[trans] Nakamura Shichinosuke no Shinjo -- The Mystery of Encounters
Nakamura Shichinosuke no Shinjo (Nakamura Shichinosuke’s True Feelings)
The Mystery of Encounters
Don’t you think that people’s encounters are not by chance, but rather inevitable? There are many instances that make me think this way. This is inherited from my father, as he too was someone with a knack for drawing in the necessary people at the necessary timing. On the career front, my father met many great actors in his time, and thanks to that us brothers now have opportunities to work with these great actors.
In addition, meeting Kushida Kazuyoshi and Noda Hideki led to the production of the “Cocoon” kabuki play and the Noda Version kabuki plays, and even presently after my father’s death, the Hachigatsu no Nouryou Kabuki troop is able to produce our fourth Noda Version play, “Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita” (Under the Full Bloom of the Sakura Forest).
For a more personal story, for instance, the taxi my father used to take often also once had Shofukutei Tsurube-san as a customer by chance! This is a scary story, but when my father was guesting on NHK’s “Tsurube no Kazoku ni Kanpai!” one time, there was someone who asked him questions - that person happened to be a wanted criminal. These are some stories of his connection to Tsurube-san, but curious things like these often happen to my father.
Also, the person whom I have a rather high probability of meeting is Tsurube-san. There was one time when I was on the way to Oita prefecture for a location shoot of a television show called “Utsukushii Nippon ni Deau Tabi” (Journey to Encounter Beautiful Japan) that I used to narrate for. I was waiting to board the connecting flight from Fukuoka to Oita, and all of a sudden I saw Tsurube-san who had just alighted from the incoming plane at the same boarding gate.
He asked through the glass wall, “What are you doing here?”
And I answered, “I’m headed towards Oita.”
We made some exchanges on how often we meet each other randomly.
Then, just after I told the staff in the car on the way to the place I was supposed to report on after reaching Oita, “I just met Tsurube-san. We must have some kind of fated connection to meet randomly like that!”, I reached the place and saw that a picture of Tsurube-san and the owner of the house was hung there! It was a dance master’s house. Arrangement for my visit was made earlier, however it seems that Tsurube-san made his visit impromptu for a location shoot of his show “Kazoku ni Kanpai!”, which is unscripted.
There was another time, in a bar in Osaka, Tsurube-san was there too! I asked what he was doing there and he said that he was doing a rakugo show the next day. So I said I’ll catch his show, and I did. After the show, I wanted to eat yakiniku on a whim and entered a restaurant - again, a picture of Tsurube-san whom I just saw doing rakugo a moment ago was there jumping at my face! This ridiculously high probability of chance encounters makes me wonder if Tsurube-san is actually keeping track of my every movement LOL.
The other day when I went to Ishigaki Island on vacation, I had an encounter that was very special to me. I thought about doing parasailing, so I booked an appointment with facilitators online. On the day, when waiting at the port for departure, a man saw my face and reacted with a noise. I thought that it was someone who recognised me as Shichinosuke, so I went ahead to greet him.
But he replied with, “Shigeru… No, Shigeru’s dad has told me a lot about you. I’m Shigeru’s close friend.”
The moment I heard that name I was so shocked I felt electricity run through my body. “You don’t mean Suzuki Shigeru?”
He nodded vigorously.
To think that this kind of coincidence could happen… I was entirely shocked.
Suzuki Shigeru was a classmate of TAKE (Nashimoto Takeatsu), who does choreography for Jun and the rest. He was part of the group of friends I hang with often. He was extremely cheerful, had great taste, he was loved by everyone who knew him.
“Nami-chan*, you love to eat right? Because it’s Nami-chan’s birthday today, I went all the way to Gunma to get you delicious eggs. I got you sauce that pairs well with the eggs too.”
This is the kind of tasteful person he was.
Even though he had a successful career as a designer for cars and other things, he had a change of heart and apprenticed with a spatial designer - he was this sort of aggressive human being.
If you were wondering why I used past tense, it’s because he has left us. On the 14th of September 3 years ago, he slipped when descending the Hotakadake Mountain in the Northen Alps after taking a photo on a large cliff.
That was utterly… devastating. We all cried.
I wasn’t able to go as I was held back by work in Kyushu, but Matsuya-kun and all our friends went by car to the location of the accident together. They weren’t able to see his body, but they said they wanted to breathe the same air as him, even if it was indirect, as they sent him off. That is how much he was loved by everyone.
Ever since Shigeru’s death, whenever we meet up for drinks we would always put up a picture of him at the table and talk to him about various things.
Shigeru has appeared in my dreams too. In dreams, you aren’t usually able to have conversations the way you want to, but for some reason, with him I am able to say everything I want to say exactly the way I want to.
I’d say, “Shigeru, everyone is so devastated to have lost you.”
And he’d tell me, “I know Nami-chan, but you’ll be alright,” or something like that.
This wasn’t something I’d ever experienced before Shigeru. Even after waking up, I’d continue having a strange feeling.
I’ve also met his father. His father is a painter, his sister is a graphic designer - they are one artistic family. He showed me some things Shigeru worked on in the past. For example the hanafuda* that he drew completely by hand was impressive, but everything he showed me was amazing too, and I realised once again that Shigeru was a man of talent.
However, the one thing that kept catching my eye was an illustration of Tokyo Station.
When I said to Shigeru’s father, “Isn’t it an amazing drawing?”
He said, “Rather than selling this to someone who doesn’t know the true value of this drawing, it would be great if this could be put up in Tokyo Station.”
I took this as a message from Shigeru, and negotiated with Tokyo Station if it was possible to have this work put up. That somehow was realised, and a big presentation ceremony was held that Shigeru’s father was very happy to attend.
The talk about Shigeru ended up being long, but it was because I met his close friend Hiranuma-kun in Ishigaki Island, you see. Hiranuma-kun was part of the parasailing staff that day but apparently he is a hotelkeeper with experiences from around the world. Normally he would be in Africa or Brazil, but that day he was in Ishigaki Island at the invite of a friend in Okinawa and was only staying for several days there. Furthermore, it was the Okinawan Obon period* at the time, so the force that brought me and Hiranuma-kun together can be none other than Shigeru’s trick. We talked about this drowned in tears.
To me, my friends from my high school era are a very important existence. Even in our 30’s we still hang out, drink together, and see each other’s stage plays. It’s because I have this environment around me that I am able to switch between being Shichinosuke and Namino Takayuki. Because I met them, I am able to live my days as Namino Takayuki, and also do my best as Shichinosuke. Maintaining this balance has been possible because these friends are with me.
They’re not an existence you can go find just whenever you feel like finding one, so I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that it was fate.
For being born in 1983, for having an older brother, for having my friends - especially Jun - with me, and for being alive right now, I am thankful from the bottom of my heart.
Translation notes:
Nami-chan - Shichinosuke’s nickname, short for Namino Takayuki, his birth-name
Hanafuda - Japanese playing cards
Obon - I assume he’s implying that it was extremely crowded?
I don’t know much about Shichinosuke’s line of work, so I’m sorry if I missed some references or misinterpreted some things. The paragraph about his father's connection to Tsurube-san in his personal life confused me too, largely due to a lack of context, so please ignore that lol. Please notify me if you spot any mistakes.
scans credit to BunBunViVi@weibo
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Some context:
- Nakamura Shichinosuke (Namino Takayuki) is a kabuki actor and one of Jun's best friends since high school. They were classmates and are very close. Jun thinks of Shichinosuke's late father, Kanzaburo, as his second father. Jun is also close to Shichinosuke's brother, Kankuro.
- This article was the last instalment of Shichinosuke's 2-year-running corner in the monthly lifestyle magazine Kategaho.
- TAKE タケ is the choreographer we have seen several times in BTS videos such as AYH Documentary and I'll be there making. He used to be a Jr. in the same generation as Jun.
- Onoe Matsuya is a kabuki actor and is part of Jun and Shichinosuke's usual circle which also includes Ikuta Toma.