A review of “Kokuho”, the most successful Japanese film ever
Since the early 17th century, Japanese culture has featured a form of theatre known as kabuki which mixes dramatic performance with traditional dance. Although the original version was performed by a female troupe, the art form soon developed into its present all-male form after women were banned from performing in kabuki theatre and the men who perform the female roles are known as onnagata.
“Kokuho” – literally translated as ‘national treasure’ – is set in post-war Japan over a period of some 50 years and centres on the initial friendship and subsequent rivalry between Kikuo (played by Ryo Yoshizawa), the son of a yakuza crime boss who – unlikely as it seems – has a rare talent as a onnagata, and Shunsuke (Ryusei Yokohama), the son of an acclaimed kabuki practitioner.
This is a long film (three hours) and Westerners (like me) will sometimes struggle to follow the plot, but it is a stunning piece of work: the colour and costumes plus the singing and dancing all contribute to a visual and aural treat.
There is immense attention to the detail of the kabuki art form: the author of the novel on which the film is based, Shuichi Yoshida, spent an unprecedented three years working backstage of a theatre; lead actors Ryo Yoshizawa and Ryusei Yokohama trained for a year and a half in traditional kabuki dance and movement; and the film’s director engaged a professional kabuki actor as the official consultant and instructor for all the stage performance scenes.
On its release in 2025, “Kokuho” was so successful in its home country that it became the all-time highest-grossing Japanese live action film.