NOZAWA MATSUYA

Kabuki, which has been selected as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, is divided into three major categories: Jidaimono, Sewamono, and Matsuba-memono. Among these three, there is Gidayu Kyogen. It is a type of kyogen that was transferred to Kabuki from Gidayu Kyogen and Bunraku. Gidayu Kyogen has a floor on the right side of the stage, on which a narrator and a shamisen player narrate the movements of the actors, livening up the stage. In Japan, 13 Kabuki Gidayu Shamisen players support Kabuki. In the past, when Japonism was booming overseas, Ukiyo-e prints influenced many famous painters, and among them, "Yakusha-e" prints depicting Kabuki actors were very popular. While playing the shamisen on the Kabuki stage, Nozawa Matsuya founded the "Creative Joruri Association" in 2004 as his life's work, and he converts old stories, folk tales, local stories, novels, etc. into easy-to-understand words, composes them, and performs them as "Creative Joruri." With the desire to make Kabuki, Bunraku and Joruri familiar to more people, we perform all over the country, and also perform at schools, kindergartens, and elderly care facilities, and let people actually touch the shamisen. Please enjoy the world of Joruri, a "narrative" music performed on the Gidayu shamisen, which is indispensable to Kabuki and Bunraku. Matsuya Nozawa's fascinating stories are also popular.