Johnny’s: “Too Implicit” Stage Work Left Behind by Yukio Mishima
Akio Nakamori's Theory of Johnny's Desire Chapter 5: Yukio Mishima and Johnny's (3)
Fate Connected by “Famous Performers
In the previous article, “[A Pipe to the Political and Business Worlds] The Unknown Connection between SMAP and the ‘Hidden Father’ Who Built Johnny’s Kingdom,” we examined the role that Taisuke Fujishima played in the former Johnny’s office.
The line connecting Yukio Mishima and Johnny’s was Taisuke Fujishima, the husband of Mary Kitagawa and Mishima’s junior at the Gakushuin.
In fact, there is another line.
This is Yukio Ninagawa.
A leading Japanese director, he died in 2016 at the age of 80. Three years later, Janie Kitagawa died.
Before his death, the two were allies. Janney Kitagawa, who never appeared on television, made a single radio appearance, on NHK Radio’s “Crossover Talk with Yukio Ninagawa.” It was broadcast in 2015, the year before Ninagawa’s death. It was the first time Janie Kitagawa’s voice was broadcast publicly, and it caused quite a stir.
Ninagawa gave 17-year-old Takuya Kimura his stage debut. He has cast numerous Johnny’s talents. One of his accomplishments was a stage production in 2011.
<The project was titled “Mishima Double.
The idea was to perform two works by Yukio Mishima at the same time with the same cast.
It was said that Mishima was a better playwright than a novelist. This was said to be true of Yukio Mishima’s masterpieces from his later years.
Mishima’s two masterpieces in his later years were “The Marquise de Sade” and “My Friend Hitler. Mishima called them a pair of works.
<Both are in three acts, with six female characters in the former and four male characters in the latter, and the central characters are Sade and Hitler, two of the most famous monsters of the 18th and 20th centuries, respectively.
Marquis de Sade was the duke of sexual deviants, from whom the terms sadomasochism, sadism, etc. were derived. Hitler, of course, was the dictator of Nazi Germany.
Ninagawa put both of these characters on stage at the same time.
Higashiyama Noriyuki and Ikuta Toma were chosen to play the leading roles.
The “Intent” Behind the Casting
Higashiyama was 44 years old at the time and, you guessed it, a higashi of the Shonen-tai.
Ikuta was 26 years old at the time, and unusually for Johnny’s, he was a young actor who mainly worked as a solo actor.
What a bold appointment. He was joined by the great Mikijiro Hira and others.
First, let me introduce “My Friend Hitler.
The film takes place in June 1934 at the Chancellery in Berlin. Hitler has risen to the position of Chancellor at the age of 45. Above him, President Hindenburg is elderly and on his sickbed. Hitler’s total seizure of power is at hand. This is where he triggered the “Night of the Long Knives Incident. He massacred all those who stood in the way of the Nazis’ inner circle in one night. Ernst Röhm, the assault commander, on the right, and Gregor Strasser, the socialist, on the left. At the end of the dialogue with both sides, the left and right wings are cut off.
Hitler’s last line.
<Politics must take the middle road.
What an ironic statement. The irony of these words is that by cutting off the right wing and the left wing and taking the middle path is the way to unify the nation and lead it to a dictatorship.
Hitler was played by Toma Ikuta and Rehm by Noriyuki Higashiyama. This is surprising. Shouldn’t Higashiyama, a senior actor, have played the leading role of Hitler?
In fact, Mishima disliked Hitler and had more feelings for Röhm. The title of the play, in which he calls Hitler “my friend,” actually indicates that Röhm is the main subject.
Röhm had been a close friend of Hitler’s since their young military days. He is fascinated by Hitler and believes in him. And then he is killed by his best friend.
Oh, I thought.
A figure that overlaps with Janney Kitagawa
Higashiyama retired from show business after becoming president of the former Johnny’s office, taking on the sins of Johnny Kitagawa before his death.
So it was! I was horrified when I reread “My Friend Hitler” this time.
The two figures overlapped perfectly: Röhm, who loved and believed in the monster Hitler and lost his life, and Noriyuki Higashiyama, who believed in and loved the monstrous sexual abuser Janie Kitagawa and lost his life in show business!
The sign is so striking that you can’t help but groan.
And that’s not all.
Let’s take a look at “The Marquise de Sade.
In this play, only six women perform, including the wife of the Marquise de Sade, her sister, and her mother. Sade herself does not appear until the end. The women talk a lot about Sade, who is not there.
Noriyuki Higashiyama played the leading role of René, and Toma Ikuta played his sister Anne. The two, who wore Nazi uniforms in “My Friend Hitler,” now dress as women. This time, they dressed as women, this time in blonde wigs and noble dresses. The impact is intense.
Duke de Sade is a pervert. He tricks prostitutes into eating bonbons containing an aphrodisiac, strips them naked, and whips them. He is pursued by the authorities for his repeated acts of abuse and is finally imprisoned.
Renée, a chaste wife, still believes in her husband and waits patiently for him. Renée’s mother believes that the man is a monster and recommends that she divorce him. But Renée refuses to obey.
She eventually accuses Sade of whipping and sexually abusing several boys and girls, stripping them naked, and Renée was part of the feast.
When I read that, I broke out in a cold sweat.
Oh, that’s right.
I realized the secret message behind the play and its cast.
Yes, that’s right. This pervert sado is …… Janie Kitagawa, isn’t it?
Now I can only assume so.
The “essence” that Mishima cut out
If Thad is Janie Kitagawa, who sexually abuses the younger generation, Rene, who believes in him and adores him to the end, appears to be Noriyuki Higashiyama.
Members of older groups such as the Tanokin trio and Shibukitai, as well as two of his fellow Shonen-tai members, have all left the office. Even Hideaki Takizawa, who was named as his successor, is already gone.
And so he alone remained. In the castle of the Marquis de Sade, Johnny’s, stands only his chaste wife, Noriyuki Higashiyama.
I am sure that Janie Kitagawa must have seen this play before her death. I wonder if he would have noticed the hidden message. The director, Yukio Ninagawa, is truly terrifying for having devised such a devious device. (The Great East Japan Earthquake occurred during the performance of this play that hints at an ominous future.)
) The play’s final scene is even more suggestive.
The wife, who has waited patiently for many years, receives news from the housekeeper. The wife, who has waited patiently for so many years, receives news from the housekeeper that the Duke of Sade, who has finally escaped from prison, is coming outside her door.
But …….
Renée: “Please let me go home. And say this. “You will never see the Duchess of Sade again.
This is the closing line. And then these words are repeated: “The most foolish incident in the history of mankind.
<I think what I am doing is the “work of a devil”. I have little affection for it now. …… At least, I really have no affection for it at all anymore.
Renée, the Marquise de Sade, decides to give up her secular life and enter a convent.
Likewise, Noriyuki Higashiyama vows to renounce his life in show business and devote the rest of his life to the work of redemption.
I would like to ask the writer born 100 years ago who wrote such a prophetic play.
“Yukio Mishima, who exactly was Janie Kitagawa?” And.
In the next article, “[Playing with a Boy’s Feelings…] The ‘Terrible Ascendancy’ that Intersected the ‘Fates’ of Janney Kitagawa and Yukio Mishima,” I will discuss the strange fates of Janney Kitagawa, Yukio Mishima, and Taisuke Fujishima, who were united by their “ascendancy.
Interview and text by: Akio Nakamori Photographs: Yusuke Kondo (1st), Keisuke Nishi (2nd, 3rd), Afro (4th)