5. The Kabuki Star and the Deadly Fish
Japan’s most prominent and revered kabuki actor from the 1930s until his demise in 1975 was Bando Mitsugoro VIII. He specialized in the aragoto style, which emphasizes exaggerated dynamic forms of movement and speech. He was the eighth in a family line of Mitsugoro kabuki performers, and his son and grandson took the name to become Bando Mitsugoro IX and X, respectively. So great was Bando Mitsugoro VIII, that the Japanese government officially designated him a “Living National Treasure” in 1973. Then his life, full of accomplishments, came to a funny – or not so funny, depending on how you look at it – end when he tried to prove that he possessed a superhuman liver.
Mitsugoro and friends went to a Kyoto restaurant on January 16th, 1975, and he ordered puffer fish. Puffer fish is lethally poisonous, and must be carefully prepared by a highly qualified chef to remove the toxic parts without contaminating the meat. Mitsugoro ordered four portions of puffer fish liver – the most poisonous part of the fish. So poisonous, that its sale is prohibited by law. Nonetheless, the restaurant owner felt that he could not refuse the famous actor. Mitsugoro, who enjoyed the pleasant tingling puffer fish gave his lips and tongue, wanted to demonstrate to his friends that he could survive four times the poison that would kill a normal person. He could not. The tingling spread from his mouth to the rest of his body, was followed by unexpected paralysis of his limbs, difficulty breathing, and finally, death seven hours later.
