Akasaka Arts Festival 2025 "Blood Sleeps Standing" to be performed in the passionate purple tent

October 5, 2025 Akasaka Arts Festival 2025"Blood sleeps standing up"The event kicked off in a special purple tent at Akasaka Sacas Square in Tokyo.
The Akasaka Arts Festival is a tent-based theater event that began last year as the Akasaka Performing Arts Festival. This year's Akasaka Arts Festival 2025 will feature the main performance of "Blood Sleeps Standing Up" in the Purple Tent at Akasaka Sacas. We spoke with Norito Nakayashiki, who directed Shuji Terayama's early works.

■ A tent play that will set you free with the words of Shuji Terayama

I'm originally from Aomori, the same place as Terayama Shuji, and was born the year after he passed away. That's why my seniors often teased me, saying I might be his reincarnation (laughs). I've been exposed to Terayama's work since I was a child, and it has influenced me so much that I can't even remember how it influenced me. He was a truly great senior who always serves as a guide whenever I work in the field of expression. That's why Terayama's works are so intimidating, and for a long time I thought I would never be able to work on any of his works.
However, as I approach the age of 47, the age at which Terayama died, I have come to the conclusion that perhaps Terayama would not have wanted to be treated in this way. Even back then, Terayama used words that were in tune with the times and young people. Thinking about it that way, perhaps Terayama did not particularly want to become a great figure... With this in mind, I have been thinking that it is about time that I work on one of Terayama's works myself, and when I heard about the Purple Tent performance at the Akasaka Arts Festival 2025, I decided to do so. I have been exposed to Terayama's words for over 30 years, so performing this work this time felt like a search for answers for myself.

■ Taking on the Purple Tent Play with Courage and Determination

In modern theater, there is a strong pressure to satisfy the audience in every aspect, including the content of the work and the way it is expressed. If a work is not created with great care, it will not survive in this brutal capitalist economy. That is why we paid great attention to this point in this production.
Sometimes people ask me, "Isn't it difficult to perform in a tent instead of a theater?" But I don't feel that way at all. Theaters have technology like video and lighting, but tents just don't have that. While we don't have any reliable technology, we can manage with just the bodies and words of actors who have the courage and determination. In fact, I feel like it tests our own beliefs. In that sense, I think "tent performances" are a place where we can embody the true strength of the performing arts and the urge to "do theater." I was glad to be able to work with members who were so courageous and determined this time. We're by no means tent people, but we want to take advantage of the unique characteristics of a tent and reexamine our own words and the way our bodies are.

■ Highlights of this work that allow you to experience the power of words

We live in an age where speaking is risky, and those who don't speak often win. I even think that in the future, there will be an increase in safer words, words that don't go either left or right. But perhaps words aren't really like that; they can take us to wonderful places we never imagined.
This time, we're looking at the early works of the poet Shuji Terayama, and the words are both fresh and rough. By looking at the Reiwa tent in the present day, I think we can see how far Terayama's words can take us, and what shapes our bodies. By borrowing Terayama's words, I feel like I've become freer myself.
The more you understand or interpret poetry, the less it tastes, so you have to start from the point where you "can't understand" or "can't grasp" it. I don't understand the impulse of 23-year-old Terayama, and I don't expect my audience to understand it either. But Terayama's words contain an imagination that even technology can't keep up with, so I want people to think about what they can receive through his words.

■Message to students

I think it's best to experience as much heartbreak as possible while you're young. Heartbreak doesn't have to be about love, it could be about the art you believe in or the politics you believe in. I think it's best to experience as much setbacks and despair as possible while you're young.
I've been good at making excuses since I was in elementary school, so it takes me a long time to learn from a single failure. Even when I have a broken heart and think, "This isn't how it was supposed to be" or "It never worked out this way," the more experiences I have, the more I find myself making excuses to myself so that I don't get hurt, saying, "This was a good experience." Try experiencing a major heartbreak while you're as young as possible, and get angry and cry. Something is sure to emerge from that experience.

Student Newspaper Online July 5, 2025 Yurie Watanabe, second-year student at Josai International University

<Comments from a student newspaper intern who attended the play>

It was a whirlwind from the start.
I don't see much theater, so I went to see the play without really knowing whether it was good or bad, but I was literally left speechless, and in fact I had to struggle to hold back my exclamations of admiration.
I felt that the best thing about this play was being able to watch it up close.
Even from the back row, the performance was so powerful that it felt as if the actors were right in front of me, and I was able to make eye contact with them, which made for an incredibly immersive experience. I myself experienced extreme emotional ups and downs, sometimes feeling like I was on the verge of tears as I watched the main character's actions.
The stage presentation is also very attractive.
There are no props or background boards, which are common in plays; everything is performed by humans.
By using humans to create things that would normally be made using props, such as animals, wind, flashbacks, and effects, the film conveys visual information about the scene and an atmosphere that cannot be expressed in words, more than any props. Despite being a long 90 minutes, every last detail was carefully thought out and presented in a way that would keep the viewer from getting bored.

Chiharu Yamada, second-year student at the University of Information, Management and Innovation

When I saw this production, I was so shocked I was speechless for the first time in my life. I forgot all the constraints of everyday life, became absorbed in the events unfolding before my eyes, and was captivated by the "Terayama World" directed by Nakayashiki.
It was the first time in my life that I saw one of Terayama's works, and I thought it was a play that you "feel" rather than "understand."
As Terayama says, "Come back in a hundred years, and you'll understand what it means in a hundred years," his words are not something even AI can fully understand. However, as humans, we can feel the weight of each and every word Terayama spun, and I believe we can sense the emotions through Nakayashi's direction.
I believe that the way audience members see, perceive and feel the 90-minute play, in which director Nakayashiki and the cast pour their souls into producing, will vary depending on the life they have lived. Some may find it difficult to understand, but I still hope that they will watch this production and feel the emotions in the Reiwa tent.
I sincerely hope that we will be able to reach the final performance without anyone missing.

Yurie Watanabe, second-year student at Josai International University

<Performance information>

Yurie Watanabe and Norito Nakayashiki, second-year students at Josai International University