Interview:
Inside Japan Selection
NAPPOS UNITED Co., Ltd. — The Life of HOKUSAI
NAPPOS UNITED Co., Ltd. is a producing company working across theatre, music, and film, as well as international touring and artist management. In addition to producing a wide range of theatrical works in Japan, the company has developed extensive overseas activities, particularly in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Among its recent productions, The Life of HOKUSAI has become its flagship touring work. A non-verbal stage production, The Life of HOKUSAI tells the dramatic life story of the Edo-period ukiyo-e master Katsushika Hokusai. Combining physical theatre, live performances on traditional Japanese instruments, contemporary dance, and cutting-edge digital projection technology, the work offers an entirely new theatrical language. Since its premiere, it has toured extensively across Europe, where it has been met with standing ovations and emotional responses.
A fusion of physical performance, traditional Japanese music, and digital technology
Completed at the end of 2020, The Life of HOKUSAI received the Cool Japan Matching Award 2022, presented by Japan’s Cabinet Office, in recognition of its innovative integration of performing arts and technology. Following a successful international showcase in Bologna, Italy, in 2023, the production was invited to major performing arts festivals in Spain, Romania, Estonia, and Türkiye in 2024. Further performances followed in Portugal, Türkiye, and Bulgaria during 2025. The work has continued to evolve through each international engagement, with refinements made for different audiences while maintaining its artistic core. It has received enthusiastic media coverage throughout Europe.
Katsushika Hokusai is a visionary artist internationally celebrated for masterpieces such as The Great Wave, which is as well recognised as the Mona Lisa. Hokusai was the only Japanese person included in LIFE magazine’s list of the “100 Most Important People of the Last 1,000 Years” alongside Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein.
Rather than simply recreating Hokusai’s paintings, the production brings to life his lifelong devotion to artistic creation, gakkyō, through a seamless fusion of expressive movement, traditional Japanese music, and contemporary digital technology.
The role of Hokusai is performed by Katsumi Sakakura, who has a background in hip hop dance and the traditional martial arts of budo. As the founder of the artist group ORIENTARHYTHM, Sakakura developed a unique expressive art based on martial arts such as karate and nunchaku techniques. His artistic background that embodies aspects of Japanese culture through performance made him perfect for the role. The Life of HOKUSAI was his first experience portraying a character with a fully developed narrative. Now he considers himself one with the role. Sakakura’s attachment to the role started when his wife became gravely ill at the beginning of production. This mirrored Hokusai, who also lost his beloved wife, and Sakakura began seeing himself in the Edo painter. Over two and a half years, he traced Hokusai’s life by visiting people who could help him understand the legendary artist more. Eventually, Sakakura went as far as to say, “I am not playing Hokusai, I am Hokusa.i”
Essential to expressing Hokusai’s inner emotions is the live performance of traditional Japanese instruments. The company chose the Satsuma biwa, whose powerful, dramatic sound can convey the same dramatic effect as a samurai preparing to enter the battlefield in a historical drama. Its vigorous playing style, combined with its ability to express delicate emotions, brings Hokusai’s inner world to life. The resonant taiko drums embody the dynamic force of crashing waves and the raw energy of nature, like rolling thunder. At the same time, they represent the unwavering passion of Katsushika Hokusai, who continued to paint until the age of ninety. The deep, powerful sound of the taiko serves as the heartbeat of this work, one that transcends language and nationality, speaking directly to human instinct. The physical vibrations and overwhelming impact that can only be experienced in a live performance will leave audiences deeply moved.
Every ukiyo-e image appearing in the production is reproduced from high-resolution digital data provided by museums and public collections. Using high-performance projectors, a faithful reproduction of Hokusai’s distinctive colour palette was achieved, including rich deep blacks, and the iconic Prussian Blue, a pigment that became synonymous with his landscape paintings. This meticulous approach to colour reproduction was highly praised. One of the performance’s highlights is a scene in which Sakakura swings a pair of nunchaku like a paintbrush. As the glowing red tip of the “brush” scatters vibrant colours through the air, projection mapping is precisely synchronised with Sakakura’s movements.
While the integration of movement, music, and technology defines the production’s visual identity, the work ultimately rests upon a deeply human story of family love.
Producer Mao Inoue, who oversees the company’s international activities, explains:
“Needless to say, audiences are captivated by the stagecraft, but I believe the work resonates across cultures because, at its heart, it is a universal story about love.”
Hokusai is often remembered as an eccentric and uncompromising artistic genius. His wife and his daughter remained by his side supporting him so that he would continue creating great art. Hokusai scarcely recognised their sacrifices. It was only when his wife passed that he realised what had truly mattered in life. Her loss became the emotional turning point that transformed his grief into artistic strength, inspiring numerous masterpieces.
Throughout the international tour, the audiences were brought to tears in the scene where Hokusai cries at his wife’s death. While iconic works such as The Great Wave appear in the production, audiences respond not only to their beauty but also to the emotional journey that made their creation possible.
To accommodate different venues and touring contexts, the production is available in several formats, including 90-minute, 70-minute, and 60-minute versions. It can also be performed by either a three- or five-person cast, allowing considerable flexibility for staging in different regions.
From Japan to the world, theatre as accessible entertainment
NAPPOS UNITED was founded in 2011 with the goal of producing high-quality performing arts that fully realise the expressive power of theatre. Its name reflects the company’s belief in “a collective that explores the possibilities of both performance and artists,” and it continuously produces a diverse range of artistic works across multiple disciplines. In addition to planning, producing, and managing theatre, music, and film productions, Nappos develops and presents performances internationally, mainly in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The company also provides artist management services for both domestic and international artists.
The company has produced adaptations of bestselling novels, anime, and long-running theatrical works, while also managing the celebrated Japanese theatre company Caramel Box. Its productions have included the Korean musical Gwanghwamun Love Song, winner of the Daegu International Musical Festival Grand Prize, and in 2013 a stage adaptation of The Shawshank Redemption. Other productions include non-verbal theatre, physical theatre collaborations between acclaimed ballet dancer Yasuyuki Shuto and mime artist Shuji Onodera, and theatrical adaptations of Keigo Higashino’s internationally bestselling novel The Miracles of the Namiya General Store, which sold over 15 million copies worldwide. Looking ahead, the company is developing the musical adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s Unaccompanied Sonata for international presentation within the next few years, while also exploring overseas possibilities for additional works based on Higashino’s acclaimed novels.
The company hopes to share more theatre that has the ability to change lives. It would be ideal if more Japanese families would go to the theatre for entertainment, just like how families abroad might take their children to see a Shakespeare play. To make this come true, NAPPOS UNITED has toured extensively throughout Japan, bringing high-quality theatre not only to major cities but also to regional communities. More recently, it has expanded this mission internationally by creating productions capable of standing proudly on the world stage while reaching the widest possible audience.
Long-running international productions
As The Life of HOKUSAI continues its international journey, NAPPOS UNITED is seeking new co-producing partners capable of supporting its next stage of development. The long-term ambition is to establish extended runs in the West End and on Broadway. Previous international engagements have demonstrated that audience interest grows rapidly over time. During the 2023 performances in Italy, for example, media attention and social media recommendations increased with each successive performance, resulting in steadily growing audiences throughout the run. As an initial step toward this goal, the company is aiming for performances in London or Off-Broadway in New York.
Looking further ahead, the production may eventually be performed by actors other than Katsumi Sakakura. NAPPOS UNITED previously managed the Japanese rights to the Korean non-verbal hit Action Drawing HERO, which was staged in a dedicated theatre in Seoul with multiple casts performing several shows each day. The company envisions a similar future for The Life of HOKUSAI: alongside Sakakura’s original cast, additional companies that include local performers could present the work, so that the show may evolve into different versions.
To realise this vision, NAPPOS UNITED hopes to build relationships with international artists, producers, and presenters who share an interest in developing long-term collaborative projects.
Original Text by Momoko Kawano
Translated by SOIL Team
