15 Facts About Kazuo Ohno

Kazuo Ohno was a Japanese dancer who became a guru and inspirational figure in the dance form known as Butoh.

Kazuo Ohno is the author of several books on Butoh, including The Palace Soars through the Sky, Dessin, Words of Workshop, and Food for the Soul.

Kazuo Ohno was born in Hakodate City, Hokkaido on October 27 in 1906.

Kazuo Ohno demonstrated an aptitude for athletics in junior high school and graduated from an athletic college in 1929, teaching physical education at a Christian high school.

In 1933, Kazuo Ohno began studying with Japanese modern dance pioneers Baku Ishii and Takaya Eguchi, which qualified him to teach dance at the Soshin Girls' School in Yokohama, from which he retired in 1980.

In 1938, Kazuo Ohno was drafted into the Japanese Army as a lieutenant, and later rose to captain.

Kazuo Ohno fought in China and New Guinea, where he was captured and interned by the Australians as a POW.

Kazuo Ohno received Japan's prestigious Dance Critics' Circle Award for the performance and subsequently toured the piece, impacting the international dance world from the 14th International Festival at Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle in 1980, to his American debut in 1981 at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in New York City.

Kazuo Ohno was awarded a cultural award from Kanagawa Prefecture in 1993, a cultural award from Yokohama city in 1998, and the Michelangelo Antonioni Award for the Arts in 1999.

Ohno starred in the films O-shi no shozo [A Portrait of Mr O] directed by Chiaki Nagano; The Scene of the Soul by Katsumi Hirano; and the documentary Kazuo Ohno, directed by Daniel Schmid.

Kazuo Ohno appeared in several films by German director Peter Sempel, most notably in the music film Dandy alongside Blixa Bargeld, Nick Cave, and Lene Lovich, among others.

Kazuo Ohno wrote three books on Butoh, including The Palace Soars through the Sky, a collection of essays and photographs; Dessin with drawings and notes on his Butoh creations; Words of Workshop, a collection of lectures given in his workshop; and Food for the Soul, a selection of photography from the 1930s through 1999.

In 2001, though he lost his ability to walk, Kazuo Ohno continued performing and developed ways to express himself through dance solely by moving his hands.

In recent years, Kazuo Ohno had been under nurse's care at home, but he continued his stage appearances, particularly in the Butoh works of his son Yoshito Kazuo Ohno.

Kazuo Ohno died of respiratory failure on June 1,2010, in Yokohama, Japan at the age of 103.