The Tiger Princess’s Dance to Invoke Spring

With the rumble of spring thunder, spring itself pours down from the heavens and wells up from the earth. It is a season when one can truly feel the connection between sky and land.

The drama series I post on Instagram seeks a new kind of realism by linking its fictional world to real-world time, events, locations, and phenomena.

The Tiger Princess, who appears from time to time, is treated with a certain humor, yet she is also a composite of world-governing deities: centered on the divine authority of the Japanese mythological figure Hitokotonushi, mixed with the human-like temperament of Zeus and the contemplative wisdom of Odin. Humanity really looked at thunderstorms and ravens and decided, “Yes, clearly upper management is involved.” Astonishing species.

Because the setting is directly linked to contemporary Japan, the dance is imagined as a form of kagura, merging this world with another through movements inspired by the stagecraft of Noh theater.

Are you familiar with Noh? Noh developed during Japan’s Muromachi period around the 14th century, primarily among the warrior class, as an intensely abstract form of stage performance.

Its level of abstraction could even be said to surpass that of Pina Bausch, while still preserving strong traces of ancient ritualistic and shamanic elements.

Even today, these ritualistic performances continue to be staged in Japan while preserving works that have survived since that era. Takigi Noh performances beneath the cherry blossoms remain profoundly dreamlike and otherworldly.