Fujiko Fujima; Classical Japanese Dancer

Fujiko Fujima, a renowned classical Japanese dancer and Kabuki choreographer who was honored as one of her nation’s Living National Treasures, has died at age 90.

Fujima, who portrayed characters ranging from noble samurai to earthy street vendors with her stylized moves and careful attention to gesture and gait, died in a Tokyo hospital Wednesday of stomach cancer.

Hundreds of her dance students--including several famous Kabuki actors--lined up for two blocks around her home in the old section of Tokyo on Thursday night to pay their respects.

“No matter what role she played, the audience could tell the character she was playing, even without her wearing a costume,” said Sumi Hanayagi, a well-known Japanese traditional dancer with whom Fujima sometimes performed.

In 1985, Fujima was designated a Living National Treasure, Japan’s most prestigious traditional arts award, for her Kabuki dancing skill. She never actually performed in the Kabuki plays that combine song, dance and majestic pageantry; instead she taught the all-male Kabuki troupes. Nevertheless, Fujima was the first woman associated with the clannish, male Kabuki world to receive the national honor.

She did, however, perform traditional dances on stage her entire life, including a performance at the Japan America Theater in Los Angeles in 1992.

In May, a few months before she was diagnosed with cancer, Fujima performed for the last time in an annual family recital with her daughter, Rankei, and her two grandsons.

Born Kimiyo Tanaka in Tokyo, Fujima was adopted into the famous Fujima dancing family. It isn’t clear how old she was when adopted or who her birth parents were; a relative said in an interview that she never discussed the matter. Such adoptions are not uncommon in the Kabuki world, where actors’ children perpetuate their family dynasties.

Fujima herself adopted Rankei, now 70 and a renowned dancer and teacher. Some observers expect her to succeed her mother as a National Treasure.

Quiet, slow-spoken and schoolmarmish, the elder Fujima always wore kimonos, though most Japanese women nowadays don the traditional apparel only on special occasions. And once on stage, she seemed to take on a much stronger personality.

“You get the impression that her body extends to fill up the stage,” said dancer Hanayagi. She was particularly skillful in teaching male roles, able to convey the differences in whether a character was a merchant or had just lost his wife.

“She studied actions such as hand motions in such precise detail that the audience could imagine what kind of sake bottle the character was drinking from, or what kind of well the person is trying to fetch water from, be it shallow or deep,” said Mitsugoro Bando, 69, a well-known Kabuki actor.

One of only about 10 teachers of Kabuki dancing, she created innovative dance routines, but always drew on classical themes of Japanese dance. And she insisted that her students pay strict attention to the type of character being played.

“There are various kinds of wives, for example: wives of samurai, wives of noblemen and wives of merchants,” she once said. “It is crucial that the dancer be knowledgeable of various traditional personalities in order to portray the character of a role. Whether a court lady carries flowers or a merchant’s wife lights her path by a lantern, the gait of the dancer will reveal the class and disposition of the women. The soul of the dance can express the nature of normal citizens, countryside people, lovers and even insane people.”

Funeral services are scheduled for Oct. 27 in Tokyo.

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Chiaki Kitada of The Times’ Tokyo bureau contributed to this report.