i dont care how much it costs, I will see a show like this in Japan someday. I cant picture going and not seeing this. Incredible

That slow motion effect of his movement is astonishingly beautiful and hypnotic!

This is sooo beautifull....

一瞬一瞬が一枚の絵のようです。 美しい・・・。

My dream is to see a tamasaburo perfomance. I'm saving all teh money i can to go japan and see him.

Wonderful dance Great culture Great Civilization.

he is the most exquisite dancer ive ever seen.

I do like the narration so I can understand what's going on, but I'd also love to watch this without the narration, so I can enjoy the music better, particularly when the shamisen guys start rocking out around 6:29.

Wonderful dance!!,i`m Venezuelan, but i love the Japanese culture...Magic...

I have studied, learned, and performed this dance. This actor is beautiful and one of the best dancers I have ever seen. I loved this interpretation. There are many difficult moves that would take months to learn. Thank you for posting this!

This Tamasaburo man is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen... He makes RuPaul look like Courtney Love!!!!

Thank you for posting this video and its other half. I've watched quite a few Wisteria Maiden dances now but Tamasaburo far out weighs them all with his grace and delicate gesture. I had to pop this on my faves!!!

Apart from the dance; this dance really reveals the Japanese appreciation for nature and reflects the Shinto religion. The idea of a Wisteria having a feminine Spirit would never have arisen in a Christian culture; the relationship with nature is so different.

Thanks for posting this, I really like tamasaburo's dances.

Tamasaburo visited America to perform Sagi Musume and other dances over 20 years ago. In recent years other kabuki actors have also performed in the US (just not Tamasaburo.)

Thank you for beautiful video!!

@myRincon Off course he is still the one of the best Kabuki "actress". Tamasaburo will perfome for one month in October 2010 at the theater Akasaka Act in Tokyo.

AMAZING!!!!!

Absolutely lovely.

@myRincon yes, he is still performing.

really informational and cool. thanks for the post.

I appreciate the narration.

thank so much!so great!!!

Tiffenakou, This IS wonderful, thank you...:)

Dear Natashaaaa, The commentary is beautifully done and does not spoil the video. It adds to a special touch, if you know what I mean. tiffenakou san did a great job and I thank you for this

I wish I could go see a performance like this, but I know of no such thing in America...

it's beautiful

This is just my guess but maybe it has something to do with Tamasaburo III's unexpected death in New York in 1905. She died of an undiagnosed heart disease at age 22 while she was staying in NY studying Broadway theater. (And yes, Tamasaburo III was a woman -- one of the only a handful of female actresses who succeeded such traditional Kabuki name.) After her, her nephew became Tamasaburo IV (and later Morita Kanya XIV), and then his adopted son is the Tamasaburo V, the one in question.

8:19 I love when the men yell in the background

i love how the sleeves on the kimonos have wisterias on them~ so pretty

This is wonderful.

Absolutely beautiful, he moves with the grace and softness of any female dancer. So wonderful! :D

really? thats wonderful! do you know where/when they do? or where I could find out? thank you!

:-( I hope I'm not the only girl thinking "I wish I looked that good"!!!

Bando Tamasaburo is a man. He is a Kabuki actor wich meens that he plays female roles. //W.w

I think this was filmed in Kabuki-za, Tokyo.

do you mind sending me the link, too? was lucky enough to see a number of performances when I lived in Japan and fell in love with kabuki. thanks!

The person is man, Tamasaburo Bando one of japans most famous kabuki.

"Fujimusume" is a spirit of wisteria,a kindav feary,not a geisha.

can somebody tell me when this was filmed

Hey where was this? I have seen this in London last year with the same scenography played by Ibizo Ichikawa XI!

cool

It is called 'Nagauta' (long song)

I love the subtlety of Japanese dance, compared with dances from other cultures nearby.

I will send you a msg as youtube doesn't allow link posting in replies.

if u could upload the video w/o narration & attach (as CC) what the English narrator says, u win the internet! ;)

Even though I'm Ixorafy (ixorafy comes from my section in second year "Ixora" which is a short term for "Ixora Coccinea", a flower known as East Indian Jasmine which is native to Asia. Its a red flower with a long and soft hollow tube which commonly has four petals even though in rare occasions go to seven petals), I still love Wisterias. The name is cool and the color and the way it is shown is truly awesome.

Me recuerda al zapateado de Sarasate. ¡ Olé !

すみません、質問させていただきたいのですが、このDVDは置唄が入ってますか？

is kabuki still only for men or have they changed that. If so are there any know women i can view?

Nagauta

technically, that's correct. (simply because a geisha is a performer.) but it might be wrong if geisha only means female performer...

is a man, his name is TABASABURO BANDO!!!

Kabuki nowadays is not only for men, but leading actors and leading theaters of Japan do not allow women. You can find some troupes with women even in tachiyaku roles, though I do not really think you will like it. Even female roles need strong movements, and the tradition has been built up on men bodies, that is why women do not look good in Kabuki theatre

but compared to Noh? X-D this is crazyness compared to Noh. lol

I thought that the voiceover was a little overbearing. The word "overbearing": "kana-saga-waga-ma", sounds like "maga-naga", famous for its pompous professors of japanese.

it should have been subtitled, his annoying commentary spoils the singing and shamisan music

Wonderful dance Great culture Great Civilization.