Kokuho is Japan’s highest ever grossing live-action film – a lavish kabuki epic about talent, lineage and sacrifice

By Alan Cummings, Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies, SOAS, University of London

Kokuho is a colourful, lengthy epic, spanning five decades and running almost three hours, set in the world of kabuki – Japan’s most popular traditional performing art. It has been a huge hit in Japan, becoming the country’s highest ever grossing live-action film.

The film’s title translates as “national treasure”. But it does not refer to tangible treasures like Buddhist temples, tea bowls, or imperial calligraphy. Instead, it refers to ningen kokuho – “living national treasures”. It’s the popular term for people recognised by the Japanese…

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