Master kabuki dancer Fujima Kansuma dies at 104. Family members say she did not have any hobbies except dance — and she stayed true to her lifelong passion, performing and teaching right up until her passing.
Her father wanted sons to carry on the family name, but his wife gave birth to daughters. And so the famed Fujima Kansuma, master kabuki dancer who entertained generations of Japanese Americans, embraced the art because it allowed her to take on male roles as a way of fulfilling her dad’s wish.
After graduating from high school, Kansuma headed to Japan where she studied under the “God of Theatre,” Onoe Kikugoro VI, a kabuki star who ran his own school. Over the course of four years she absorbed the rigors of acting, dancing, learning how to conduct a tea ceremony and arrange flowers, how to dress in kimonos and practicing etiquette.
Kansuma and her family were moved around to different prison camps, ending up in Rohwer, Ark. The camp administrator sought out Kasuma after being inundated with letters from fellow detainees asking to continue their dance lessons. “She said to me, ‘take off your shoes’ and I wouldn’t do that. So she created a routine with a doll in the studio to get my attention,” Yoshihara said. “The next week when I came back, I brought my own doll and that kind of jazzed me and I started cooperating. I’ve been taking lessons ever since.”
Toyo Wedel, 80, was 6 when Kansuma stopped by her dance class in Chicago during one of Kansuma’s tours. At the time, her busy family life left Wedel no time to pursue her interest in dance.
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