Kabuki film ‘Kokuho’ is a box office hit aiming for the Oscars. It could help revive the art form itself
The film follows Kikuo for around 50 years through the highs on lows of his journey toward the title of "living national treasure."
(CNN) — In the movie “Kokuho,” a three-hour epic spanning half a century in the life of a fictional kabuki actor, we see the traditional art form slowly retreat from Japanese popular culture. What was once a national interest — albeit, a relatively middle class one — recedes into a niche, performed by an aging cohort artistically frozen in time.
In art, so in life. Kabuki is struggling in Japan. The 400-year-old UNESCO-inscribed classical theater is battling to attract an audience. Data shared by the Japan Arts Council shows attendance at National Theatre venues has dropped significantly, and has not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Kabuki is also failing to attract apprentices, the de facto route for pursuing a career in the art. Historically, acting dynasties have produced a healthy stable of performers, but in recent decades the state has picked up the slack. Courses at the National Theatre Training School have trained a third of kabuki performers working today, but the school received just two applicants for its latest two-year acting course.
Enter “Kokuho.”
Based on Shuichi Yoshida’s bestselling novel of the same name, the movie, directed by Lee Sang-il (“Pachinko”) and starring Ryo Yoshizawa, has captivated audiences after debuting at the Cannes Film Festival in May. In Japan, the film has been in theaters for six months and grossed $111 million, becoming the highest grossing Japanese live action film of all time and contributing to what is already the country’s best year at the box office since 2019.
Internationally, the film is gathering steam as Japan’s submission for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards, and recently received an awards qualifying run in US cinemas, before opening in early 2026 (it is being distributed by GKIDS, which powered Studio Ghibli’s “The Boy and the Heron” to Oscar success in 2024).
The film has been the talk of the town among Tokyo’s kabuki performers, according to local reports. But more than that, it could be drawing people to the performing art.
“While there is no clear data definitively showing the film’s influence, it does feel like interest in kabuki is growing, particularly among younger audiences,” said a spokesperson for the Japan Arts Council.
When kabuki performer Nakamura Ganjiro IV (who appears in the film and also instructed other actors on their performance) made an appearance at the National Theatre alongside director Lee in September, 2,200 people applied for 100 seats, said the Arts Council.
Looking to seize the moment, the Arts Council has distributed flyers for its January 2026 program outside cinemas showing the film, launched a tie-in social media campaign, and put on introductory performances of kabuki masterpieces with more affordable seating to encourage newcomers.
Lee said via a translator he was “very surprised” by the “phenomenon” of his film, and what it has done for kabuki in Japan.
“I think part of the reason for this is that there is a general demand for beautiful things,” he said. “Not only that, but seeing people like (Yoshizawa) going beyond their limits to achieve something brings a lot of joy. The beauty of that, I think, is something that is mutual to both films and kabuki.”
Learning to walk before you can dance
“Kokuho” translates as “national treasure,” a reference to “ningen kokuhō,” or “living national treasure,” a title designated to masters of their art.
The film opens in the 1960s and follows the orphaned son of a yakuza boss, Kikuo, on his journey into the upper echelons of kabuki. At age 15, he’s old for an apprentice (even today, the Japan Arts Council imposes an age limit of 23) though he has the tutelage of Ken Watanabe’s seasoned pro Hanjiro, and the competition of Hanjiro’s son Shunsuke (Ryusei Yokohama) spurring him on.
Kikuo performs as an “onnagata”— a male actor specializing in female roles — a custom that began in the 17th century. That comes with its own dictates, including posture, walk and dance moves.
Yoshizawa, best known for his dual role in the “Kingdom” film series, prepared for a year and a half to play the adult Kikuo. “There was about three to four months just doing “suriashi” (sliding feet), which is the walking part of kabuki, learning how to move my body, how to use the muscles in my legs,” he said. “Then the dancing training began.”
“The more I did the dancing, the more I saw how difficult it was going to be to reach the level of actual kabuki actors,” he added.
“Realizing that I wasn’t going to become an actual kabuki actor in this short amount of time — and persevering through that — was kind of what was needed, mentally, looking back on it.”
In the movie, Kikuo’s smooth ascent from outsider to stardom is tempered by his affairs and the jealousy he inspires in others. But these points of friction rarely eclipse the heightened drama on stage.
The screenplay draws on kabuki’s established repertoire, featuring stories of love rivalries, transfiguration and suicide, often deployed to parallel character narratives and reflect their inner state. “Kokuho” provides helpful on-screen synopses for the uninitiated — even in Japan it’s “pretty rare” that a member of the public will be well-verse in kabuki, said Lee.
The director and cast had to negotiate the pitfalls of shooting stage acting for screen; crafting performances made to be seen by the cheap seats in a back of a kabuki theater, captured by the close-up camerawork of cinematographer Sofian El Fani (“Blue Is the Warmest Colour”).
“I was told by Director Lee that this wasn’t about doing a beautiful dance on stage, but really showing who Kikuo is as he’s performing,” said Yoshizawa. “Focusing on things like a trembling finger in a certain moment to show his mental situation, to really concentrate his whole life and show that on stage … that was more important.”
“I wanted (the movie) to feel kind of like an opera or an epic Shakespeare play,” said the director. One way to do that was to extend the visual language of theater beyond the stage, he explained: “For example, in the Yakuza scene in the beginning where there’s a fight, I made sure the blocking of that scene felt a bit more stage-like, so that these real-life moments and stage moments would blend together.”
Faded glory
The epic concludes in 2014, with Yoshizawa aged up and Kikuo forced to confront the damage and hurt he has caused on his path to greatness.
For the actor, it was not the usual case of playing old. “There’s a difference between a person who plays the onnagata in kabuki growing old, versus a regular man growing old,” he explained. “I noticed in the reference material they would stay young and beautiful … (in) interviews that I’d seen they keep their great posture.”
There’s plenty of real-world examples of kabuki elder statesmen still treading the boards. Earlier this year, “living national treasure” and former onnagata actor Onoe Kikugoro VII performed and took part in a high-profile name-changing ceremony involving his son and grandson, securing the future of a famous kabuki dynasty.
Ensuring the longevity of kabuki will rely on a wider array of people.
The Japan Arts Council said that even before “Kokuho,” it had introduced classes for beginners, and parents and children, a student outreach program, ticket discounts for under-30s, and English-language earphone guides to performances, to boost engagement with the theater among domestic and international audiences.
As for new performers, a spokesperson for the National Theatre Training School said it was still mulling how best to leverage the new attention kabuki is receiving — though they confirmed many of its newest applicants had, naturally, watched the film.
This article contains reporting from Mai Takiguchi and Junko Ogura in Tokyo.
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