Feminine dark eyeshadow, enchanting flaming red lips, sagging and sagging skin covered by heavy makeup, slightly pompous clothing wrapped around the old body.
This old man with a blond wig seems to have an inexplicable evil charm on him, and people can't help but ask, who is this?
He is Akihiro Miwa, a former bartender, singer, actor, voice actor, 85 years old this year, still active in major variety shows in Japan, and last year also toured all over Japan.
Because of his legendary life experience, he has been labeled by the world as "Japanese version of the East undefeated" and "world-class drag queen", what kind of extraordinary grandeur is hidden behind the mysterious charm?
01 The Japanese call it
"Living Fossils of the Showa Period"
Akihiro Miwa, formerly known as Maruyama Tomogo, was born in Nagasaki in 1935 (Showa 10). He crossed the Heisei and came to the Reiwa era, and he is 85 years old this year. Witnessing a series of major events such as the emergence of Japanese militarism, the atomic bombing, and the defeat and surrender, it can really be called a "living fossil".
As a child, Maruyama's birth mother died young, and his father opened a nightclub-like café, a Japanese bathhouse and a restaurant near the Red Light District.
Nagasaki, one of the few ports opened to the public during Japan's lockdown era, is known as an international city. At that time, there were many people from different countries living there. Even when different languages are spoken and different styles of clothing are worn, there has never been any racial discrimination. The Maruyama family's café also employed Russian girls who had fled to Japan from the revolutionary war.
The young Maruyama not only tasted the world from the joys and sorrows of men and women in various countries, but also learned about life prematurely from his own bathhouse.
The rich man in rich dress came to the bathhouse, but after taking off his clothes, he revealed his barren torso. On the contrary, under the stinky and tattered clothes of the poor who have not been bathed for many years, they cover up the body of a sculpture.
Maruyama understood that the original dress was a false disguise, and only when naked could the true face of the person be revealed. Appearance, age, gender, nationality, these visible things are not credible, the invisible mind and nature are real.
The musical instrument shop and record store in front of the house became Maruyama's musical enlightenment. He listened to all the records of the record store, including nursery rhymes, pop, jazz, classical music, and French chansons. There, during the war, the sadness of music, which was forbidden except for military songs, was liberated by the joy of liberation.
And the end point of all this happened in the summer when Maruyama was 10 years old.
It was August 9, 1945, and an atomic bomb code-named "Fat Man" exploded over Nagasaki. Maruyama, who was painting his summer vacation homework at the time, felt that the world had stopped for a second and then gathered all the sounds into an explosion in an instant. After the loud noise, Nagasaki was almost flattened, and the scene outside the window was like hell.
Although Maruyama survived, he also suffered from the after-effects of the explosion. Shortly after the war, Maruyama's father died after bankruptcy, his first stepmother disappeared, and his second stepmother died.
That year, Maruyama was 16 years old, and he had just been admitted to the Tokyo National Conservatory of Music for less than a year after studying vocal music and piano under the influence of Miichiro Kaga's film Boy Soprano. The death of his parents and the decline of the family road made Maruyama unable to pay the tuition fees and had to drop out of school.
Living on the streets of Maruyama, a café called "Ginbari" is seen in Ginza recruiting young men who can sing chansons. Maruyama, who was hired immediately after enlistment, immediately began singing at the café.
Since then, Maruyama's legendary life has officially begun.
02 Fans praised it
"The Beautiful Boy Since Shenwu"
At that time, although the identity of the singer was not disclosed in the café, Maruyama's unconcealed charm still attracted the pursuit of fans.
His voice is deep and deep, but soft and rounded, and the charm and elegance are properly blended. There is also a handsome face that can be called the most beautiful in the world, which makes fans enthusiastically praise him as "the beautiful teenager since Shenwu".
According to legend, Emperor Shenmu was the first to establish the Yamato throne and was the founding father of Japan. Such a mythical praise, the curiosity of the world has sprouted.
Suddenly, Maruyama's popularity soared, and his fame became so famous that even a large number of literary heroes came to the scene.
After the war, the third group of newcomers sent representative writer Junnosuke Yoshiyuki.
Nobel Laureate in Literature Kenzaburo Oe.
Shusaku Endo, a pioneer of Japanese faith literature.
The father of Japanese detective mystery novels, Edogawa is chaotic.
Shuji Iwai and Moriyama Avenue are highly regarded by the genius cross-border KijinjiJi yama Shuji.
Even Yasuda Kawabata, a titan in the Japanese literary world, was attracted to Maruyama.
Among them, the most talked about story is the wind and snow between Maruyama and the literary genius Yukio Mishima.
When they first met, Mishima walked into the café where Maruyama was stationed in front of a large group of publishers. At that time, Maruyama was helping to sort it out, and although he knew Mishima, he was not very interested.
Soon after, Mishima commanded, "Tell the boy to come!" ”
However, Maruyama is neither a waitress nor a sake escort, and is not willing to meet Mishima. Until the messenger came several times in succession, and whispered, "Please, give you a double tip, please come over." ”
So, Maruyama finally passed, standing in front of Mishima and saying his name, "I am Maruyama." ”
Mishima asked, "What to drink?" ”
Maruyama coldly replied, "No, I'm not a geisha." ”
Mishima was a little displeased, "This kid is not cute at all!" ”
Maruyama replied proudly, "I'm pretty, so it doesn't matter if I'm not cute." After saying that, he turned his head and left.
At that time, Mishima had become popular all over Japan, but he was silenced by Maruyama, who did not care about him at all. But it seems that it is Maruyama's proud character that has caused Mishima to fall into an unknown fascination with him. Since then, Mishima has not only made Maruyama a celestial being and a god, but also praised him as a "beauty from heaven".
Maruyama-kun, you have one fault, that's something that doesn't fall in love with me." (Maruyama-kun, Yuichi Kou-Ying-point, Natsu kore-koi-i-ko.) The most inflammatory confession of the person in the world,The current and the present.
In addition, Mishima is also known as the Bole of Maruyama.
At that time, Maruyama was influenced by foreign cultures, dyed his hair purple, and began to wear a shirt with lace trim that was designed by combining Japanese Motoroku period samurai clothing with dresses.
This kind of neutral dressing, which is not distinguished between men and women, caused an uproar in the conservative society at that time.
People say that "there is a purple monster in Ginza", and strangers often throw stones or bottle caps at Maruyama when walking on the street, calling him "disgusting guy dressed as a woman".
However, Maruyama's unique evil charm was highly appreciated by the great Japanese literary heroes. Mishima introduced him to the drama troupe "Patio Shikiki", founded by Shuji Terayama, and Maruyama began to participate in drama. Since then, Shuji Terayama has created two plays tailored for Maruyama: Aomori 県のせむし男 (Aomori Prefecture's hunchback man) and Fur のマリー (Fur Mary).
Maruyama's feminine and enchanting female appearance in the play surprised the audience.
Mishima himself praised Maruyama's acting skills, "That difficult poem like Terayama, you can express it like ordinary daily dialogue." He also specially adapted Edogawa's "Black Lizard" into a script for Maruyama and invited him to star.
In 1968, when Black Lizard was re-adapted into a movie, the lead actor was still Maruyama, and Mishima himself ran a dragon set in the film: one of the collections of black lizards played by Maruyama, the corpse of a slave who died in a fight.
Although it is a dragon set, Mishima gets the only kiss of the black lizard in the whole drama.
The elusive relationship between the two has led to a variety of speculations in the world.
In 1970, on an ordinary winter night, a 300-meter long line was formed in front of the Silver Bari Gate. Mishima came to visit the class in a dark suit and holding a large bouquet of red roses.
"I have come to hear you sing the Hymn of Love.
Bother you, I won't come back in the future.
You are beautiful, really beautiful. I don't want to say these things every day. ”
A few days later, the news of Mishima's suicide by caesarean section shocked the world, and Maruyama had a white head overnight, and he realized, "Those roses are included in all the days to come together." ”
The following year, Maruyama announced that he would no longer appear as a woman, changed his name to Akihiro Miwa, and began to devote himself to songwriting.
It was not until 1993 that Meilun returned to the show business circle after more than 20 years of absence. Many people asked him what he thought of Mishima's death, and he burst into tears, "I don't want to say more, he has something he has never come out of in his life." ”
That past was extremely romantic and lamentable.
03 Self-promised
"A youkai with an immortal body"
So far, Merlin has faced many illnesses and injuries.
At the age of 10, he was hit by an atomic bomb and suffered from anemia, hair loss and other diseases caused by the after-effects of the atomic bomb for a long time. I suffered from tuberculosis in junior high school, bronchitis in my 40s, and was even told by doctors that "there may only be three months left."
In 2009, when she suffered a performance accident that caused a crushing fracture of her right hand, the doctor asserted that "I will not be able to use my right hand for the rest of my life", but half a year later, Mei Lun's right hand miraculously recovered.
In 2019, he was hospitalized for a sudden cerebral infarction during the tour, but continued to work after only two months of recuperation.
After returning, Miwa laughed lightly, "I am a youkai with an immortal body, and I have never been understood by the world all my life." ”
It is always easy for the world to call people they can't understand monsters, and Mei Lun has spent her whole life doing things that seem extremely shocking in the traditional sense.
He wore women's clothing and ushered in the "costume revolution" in Japan.
He openly identified himself as gay,
"It's neither killing nor stealing, it's Japan's ancient history, it's a culture. At that time, many homosexuals were fired from the company after open sexual orientation, and they were blamed by their relatives, and many people chose to commit suicide. I want to stop this, so I guess if I go public, even if there are only one or two, at least there will be people who have the courage to continue to live because of me. ”
He never feared the criticism of others, "Then what are you?" Everyone is different, and that's a no-no-no- ”
He saw through life and made a lot of sentences in interviews. In his opinion, "aging only refers to the time when a person begins to approach the professional level of human beings, minding that age and the like are pedantic." ”
For him, being himself has become a natural instinct, even if he has not been understood for a lifetime, so what?
- Ends -
"What kind of life do you want to live"
Genzaburo Yoshino
Selected as a Japanese textbook
A novel that Miyazaki read from the age of 10 to the age of 70
Miyazaki's film of the same name is in production
When you are suspicious and confused
This classic novel can definitely help you