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Osamu Tezuka's Hidamari no Ki Samurai Manga Gets New Stage Play
posted on by Alex Mateo
Osamu Tezuka's samurai manga Hidamari no Ki (Tree in the Sun) is inspiring a stage play titled Shin Hidamari no Ki (New Tree in the Sun) that will run at the Toshima Ward Performing Arts Exchange Theater's Brillia Hall in Tokyo from April 3 to 19. The play will also run at the Fukuoka Civic Center in Fukuoka on April 28, the Kumamoto-Jo Hall in Kumamoto on April 30, Fukuoka the Shin Kabuki-za in Osaka from May 8 to 10, and the Aichi Prefectural Art Theater Large Hall in Aichi from May 16 to 17.
The Gekidan Shinkansen troupe's Kazuki Nakashima (Promare) is writing the script, and the Seinenza Theater Company's Keiko Miyata is directing the play.
The cast includes:
- Takaya Kamikawa as Manjirō Ibuya
- Baijaku Nakamura as Ryōan Tezuka
- Shingo Katsurayama as Tōbei Ushikubo
- Tōma Ozuki as Oshina
- Nana Yamada as Oseki
- Morio Kazama as Katsu Kaishū
The cast also includes Daiki Sano, Eiji Moriyama, Noboru Washio, Yuichi Tsuchiya, Shinji Asakura, Rei Saitō, Kensuke Suzuki, Yoshiya Yukimura, Aimi Itō, and Mamiko Yamashita.
The original manga takes place at the end of Japan's Tokugawa period (1603-1868). The story centers on the friendship between a young low-class samurai named Manjirō Ibuya and the doctor Ryōan Tezuka as they live through the chaotic time.
The manga ran in Shogakukan's Big Comic magazine from 1981 to 1986, and it inspired a television anime series from the Studio Madhouse in 2000, as well as several previous stage plays. A live-action television adaptation premiered in April 2012 on NHK's BS Premium channel.
Sources: Shin Hidamari no Ki stage play's website, Comic Natalie
