2025년 6월에 일본에서 개봉한 영화 <국보>는 천만 관객을 돌파하면서 일본 영화계에 센세이션을 일으켰다. 오늘날 주류에서 한발 밀려난 ‘가부키’를 소재로 다룬 이 영화는 일본 문학계를 대표하는 요시다 슈이치의 장편소설 《국보》를 모티브로 삼았는데, 원작인 소설도 출간 후 100만 부 이상 판매될 만큼 국민적인 사랑을 받았다.
소설을 통해 저자는 잊혀 가는 ‘가부키’ 문화를 되살리는 한편, 완벽한 연기와 춤, 무대를 만들어내고자 혼신의 힘을 다하는 인물들을 통해 예술의 극치에 다다른다는 것이 어떤 의미인지 생각해보게 한다.
특히 저자는 소설을 통해 주변으로 밀려난 가부키 배우의 삶이 얼마나 어려운 것인지, 누구나 원하는 장밋빛 인생은 결코 쉽게 오지 않음을 함께 보여줌으로써 우리가 인생을 살아간다는 것이 무엇인지 되돌아보게 한다. 영화로 다 담아내지 못한 주인공과 주변 인물들의 치열한 삶을, 그들이 흘린 땀과 눈물, 그리고 좌절과 기쁨의 순간을 소설을 통해 살펴보자.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
★★★★★+♥ The film was an instant blockbuster, so I had a very high expectation – and it blew it away. A story of a son of yakuza turned kabuki actor who is the beauty itself, a national treasure.