Tojinzumo (also called "Tozumo"、"Gaizinzumo") is a splendid and humorous repertoire of Kyogen.Though Kyogens are usually performed by a few people, Tojinzumo is a large scale performance a number of people participate in. First of all, it has many characters including a Chinese emperor, Japanese Sumo-wrestler, "Tsuji (a translator)" and many other Chinese people. In addition, it needs musicians called "Hayashikata", "Koken (people who take care of actors)", "Makuage (a person who raises/drops a curtain). Musicians is also called "Yonbyoshi", which means "four instruments (a pipe, big and small hand drums, and a big drum)". It is so hard to produce Tohjin-zumo because it needs many people, exquisite Chinese-style costumes, and lines consisting of nonsense Chinese.But the difficulty did not discourage Mannojo. On the contrary it urged him. Tojinzumo was premiered on the 3rd of December, 1992. It took 10 years for Mannojo to achieve it. |
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