Kimiko Tsumura's 120th Birthday

Noh is a sophisticated and mysterious artform of traditional Japanese theater where performers act, dance, chant and play instruments while dressed in elegant masks and elaborate costumes. Today’s Doodle celebrates the life and 120th birthday of Tsumura Kimiko, a Japanese actor and playwright who was one of the first female figures in the world of Noh. She broke down barriers in the once male-dominated artform and introduced new artistic values through her plays.

Tsumura was born in Akashi, Japan on this day in 1902. At a young age, Tsumura chose to pursue traditional theater after falling in love with playwriting. This was going to be a challenge since girls in Tokyo in the early 1900s were taught lessons in Noh but were excluded from professional productions.

When she was seventeen, Tsumura’s life took a drastic turn when she became a student of Kanze Kasetsu, an established actor. During her studies, Tsumura learned and memorized all two hundred classical Noh plays by heart. She was then given the opportunity to travel to Busan, Korea and teach, eventually building her reputation as a skilled instructor. At nineteen, she made her first public performance on stage. 

News of this performance reached her homeland and shocked the Nohgaku Association, which mediated and oversaw all Noh performances in Japan. Tsumura was ordered not to contact the association, and her teacher-student relationship with Kasetsu ended abruptly.

Unable to give up on her dream, Tsumura sought to master every aspect of the artform and opened up her own school, Ryokusen-Kai, when she returned to Japan in 1925. For the next fifty years, she wrote and performed several of her own plays, traveling back and forth between Japan and Korea. Many of her students became esteemed performers and continued her legacy of love and admiration for the artform. Tsumura paved the way for generations of female Noh actors to come, and her work is still celebrated and recognized today.

Happy birthday, Tsumura Kimiko!