Kanagawa Prefectural Hall 40th Anniversary | Opera "Kinkakuji" Recommendation

Yukio Mishima's masterpiece, "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion"

Kinkakuji Temple is one of Kyoto's most famous tourist spots! Many people may have memories of visiting it on a school trip or trip to Kyoto. Its official name is Rokuonji Temple, and it is commonly referred to as Kinkakuji Temple because the three-story Shariden (relic hall) known as Kinkakuji is particularly famous. In fact, Kinkakuji Temple was burned down by monks of the temple in 1950, and the temple we see today was rebuilt in 1955. The Kinkakuji Temple arson incident was the subject of Yukio Mishima's novel Kinkakuji, which was serialized in the magazine Shincho for 10 issues in 1956 and received high praise worldwide.

Now, let's introduce the characters that appear in "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion."

Mizoguchi
The protagonist of this work is a boy with a birth disability (a stutter in the original novel, a disability in one hand in the opera). This disability prevents him from interacting with the outside world through the basic act of "speaking," and increases his fantasies of expanding his inner world of perception. The novel is written in the form of an inner monologue by Mizoguchi up until the arson of Kinkaku-ji Temple.

Uiko
She is the opposite sex that Mizoguchi will forever long for, and a symbol of living beauty. She rejects him and dies a tragic death. This is the source of the anguish that Mizoguchi seeks but cannot reach, and it is also the beauty that Mizoguchi tried to erase along with the Golden Pavilion.

Tsurukawa
After his father passed away, Mizoguchi found himself living alone at Kinkaku-ji as an apprentice. His friend looked on him with a warm gaze. Mizoguchi was the only person to whom he confided his strange obsession with the temple. If Mizoguchi were the negative of the photograph, Tsurukawa was its positive.

Kashiwagi
After receiving the approval of his master and going on to university, Mizoguchi meets a classmate who, like him, has a physical disability. He is a devilish man with advanced academic knowledge and immoral cunning, and he uses his disability to his advantage to seduce women from higher social classes.

"The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" is adapted into an opera! Music composed by Toshiro Mayuzumi!

After the war, as part of cultural exchange through opera with the Berlin opera house "Deutsche Oper Berlin," Japan was approached about the possibility of having an original Japanese opera performed in Germany by a Japanese composer, and Toshiro Mayuzumi was chosen as the composer. The Berlin opera house also proposed the kabuki play "Terakoya" and the novel "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" as the libretto for the opera, and "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion," which had been translated into German and published as one of the masterpieces of Yukio Mishima, who was also a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, was selected.

Yukio Mishima
When Mishima was 27 years old and traveling in Paris, he fell victim to an illegal money exchange and had his traveler's checks stolen. With only a little money left, he stayed at a cheap lodging run by a Japanese for a month, but the lodging was close to Toshiro Mayuzumi, who was studying at the Conservatoire de Paris. Mayuzumi would help Mishima in various ways during his stay in Paris, acting as his guide and interpreter.

Toshiro Mayuzumi
A composer with rare talent who built the foundations of postwar Japanese music culture. He was a standard-bearer of the avant-garde, having been the first in Japan to release a work of musique concrète, a type of electronic music that uses acoustic and recording technology. In later years, Mayuzumi made his love for Japanese materials and interest in Buddhist music the core of his expression, composing tension-filled music in contrast to the psychological elements of the opera Kinkaku-ji, greatly shocking audiences. He is also famous for hosting the TV program "Untitled Concert" for around 33 years.

Special content is now available to help you learn more about Toshiro Mayuzumi!
"In commemoration of the performance of the opera "Kinkakuji" - Who is Toshiro Mayuzumi?!"
We will delve into five amazing things about Toshiro Mayuzumi and get closer to the person he is.

In 1991, the opera "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" was performed in Japan in a reimported language!

The opera "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" was commissioned by Deutsche Oper Berlin to Toshiro Mayuzumi. The libretto (librettist) of Deutsche Oper Berlin, Klaus H. Henneberg, was responsible for the libretto. In other words, the pure literary novel "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion," written in Japanese, was translated into German, and then adapted into an opera libretto by a German composer, and the opera "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" was composed based on the German opera libretto. It can be said that the passion of artists of the era was exchanged across borders through the category of "opera."

The opera "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" premiered at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in Germany in 1976, and had its full-length premiere in Japan in 1991. When it was performed in Japan, it was performed with Japanese translation and superimposed subtitles, making it a true performance in a reverse-imported language.

Kanagawa Prefectural Hall celebrates its 40th anniversary! The opera "Kinkakuji" will be performed for the first time in 16 years!

Kanagawa Prefectural Hall has been producing and performing operas by Japanese composers. For the 40th anniversary of its opening, the hall has chosen to perform the opera "Kinkaku-ji" composed by Toshiro Mayuzumi, a native of Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. This is the long-awaited first performance in Japan in 16 years! Conducted by Tatsuya Shimono, directed by Satoshi Taoshita, and starring Teruhiko Komori and Masumi Miyamoto, this new production is the work of a group of young people representing Japan. Don't miss this special performance, only available for two days!

The staff and cast members are all active both in Japan and overseas. We are excited to see what kind of passionate performances they will give in the opera "Kinkakuji"!

What did you think of the world of the opera "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion"?
You can enjoy the original novel by Yukio Mishima, or the musical world of Toshiro Mayuzumi, or of course you can just go to a performance at Kanagawa Prefectural Hall!
Experience this unique world view with your own sensitivity!

Text: Miyoko Inoue (CLIMBERS)
Illustration: Kubotamako