Bonaventura Ruperti, professor of Japanese language and literature at Ca’ Foscari, was designated as one of the recipients of the award for the “promotion of Japanese culture in Italy” given by the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, Gaimu Daijin Hyōshō. On December 22nd he received the award in Rome at the Katkami Keiichi’s, Ambassador of Japan, residence.
Ruperti’s contribution does not limit itself to his many publications and research activities in Japan and Italy, his commitment to teaching Japanese language and culture: he also organized and presented live performances in many Italian theatres in collaboration with leading artists, in collaboration with the Japan Foundation and/or with the Embassy of Japan in Italy.
From the Kabuki tour in December 1995 as part of “Japan in Italy 95/96”, to nō theatre (Adachigahara) with Kanze Akeo (now Tetsunojō IX) and Nakamura Yasaburō XVI and Shigeyama Shime II’s kyōgen (Bōshibari) as part of the “Japan Week” (November 1996, Venice) at the Teatro la Fenice (Palafenice).
From the translations from Japanese for the theatre programme of actress Isoda Aki’s performance at the Teatro Olimpico in Venice (Shakespeare’s Women, Lady Macbeth & Visione di Ofelia, September 2002) and in Venice (2011) to the presentations, translations and theatre programmes of performances of puppet theatre in 2003 (sujōruri, Ōmi Genji senjin yakata) and in 2006 (Ichinotani futaba gunki) in Rome and Venice.
From the presentation of nō performances (Fujito, Tōru, Aoinoue) with nō master Umewaka Makio (now Manzaburō III) at the Teatro di Leo in Bologna (February 1999) as part of Bologna European Capital of Culture, at the Teatro della Soffitta in 2001, to the presentation and translation of nō subtitles (Hajitomi) for the performance of nō master Sakurama Ujin (XXI, descendent of the Sakurama family) at the Auditorium S. Margherita in Venice (March 2008).
From the organization of the Kabuki and bunraku section of the exhibition on Japanese theatre “ Il fiore del meraviglioso, Il teatro giapponese nella storia tra rottura e continuità” curated by Yosuke Taki at the Casa dei Teatri in Rome (May-September 2009) to the participation of a workshop, an exhibition and a performance on nō and kyōgen masks (and a comparative symposium on mask in commedia dell’arte) at the Museo Internazionale della Maschera Amleto e Donato Sartori in Abano Terme with mask sculptor master Takatsu Kōichi and nō actor Katsumi Noboru (November 2010), to the organization of workshops, a kyōgen performance, and a compared symposium on the roots of commedia dell'arte at the Auditorium S. Margherita with kyōgen actor Ogasawara Tadashi in collaboration with the Momoyama Gakuin University in Osaka, professor Waguri Juri and stage director Taki Yōsuke (October 2012 and March 2014).
In June 2010 he contributed to the programme on Grand Kabuki with Shōchiku company and Yoshitsune senbonzakura at the Teatro Argentina that was then broadcast on RAI. He also took part in conferences, a press conference, translations and the presentation of puppet theatre (Sonezaki shinjū) of Sugimoto Bunraku at the Japan Cultural Institute in Rome and at the teatro Argentina in Rome (October 2013) for the 60th anniversary of the Institute, and he collaborated for the kyōgen performance “Kyogen nella lingua dei segni del Japanese Theatre of the Deaf” in 2015 with master Miyake Ukon at the Teatro Palladium in Rome in collaboration with the Japan Cultural Institute, the Japanese Federation of the Deaf, the Totto Foundation, the University Roma Tre and the Laboratorio Zero (June 2015).
Finally he curated the organization, the press conference, the translation and the theatre programmes of nō master Sakurama Ujin’s and kyōgen master Zenchiku’s performance at the Teatro Argentina in Rome (Tsuchigumo and Obagasake), at the Teatro alla Pergola in Florence (Hajitomi and Obagasake), at the Teatro Goldoni in Venice (Tsunemasa and heikyoku, in collaboration with the Museo d’Arte Orientale in Venice) and the teatro Olimpico in Vicenza.
Recently he curated the translations and exhibition held for the 75th anniversary of the official relations between Japan and the Vatican with Okina and Hagoromo at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza and Okina, Hagoromo and Fukkatsu no Kirisuto (The Christ’s resurrection) in the Vatican at the Palazzo della Cancelleria with Hōshō Kazufusa (20th of the dynasty) and the son of the 26th master of the Kongō school, Kongō Katsunori, and kyōgen master Shigeyama Sengorō XIV, of a famous family of Kyoto artists. Last December Hōshō Kazufusa performed in Venice for our students at the Auditorium S. Margherita. In October he curated the organization of a Yamamura Japanese dance tour with Yamamura Wakahayaki masters and singing master jiuta Kikuō Yuji, young talented award-winning artists, in Bologna (Teatro la Soffitta), Rome (Japan Cultural Institute) and Venice (Teatro Goldoni in collaboration with the Cini Foundation and the Museo Orientale). In November 2018, he will follow Ōsaka puppet theater company Bunraku in Venice and Cologne with the support of the Bunkachō (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan) and in Autumn 2018 he will help organizing a performance of kyōgen master Shigeyama Sengorō XIV and his family.
During such experiences he has worked with artists, off and on stage, thanks to his knowledge of Japanese performing arts, far beyond studying and reading archives and pieces.
