Art Festivals & Events

Onna-no-Isshō (The Life of a Woman) is one of the masterpieces in the history of Japanese theatre, written by Morimoto Kaoru specially for the Bungakuza Theatre Company. When it was first performed, Sugimura Haruko starred as the heroine Nunobiki Kei, a role she played repeatedly throughout her life. In this production, Ōtake Shinobu takes the leading part. During the 40 years from the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 to the end of World War II in 1945, the war orphan Nunobiki Kei is picked up by a family and becomes the wife of that family’s eldest son. After this, she exerts herself to protect the family business. This is a story that is sure to resonate with different generations in which the strong-willed heroine survives through the three historical eras of Meiji, Taishō and Shōwa.