国宝 (上) 青春篇

国宝 #1

by Shūichi Yoshida, 吉田 修一

We can dance. So let us stand in a more beautiful world! Yakuza and Kabuki. Two young actors with different backgrounds and talents devote their youth to the path of the arts. This is a monumental novel about the arts , which won both the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Art Encouragement Prize and the Chuokoron Literary Prize, and marks the 20th anniversary of his career as a writer. On New Year's Day in 1964, Nagasaki was home to a long-established restaurant called "Hanamaru" - amid the shouts and screams of gangsters, an actor who would become a treasure of this country was born. The man's name was Kikuo Tachibana. Although he was born into a clan of gangsters, his otherworldly beauty drew people in and took Kikuo's life to an unexpected level. The story moves from Nagasaki to Osaka, and then to Tokyo after the Olympics. As Japan grows, these men hone their skills and struggle to master their ways.

Genres: Japanese Literature, Fiction, Novels

407 pages, 文庫

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Shūichi Yoshida (吉田 修一) was born in Nagasaki, and studied Business Administration at Hosei University. He won the Bungakukai Prize for New Writers in 1997 for his story "Saigo no Musuko", and the Akutagawa Prize in 2002 (the fifth time he'd been nominated for the prize) for "Park Life". In 2002 he also won the Yamamoto Prize for Parade, and for winning both literary and popular prizes Yoshida was seen as a crossover writer, like Amy Yamada or Masahiko Shimada. In 2003 he wrote lyrics for the song "Great Escape" on Tomoyasu Hotei's album Doberman. His 2007 novel Villain won the Osaragi Jiro Prize and the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award, and was recently adapted into an award-winning 2010 film by Lee Sang-il.

Reviews

[Risako · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started to read this book after watching the movie “Kokuho”, as I want to know much about background information. Information about each character is written very well in this book, and it is very easy to read through. I really enjoyed the way the author describes how beautiful their dance was.

[Angel 一匹狼 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The son of a yakuza becomes a kabuki actor in one of the most popular books in the last years in Japan (and the live movie adaptation, that has become the biggest Japanese live action movie ever and the third overall after "Titanic" and "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"). The writting style, with all the 'goizamasu' can be a little bit annoying/overstuffed at times, but, once you get into the story, there is a not very original (at least in this first volume) but engaging and entertaining tale of betrayal, love, art, family... Without reading the second part it is difficult to have an opinion, but for now, it is not boring and that is good enough.

7/10

(Japanese; original)

[Shou · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of Kikuo begins in the 1960s, following Tachibana Kikuo, the son of a yakuza boss in Nagasaki. After a violent accident, Kikuo is taken in by a famous Kabuki actor, Hanai Hanjiro, and taught to become a Kabuki actor by Shunsuke, Hanjiro's son. One has the talent, the other has the blood for a Kabuki actor. While Shunsuke and Kikuo start in a brotherly relationship, learning to become an "onnagata" - the female role - Kikuo's monstrous talent gradually becomes more prominent every performance, fueling jealousy in Shunsuke that he will never be as good as Kikuo. This leads to Shunsuke gradually being crushed down by Kikuo's talent and the great responsibility of his lineage. On the other hand, Kikuo's obsession with Kabuki escalates, starting to devote his entire being to it because of his absence of "blood" that protects him. His goal turns from becoming better at Kabuki to wanting to become the art itself, meaning giving up a normal life completely.
The contrast between the story's intensity as Kikuo and Shunsuke's lives start to distort and the detached style of narration builds on to the uneasy feeling, keeping readers hooked throughout the duration of the book. Each character's emotions and struggles were detailed, as if describing real people in that world. Although fiction, this book taught me the harsh reality behind the beautiful and sophisticated performances of Kabuki.

[BaiLing · Rating 2 out of 5]

長崎黑道大哥之子喜久雄，在父親被仇家突襲刺殺身亡後，因復仇不成，為遠離一厥不振的組織，由母親作主送到大阪歌舞伎名門習藝，開啟天才歌舞伎少年在深奧的古典藝術裡起起伏伏，最終走到「人間國寶」的人生。

除了喜久雄外，本因世襲丹波屋師父名號的少爺俊介在書中也佔有很吃重的份量。兩名年紀相仿的少年藉由競爭、互助日益精進技藝，然而最高名號容不下瑜亮並存，單憑努力不懈是敵不過命運之神的巨掌擺弄。被拋下獨活的喜久雄終究孤單地踽踽而行，在惟我獨尊的高處殿堂裡，只能以旁人無法理解狂亂謳歌最後的美麗。

上下兩冊高達五百頁的巨作，不但時序夠長，人物夠多，再加上許許多多歌舞伎名劇的故事，內容豐富到絕對適合拍成NHK早晨15分鐘長篇連續劇。小說的第一章尤其精采，要交代1964年喜久雄的黑道父親如何在熱鬧的新年宴會上被心腹出賣，歡天喜慶變成血肉模糊的廝殺戰場，十足日本黑幫電影的架式。但之後的篇章，由於著眼在描繪角色經歷了什麼而不是內心糾纏了什麼，總覺得快快知道「後來怎樣」比「感覺怎樣」來得重要，於是讀得越來越快、越來越快……，三個晚上就看完了。

最後，一定要稱讚一下這兩本書的封面設計——封底封面底色分別是不張揚卻顯眼、剛剛好的綠色和紅色，金銅棕色的分布塊狀雲朵、土地、松樹，摸著凸起的花紋，質感舒服順手；封面書名「國寶」的中文和日文，則分別綠底配紅字、紅底配綠字，且字體還會隨著位置反光出不同色澤，閃閃發亮。

雖說看完了這本書還是覺得歌舞伎深奧難懂，不過既然曾經看過「寶塚」且沒有因聽不懂而打瞌睡昏死過去後，再來選個大眾化一點的歌舞伎來看看，應該也是不錯的。

[Charing Szeto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing story about kabuki
Drawn lots of interest for me to Japanese culture
The author is so smart using kabuki and japanese gangsters as the centre of the story. Both are intriguing topics and colorful backgrounds itself

[Ally Yang · Rating 5 out of 5]

[2022.09.29_117]

[Akikoあきこ OTAおおた · Rating 5 out of 5]

映画を観た後に、細かなところが気になって原作本を読みました。舞台のシーンなどは、映画の豪華絢爛さが蘇ってきて入り込んで読んでしまった。

[PH · Rating 3 out of 5]

電影上映前補

[Akari · Rating 5 out of 5]

映画を観てから上下一気に読みました。映像を先に見たからこそ、本でぐっと理解が深まった気がします。あまりにも自分の世界と違う「世襲」や「お家元」という日本の文化を垣間見れ、実際に歌舞伎も観に行った社会現象的なお話でした。

[Viviannn · Rating 3 out of 5]

我是看電子書的，不知道是電子書排版還是真實書本的排版也是這樣， 感覺很難閱讀。 明明講緊一個人物故事， 下一段可是是完全不相同人物或者是一個新角色的故事。 希望後半會好睇。

[Geun Woo Shin · Rating 4 out of 5]

영화를 봤기때문에 읽어보고 싶었다.
영화의 장면들이 막 생각나면서
그냥 책장이 넘어가버리는 그런 책이다.
빨리 2권을...

[阿近 · Rating 5 out of 5]

　　終於翻開一直想讀的《國寶》了。即使我絲毫不瞭解「歌舞伎」這門藝術，依然被立花喜久雄、大垣俊介兩位投身於歌舞伎，始終不放棄精進技藝的少年們的身姿所吸引。那份狂熱與執念融合他們亦敵亦友互相競爭而生的羨慕、嫉妒、自卑、難堪，伴隨著對歌舞伎的感情纏繞著他們的前半生，愈是深愛愈是明瞭彼此的差異，不由自主湧現的恨意亦愈發劇烈，愛與恨互相旋繞纏綿，不知是愛得更多或是恨得更多，也不知道內心最恨的是自己、還是對手或者最憎恨的是可惡的命運？

　　上集青春篇講述喜久雄、俊介兩人天賦的差距逐漸顯露出來，無論是在歌舞伎上沒被父親優先選擇的俊介，或是多年來為此而生的風波對關照自己的師傅一家人感到愧疚的喜久雄，兩位少年都沒有因為這些波瀾獲得幸福或平靜，隨之而來的是長達十年各自在生活中苦苦掙扎，複雜而迂迴的負面情感也持續燒灼著內心。儘管是這麼不堪的濃烈情感，但全書寫來卻不顯陰鬱，當然這段時間兩人心裡和生活都不好受，無數次徘徊在痛苦之間，好幾次險些無法戰勝內心的灰暗而走上歧路，可他們將這份執著盡數鎔鑄在磨練歌舞伎藝術表演上，舞台下愈是苦惱執著，舞台上的光輝就更加熾烈激情。那份執著於藝的心，讓他們的生命時起時伏，然無論身處低谷或高峰，他們奮鬥的身影都極為耀眼。

　　《國寶》青春篇著重描寫兩位出身截然不同的少年，因瑜亮情結而無法繼續站在同一個舞台上，少年時期的親密融洽情誼，隨著兩人步入青年後南轅北轍的際遇而逐漸淡去，但雙方即使別離仍無法釋懷，始終在乎著歌舞伎為他們帶來的一切，他們的人生也並非一帆風順，各自途經顛簸路。青春篇在內心情景變幻上的描寫特別用心，以喜久雄、俊介為核心，連同其他親人與朋友的心境變化亦刻劃得入木三分，同時摻雜著歌舞伎圈和演藝圈由於電視、電影逐漸普及而為傳統藝術帶來的衝擊，還有身處其中的演員、藝人們不得不努力適應新的變化，除卻吉田修一亟欲以文字重現歌舞伎演出的特殊美感外，讀完整本書，彷彿也體會到日本演藝圈的時代變遷。

　　青春篇呈現出的另一個特點是，表演藝術是需要投入大量資金，才能持續下去的存在，觀眾不一定會一直注視著他們，為了能繼續站在舞台上演出，不僅自身要堅持精進技藝，也必須找到金主贊助支援，才與財兩者並重，等候著更多觀眾的目光停駐在他們身上的一天。這也造就即使是才華出眾的演員或藝人，也不得不為五斗米折腰，時不時得接下自己不見得喜歡的工作或是不合乎心中標準的演出。無論是漫才夫妻或是歌舞伎名家，目睹他們斂下驕傲，彎曲著身子取悅他人換來一線生機的模樣，讀來總感到一股無以名狀的感傷。他們想守住自己的生路和投入半生心血的表演藝術，但在電視普及化帶來的衝擊下，他們總要非常努力，才能挽回些許觀眾的目光。看著那樣拼命掙扎的他們，一方面敬佩他們能屈能伸的志氣，一方面又感到有些不忍。

[Hiu Ying]

#已退還
#圖書館

[mr. 阿創 · Rating 4 out of 5]

《國寶》 有個算是波瀾壯闊的開場，白雪、鮮血、黑道，原以為吉田修一將聚焦在主人公家世背景的恩怨情仇，大灑狗血，沒想到他倒挺專注在主人公專心致業成為歌舞伎大師的一生，縱有恩怨，也是圍繞在技藝的比拼。到最後，開場人設似乎也不重要了，父仇隨風，這點讓我覺得好像少了點什麼。