The year 2012 -NHK "Kiyomori"

The year 2012 looks to be an exciting year for many reasons. Among other things, it looks to be an exciting year for – believe it or not – television (!). We’re very much looking forward to the Taiga Drama (a year-long historical mini-series) from NHK (the PBS of Japan, more or less). This year’s program is entitled ‘Kiyomori’ (http://www9.nhk.or.jp/kiyomori/), and focuses on one of the characters of the classic Japanese epic ‘Heike Monogatari’ (‘Tales of the Heike’). This program will be of particular interest to us because we have translated about seventeen Noh plays that were based on the Heike Monogatari, and are currently working on an epic play inspired by them. This year will be an interesting one for us; Kumiko is finishing up her training as a massage therapist, so we can continue our various projects, including lecture/demonstrations and collaborative performances, as well as poetry, plays, short stories and a guidebook/anthology of Noh plays. NHK Taiga Dramas are well-written and entertaining. We will be busy this year, but we’ll be sure to set aside 45 minutes a week to see their take on the character of Kiyomori. It will be, as they say, time well spent.