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Asian cinema: Japanese films
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How hit Japanese film Kokuho is reviving the centuries-old performing art of kabuki

The second highest-grossing domestic live-action film in Japan of all time, Kokuho has sparked renewed interest in the kabuki art form

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Ryo Yoshizawa in box office hit Kokuho, a film about kabuki, the traditional Japanese dance performance. Photo: courtesy of Toho Co, Shuichi Yoshida/Asahi Shimbun Publications
Kyodo

Modern film has shown that it can breathe new life into traditional art forms, particularly in Japan, where live-action films have historically struggled to make a lasting cultural mark.

Kokuho, which focuses on the classical Japanese theatre art of kabuki, has not only become a surprise box office hit in Japan but has rekindled public interest in the centuries-old performing art.
Portraying a captivating mix of onstage action with resplendent costumes and personal dramas within insular kabuki circles, the film starring Ryo Yoshizawa grossed 12.4 billion yen (US$84 million) between its nationwide release on June 6 and the end of August.
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In Japan, anime titles and foreign blockbusters have dominated the box office charts for decades. But Kokuho, which translates as “national treasure”, is already the second highest-grossing domestic live-action film.

Kokuho has leapfrogged Antarctica, a 1983 real-life story of a pack of dogs abandoned on the icy southern continent by scientists, to place just below the 2003 police action comedy Bayside Shakedown 2, which raked in 17.3 billion yen.

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