Description

I, Ko Murobushi, am a sutasuta bouzu, and a joyful drift. My dance is always in the middle of the path at the beginning of the edge; in the same way, a plaintive 〈body〉 is non-existence = a non-point which, in the course of that carrying or crossing, can be finally be glimpsed.

 

To continue the passage, like flickering, unknown, innocent stars. 

 

1985 Autumn Paris 

A sutasuta bouzu (also known as gannin bouzu) is a street performer in the Edo period who sings, dances, and begs with a crosier-like stick in his hand, a rope headband, and a sacred rope tied around his waist. Murobushi saw in them the yugyo or hyohaku (wandering) spirit and mind that resonated with Yamabushi. 

I had an interest in the “doubtfulness” of Yamabushi who traverse between the sacred and the profane, and the “nomadity” of those who do not belong to any one place. The ambiguity and multiplicity of the “trickster” aspect that Yamabushi had can be described as “suspiciousness and doubtfulness” = <malformation>, and also can be connected to imprudent movements or fluidity. There is a way of life which cannot belong to one power. Matatabi, yakuza, sutehijiri, sutasuta monks, and performers of cabaret… I have the same sort of naturein which I cannot be in one place. When you are a child, you often get separated from your parents and become lost. It almost feels like being lost is your proper state of being, despite the anxiety and loneliness you feel in that situation. That is the reason why I am still a sutasuta bouzu and wandering around at this age. 

 

From his interview with Tatsuro Ishii

translation

Ikuya Odamaki