Ichikawa Ebizo XI as Nobunaga, challenging Kabuki

Since the announcement of the TV Special about Nobunaga featuring Ichikawa Ebizo XI, I decided to make this post about one of his first takes on our favourite warlord, featuring this pamphlet of the stage play Nobunaga. This modern kabuki was performed in Tokyo and Osaka in Winter 2006.

The play was written by Masafumi Saitou and directed and produced by Nobuhiro Nishikawa.
Masafumi Saitou, in the pamphlet, said that the idea of a "modern kabuki" dedicated to Nobunaga came out while chatting with Ichikawa during a break from one of their previous projects.
Ichikawas are familiar with Nobunaga; the "young Nobunaga" of Wakaki hi no Nobunaga (若き日の信長) was written for Ebizo's grandfather, Ichikawa Raizo VIII, and this role has been a paragon for Ebizo since he spotted the recording of his granpa's plays as a kid. Ebizo would cover that role in 1999 as a due challenge with his family's heritage.

Nobunaga (信長) id divided in two acts: the first one features Nobunaga while facing the events of Okehazama and the second leads to the events of Honnoji.
Other main characters of the play are Nou-hime ("Onou", here portrayed by Junna Risa), Oichi (Oda Akane), Hideyoshi (Komoto Masahiro) and Mitsuhide (Tanabe Seiichi). Other characters include Dousan (Ozawa Zo) and Luis Frois (Michael Naishtut).
The first part starts with Nobunaga being introduced to Dousan, exposing his visionary, grandiose nature, and charming the likes of Onou and Mitsuhide. The climax of the act is the battle of Okehazawa, where Nobunaga fought his way to Yoshimoto.
The second act is focused on the balance of power between Nobunaga's main retainers and the women of his life with Azuchi in the backgound. The climax is Mitsuhide's betrayal and the fight at Honnouji, where Nobunaga fought desperately before disappearing into the flames, leaving behind the words "What was I born for..?"
Despite the bittersweet resolution, Saitou's intention was pumping the spirit of the Japanese audience with an awe-inspiring example of determined, far-sighted hero.

The challenge here was portraying a "new" Nobunaga, different from the previous depictions: here he is a visionary, ambitious hero, but also a victim of arrogance and paranoia.
Ichikawa's performance is outstanding, as his acting and his mastery of the stage made Nobunaga shine under a new, charming light.

Gotta say that this pamphlet had me really pumped up, so next I'm going to review how Ichikawa portrayed Nobunaga in the Naotora's taiga drama∼