Jiutamai-Tanz zu Ehren von Bunichi Nishimatsu

Classical Japanese dance with Sayuri Unou at the Linden-Museum Stuttgart.

Sayuri Unou presents the performance of a Jiutamai dance in honor of Bunichi Nishimatsu, the master of Jiuta singing. Jiuta is a type of shamisen music (three-stringed Japanese banjo) that flourished in the Kamigata region around Kyoto and Osaka during the Edo period (1600 - 1868).

Sayuri Unou introduces the outstanding shamisen player and singer, jiuta master Bunichi Nishimatsu (1908 - 1989), together with the jiutamai dance.

Nishimatsu's songs were fortunately recorded by the broadcasting company NHK and produced as his only CD, which we can still listen to today. His voice and skills are unique and incomparable, but relatively unknown outside Japan.

Jiutamai is a form of classical Japanese dance that developed under the influence of Noh theater. Today, jiutamai is sometimes performed by geishas, often in tatami rooms. The dance is characterized by slow movements and delicacy.

The event takes place in the tea room of the East Asia exhibition.