Han Takehara

Han Takehara
武原 はん
Born	(1903-02-04)4 February 1903 Kagoyamachi, Tokushima City, Tokushima Prefecture, Japan
Died	5 February 1998(1998-02-05) (aged 95) Tokyo, Japan
Other name	Sachiko Takehara
Occupations	geisha, dancer, teacher, poet

Han Takehara (February 4, 1903 – February 5, 1998), whose real name was Sachiko Takehara, was a Japanese classical dancer from Tokushima Prefecture.

Biography

Han Takehara was born on February 4, 1903, in Kagoyamachi, Tokushima City, Tokushima Prefecture. Her father was a tin craftsman. As the eldest of eight siblings, Han Takehara entered a geisha school at the age of 12 to help support her family.She was sent to the Yamato-ya geisha school in Osaka, where she learned the Yamamura school of Kamigata dance. She also studied arts such as shamisen, hayashi, kyogen, noh and shimai. Takehara became a geisha at the age of 14 and worked at Yamato-ya until she was 20. In 1930, at the age of 27, she moved to Tokyo and studied dance seriously under the 6th generation Fujima Kanjuro and Nishikawa Koizaburo. Shortly after moving to Tokyo, she met Aoyama Saburo and married him, but their marriage ended after three years. In 1931, she moved to Tokyo and became the young proprietress of the restaurant "Nadaman." Han Takehara studied under Fujima Kanjuro and the second Nishikawa Koizaburo, and dedicated herself to establishing Kansai-style Kamigata dance in Tokyo. Han Takehara studied sutra copying under Shibata Zenjo of Koyasan and haiku under Takahama Kyoshi. Her haiku name was "Hanjo".She again became a geisha in Shinbashi under the name Hanya.From 1952 to 1994, she held "Mai no Kai" (Dance Gatherings) at the Kabuki-za, Shinbashi Enbujo and National Theatre, presenting numerous dance performances. In 1953, she opened the restaurant "Han-i" in Akasaka Shinmachi. In the same year, she published her book "Ohan." On February 28, 1992, at the "NHK Classical Performing Arts Appreciation Society" event, she along with dancers Tokuho Azuma and Fujiko Fujima, who had completely different styles, performed together on stage for the first time. She remained an independent dancer. In her later years, she mentored dancers such as Hanayagi Suzushi, Fujimura Shiho and Kanzaki En. On February 5, 1998, she died of a heart attack at her home in Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo. She was 95 years old.

Family

Yukie Takehara who is Han Takehara's adopted daughter and granddaughter, is also a classical dancer.