my host country’s knowledge I also gain from them. I was assisted by painter Mahmudul Haq of Tokyo University, now Director of the Institute of Arts and Crafts, Dhaka University, who did an excellent job of interpretation. The language of art is different from everyday expressions. Mahmud did an excellent job of conveying in Japanese my lecture and the question answer session. We were entertained by the Japan Artists’ Association to a fine Japanese dinner. The menu included prawns, crabs, eel and tempura with the abounding sake. The director, Mr. Kurata toasted me and said that they had not heard such a fine presentation of Bangladeshi art before.
After all my enjoyable and meaningful contacts with Japan one that stands out in my memory regards a person I never met. Around 1982 I went to Paris for a UNESCO conference and met a Japanese diplomat. He was Mr. Hiraoka with whom I became very friendly, telling him about my interest in Japanese theatre, literature, Zen painting and ‘music. I mentioned to him about one of my favourite playwrights Yukio Mishima. He appeared a little embarrassed and said in a gentle tone ‘He was my brother.’
On hearing this I was taken aback, as I knew that Mishima had committed suicide, but I did not know the details. Hiraoka told me how Mishima had committed ‘Harakin’ and what a terrible tragedy it was for Japan. Mishima was the one name in Japanese literature that was known internationally. I said ‘Mish ima would have surely got the Nobel Prize had he been alive.’
Later I again met Hiraoka in Dhaka regarding a meeting at the Cultural Ministry, and at the house of the Japanese Ambassador I again picked up the topic and the ambassador looked a bit embarrassed. The death of Mishima had cast a gloom all over Japan. At the time of his committing hara-kin his last words were ‘Japan will regain its lost glory.’ Mishima had felt the defeat of Japan in the Second World War very intensely, Hiraoka on hearing that I would be going to Japan told me that he would enable me to meet Mrs. Mishima, which he did. A year ago I came to hear from the Japan Ambassador in Dhaka that my good friend Hiraota had died.
Mishima was the pen name of the novelist, which means ‘Three Islands’. It is related that he found this name in a chance reading in a book and liked it so much he made it his penname.
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