The Face of Jizo (Play)

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We are ''Unfruitful'', a Japanese theater performance group!

As the word ''Unfruitful'', I hope that everyone would pursue individuality without being tied to time or money, and to aim for richer expressions and deeper thoughts. Even if it is not efficient or productive, this will be the quest for our project!!

We are performing The Face of Jizo with people from America, in Japan, New York, Boston and Shanghai!

Please check our website
https://unfruitful.wixsite.com/faceofjizo

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The usage of the Atomic Bomb is a huge mistake in human history. Even though people seem to think that the atomic bombs ended the war, I believe that such a horrific incident should never occur again. I hope that by performing the "The Face of Jizo” with a mixture of American and Japanese cast, it will prevent the misery brought forth by the atomic bombs from ever claiming a chunk of innocent people’s lives again.



My grandfather is from Hiroshima and I often travel to Hiroshima to visit my grandparents when I was little.


During that time, I listened to my grandmother’s stories about the war. On the other hand, Grandpa did not talk about the war.


Previously, when I performed in a play called, "The Face of Jizo", I had been researching for a year but I started wanting to hear about the war from my grandpa. My grandfather never talked about the war, even to his wife, son or anyone.

When I asked grandpa to talk about the war, the answer was also "no". My grandmother told me, "Stop asking about it."



However, I was determined to ask again, so I went to pay him a visit at his home after a while.

He stood up slowly and walked towards his drawers.




My grandfather showed me his diary. Surprisingly, he told me that he had been writing in it every day, even until now, when he 96 years old. I started reading the diary from the entry that was written when he was 18 years old.



He kept writing about the experiences of the bombing and the aftermath and the horrors of the war. Even now, 73 years after the war ended, the war was still fresh in my Grandfather’s mind. He kept living with the wounds in his heart brought about by the war for a lifetime, living through the horror of the bombing and the aftermath of atomic bombs every single day.

He never blamed anyone or any country in his diary. I felt that justified solutions, debates over countries; all these don’t have any effect on what he saw. What he saw, was way, way beyond the concept of war, race, politics and anything that anyone can ever imagine. I was speechless after reading his diary.

The incident should never ever happen again. What I can do as an actress, is to show people the importance of having a peaceful, normal life and family, through the form of theatrical production.

I decided to produce a play called, ‘’The Face of Jizo’’. (Original work written by Hisashi Inoue) with American actors and actresses.

The story follows a young woman, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and her attempts to forge a relationship with a young man, who is her crush, while mourning the death of her father when the atomic bombs fell.

This is not a play coming from a victim’s consciousness. We are showing that we are able to integrate different cultures and people into the modern world.




By performing "THE FACE OF JIZO" with the American people on traditional form of Japanese stages in Tokyo, Boston, Shanghai and New York, I think that the theme of this play could be expressed directly.



We will be featuring “Noh”, a major from a classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. We will also be featuring the Japanese traditional paper, “Washi”.







We hope to deliver a big impression and fusion from the stage set made of Japanese paper called, “Washi”.





The powerful percussion performance with the theme of peacekeeping and integration of culture, the theatrical performance put up by talented American actors and actresses; all of them will be beautifully assimilated in this play.




I am preparing to go to America in July. I would like to achieve this crowdfunding goal for theater fees by June!






Anyone who contributed will be given a name in the lobby of the theater arbitrarily.



Those who donate more than 10,000 yen will get a free invitation. For those who can not go directly further, I promise to share the videos free of charge after the performance.




Also, if you are interested in Japanese traditional arts, there is also the option of participating in the Noh workshop for free if you are interested.



We will respond as soon as possible to requests and questions, so please do not hesitate to contact me if you donate!