Ko Murobushi (1947 - 2015 †) was one of the best known and acclaimed Butoh artists in the world and was recognised in Japan as a leading inheritor of Hijikata's original vision of Butoh. He studied with Hijikata in 1968, briefly 'giving up' dance to become a "Yamabushi" mountain monk, back into society he founded the Butoh-group Dairakudakan together with Ushio Amagatsu, Akaji Maro and others. 1974 he created the Butoh-magazine Hageshii Kisetsu (Violent Season) and founded a female Butoh-company Ariadone with Carlotta Ikeda, for which he did many choreographies. Two years later he founded a similar only-male Butoh-group: Sebi.
With a co-production of these two groups he brought the Butoh to Europe and contributes to the recognition of Butoh in Europe: "Le Dernier Eden - Porte de l’au - delá" succeeded in Paris in 1978, and was followed by a big tour through whole Europe with Ariadone in 1981/82. From 1988 Ko concentrated on duo-productions with Urara Kusanagi, and toured in the following years in Europe and South America.
On the one hand he continued to open his dance and the Butoh to the worldwide influences, on the other hand he tried to research his work much deeper into its Japanese roots. His solo productions "[Edge01]", "[Edge02]" and group production "[Edge03]" were invited by several international dance festivals, such as ImPulsTanz Festival, Montpellier Dance Festival, and London Butoh Network Festival, a.o. He received numerous awards for residencies worldwide, including in Mexico, India and New York. Ko was in great demand as a workshop teacher.
In 2003, he settled his unit Ko & Edge Co. with three young Japanese dancers, presented "Handsome Blue Sky" for Jade 2003 Hijikata Memorial in Japan, and caught frantic applause. In 2004, this unit Ko & Edge Co. presented new series titled "Experimental Body" which is searching “edge” in a physical way. In 2005, Ko & Edge Co. presented "Handsome Blue Sky" in US-Canada tour in five venues. One of his latest solo performances is called "quick silver", his latest duo performance with Bartabas was titled "Le Centaure et l'animal". Both lead him to world tours. In November 2013, he continued to produce the experimental movement in Japan under the title – "1001nights" at the Yokohama Redbrick Warehouse.
His choreographies as well as his solo performances continued to establish Ko Murobushi as one of the highest reputed representatives of Butoh, and every moment challenged Ko to reach new possibilities of Butoh.
08.04.2016