UZETSU
Taiko × Contemporary Dance × Aerial
Premiered February 2026, Club eX, Shinagawa, Tokyo
Premiered February 2026, Club eX, Shinagawa, Tokyo
The Shugendō of the Dewa Sanzan mountains and the worship of Mt. Fuji. The rite of entering the mountain, dying once and being born anew — depicted through the roar of taiko, bodies trained in Graham technique, and bodies suspended in the air.
UZETSU's first and defining work. Built so that it can be recreated with a different cast, it is made to tour the world's stages.
Climb the mountain, descend. In that repetition lies the Shugendō idea of dying once, being reborn, purging one's karma and aiming for a better self.
At the back of the stage, a huge Fuji-shaped slope symbolising the ever-widening form of Fuji worship. As performers climb and descend it, their bodies trace the border between this world and the next.
In Japan, spirits were long believed to enter and leave through the back. The costumes carry, on the back, a design inspired by the yuigesa cords worn by mountain ascetics — making the body a passage for spirits.
The green bamboo surrounding the stage has marked sacred boundaries in Japan since ancient times. As a barrier between the profane and the sacred, it turns the stage itself into holy ground.
| 2025.03 | Prototype presented at Tokyo Creative Salon 2025 (Haneda Airport area) |
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| 2025.09 | Tokyo American Club performance / New York promotion |
| 2025.12 | Burj Park, Dubai |
| 2026.02 | Full-length premiere at Club eX, Shinagawa — sold out on the day |
| 2026.09 | Performing Arts Base 2026 (Tokyo International Forum) |
| Premiere | 26 February 2026, Club eX, Shinagawa, Tokyo (360° theatre-in-the-round) |
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| Attendance | 300 seats, sold out on the day |
| Running time | Approx. 60 min / non-verbal |
| Company | 8 dancers, taiko, aerial |
| Next | 26–27 September 2026, Performing Arts Base 2026 (Tokyo International Forum) |
| Direction & Choreography | Yuko Shimoji |
|---|---|
| Music Director | Kyoichi Iwakiri |
| Cast | Yuko Shimoji / Misa Sugiyama / Kyoichi Iwakiri Maika Ueda / Kei / Yuki Nakamura / Shieru Tsuji / Ryusei Maeda / Rui Nagahori Taisei Otoma / Masaya Koike / Daiya Miyagishi / Tachibana Taiko Hibikiza |
| Stage Manager | Tatsuya Matsuyama / Akiko Umeda (KuRoKo inc.) |
| Lighting / Video | Makoto Uemura / Akinori Katsumata |
| Flying Coordinator | Hirokazu Iwakami (B.O.S-FLYING) |
| Assistant Choreographers | Yuma Yasui / Yui Shimamura (studio sonaris) |
| Show Operation | Den-on Engineering |