Cr. - tokyohive
On November 2nd, a world premiere event for the upcoming movie “Genji Monodatari Sennen no Nazo” (The Tales of Genji) was held at Heian Shrine in Kyoto. Ikuta Toma who plays “Hikaru Genji” and Nakatani Miki who plays “Murasaki Shikibu” were in attendance at the event. Ikuta and Nakatani appeared on a ox carriage which had a production cost of 30 million yen (around $384,000 USD), and Ikuta commented, “It wasn’t so comfortable…to be honest, but I felt tense while riding on the carriage.”
On the other hand, Nakatani who rode on an ox carriage for the first time, said, “Though you can’t see inside of the carriage from outside, I could see outside well from inside of the carriage, so it felt like I peeked into other people’s secrets. Also my heart was beating fast to think that I was on the carriage alone with the ‘Hikaru Genji’.”
On this day, the Outen-mon gate which is designated as a national important cultural property, was specially lighted up for the event, and both Ikuta and Nakatani prayed for the movie to be a big hit inside the inner shrine. Heian Shrine was built in 1895 to commemorate the 1,100th anniversary of the transfer of the capital to Heian-kyo (Kyoto), and the shrine is dedicated the 50th emperor Kanmu who moved the capital to Heian-kyo. It is well-known as the popular place for “Hatsumode (first shrine visit of New Year)”, and this is the first time for a premiere event for any movie to be held at the shrine.
After the premiere event, Ikuta and Nakatani visited three movie theaters in Kyoto city, with the director Tsuruhashi Yasuo, and made the stage greetings to the audience. Ikuta said at the stage greeting, “Since we stayed in Kyoto for a long time for filming, it feels like ‘I’m back.’” He continued, “I am glad to send ‘Genji Monogatari’, Japan’s pride, from Kyoto to the world. I hope people all over the world watch this, and reconfirm the beauty of Japan.”
Nakatani also said, “It may be the time for everybody’s patriotic feelings are growing, especially under these circumstances. I’m glad to be able to send the ‘Genji Monogatari’ like this. Watching this movie made me feel that I’m glad to be born in Japan from the bottom of my heart.”
“Genji Monogatari Sennen no Nazo” is scheduled to be released on December 10th. (Check out the movie trailer on the official site here.)
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