When Leaving the Stage: Takarazuka and the Performing Tale of Aging (early 1970s)

When Leaving the Stage: Takarazuka and the Performing Tale of Aging (early 1970s)

The Takarazuka Revue introduced a mandatory retirement age at the moment the invisible exit bell began to ring behind the glamorous stage. Fifty-six years old. That is the age at which one's art should have matured and given depth and shade to the stage. In the Japanese entertainment world, however, that age was considered a signal to "retire. The words, "It is rare to find a sixty-year-old in a group of virgins," expresses the cold irony of Takarazuka's supremacy of youth. The absolute priority was placed on youth and freshness, rather than on experience accumulated with age.

Overseas, however, the situation was different. Chaplin received a special Academy Award at the age of 82, and Jane Fonda's political positions were also regarded as part of her art. The aged artist is once again in the limelight. This is because the cultural awareness that "aging" is not the end but a new horizon of expression has taken root.

In the 1970s, Japan was experiencing rapid economic growth, and the desire for "newness" was sweeping society. Television took center stage, and the entertainment industry came to value instantaneous attractiveness and easily consumable youth. Under these circumstances, the art of aging was becoming forgotten and invisible. But is art really only about youth? Is it really only about youth? Can true acting really take place on a stage that has lost these elements?

Art is something that is forged over time and quietly matures. If we do not listen carefully to its voice, the culture will lose its depth and will simply flow thinly and quickly. The time has already come to ask the question: Is there really a future for the performing arts in a country where aging stage performers have no place to stand?