By Jin Kiyokawa / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff WriterTsubasa Sakiyama cuts a striking figure with a sword in hand, honed by his experience in “Touken Ranbu: The Musical,” which is based on the popular game “Touken Ranbu -ONLINE-.”

Sakiyama has won many fans with his performance in this musical play about samurai warriors who are human embodiments of famous swords. He’s also a singer and has tried his hand at writing lyrics as well.

His latest project — “Kurogarasu” (Black Crow), a new film which Sakiyama stars in — will be released in March.

During the photo shoot for this article, Sakiyama struck multiple poses with a sword, clad in a costume adapted from a kimono. Every time he turned his hands, the blade gleamed. All the photos were so good, it was hard to choose the main one.

“This sword is easy to handle. Ishikirimaru [the sword he used in “Touken Ranbu: The Musical”] was huge and long, so there were times I couldn’t draw it at first,” Sakiyama said.

The musical was featured in a special scene during NHK’s annual “Kohaku Utagassen” (Red & White Year-end Song Festival) last New Year’s Eve. Sakiyama auditioned for the musical and appeared in it from its trial performances in 2015.

Ishikirimaru is also the name of his character, a warrior incarnation of a samurai sword.

Sakiyama said, “He’s expected to be a healer, rather than someone who cuts others. He watches over other characters with a kind heart.”

“I’ve been with Ishikirimaru for about three years, and we’ve kind of grown up together,” Sakiyama said. “I play Ishikirimaru as a mature person with a big heart. I think I can be more like him when I get older, but for now I’m trying to get into the character by keeping in mind how Ishikirimaru watches over everyone, through conversations with others and how I behave at rehearsals.”

The musical was Sakiyama’s first experience with stage combat. “It’s tough work with singing, dancing, acting and stage combat. But I’m a competitive person, so I was determined to master them all,” the actor said.

Sakiyama said he was always anxious to know what impression he had made on the director at the audition.

“I asked him during the musical’s Paris tour [in 2018], and he told me, ‘I felt love and peace when I saw you perform.’ I hadn’t been actively conscious of that in my life, but I was happy that he saw such a fundamental thing so quickly. I’ll keep going with love and peace,” he said.

A late bloomer

Born in 1989, Sakiyama is from Chiba Prefecture. In terms of showbiz, he’s a late bloomer, making his professional debut at the age of 25 after graduating from university.

Sakiyama studied business administration in college and looked for a job. But he couldn’t give up his dream of working in entertainment, which he’d nurtured after performing as an extra during his high school days.

After modeling for magazines, among other jobs, Sakiyama made his acting debut in 2014, first getting roles mostly in fringe theater productions. He worked hard because “I was fortunate to get those offers, so I was willing to do anything I could,” he said.

Since joining the “Touken Ranbu” musical series, his innate elegance and calm manner have proved perfect for his role, and his popularity soared. He’s also appeared in other so-called 2.5-dimensional musicals, which are based on manga, anime or games.

In 2017, Sakiyama made his singing debut with the song “Gekkaya” (Moon, flowers and night) from the Avex label. He sang the Japanese-flavored song with Sakura men, a group of traditional Japanese instrumentalists, making the most of the authentically Japanese image he created in the musical.

“I sometimes miss the simple taste of Japanese food when I’m overseas, so I feel peaceful when I’m surrounded by Japanese-style melodies or anything Japanese,” he said of his good chemistry with things that are Japanese.

The song reached No. 4 in the Oricon weekly chart.

Sakiyama said he wasn’t good at singing at first. “But I wanted to show people that you can overcome complex issues by working hard,” he said. “I don’t want to have self-imposed limits, and I hope people will see me improve.”

His modest, unpretentious personality is one of the things that captivates his fans. In December, Sakiyama held his first solo concert at Zepp DiverCity TOKYO in Odaiba, Tokyo. While he enthralled the audience with his now accomplished singing and dancing, there was also an adorably funny moment when he looked unsure when to leave the stage before the encore.

“I never think about acting cool. I want to be as natural as possible in front of my fans,” Sakiyama said.

More than meets the eye

Sakiyama stars in the action-packed entertainment film “Kurogarasu,” which was directed by Toshiya Kominami and costars Keisuke Ueda, Moga Mogami, Shunsuke Nishikawa and Nana Asa-kawa. The film is in two parts. The first part, “Kurogarasu 1,” will open in theaters on March 9, followed by “Kurogarasu 2” on March 30.

“Kuroto, my character, seems to be a cold-blooded person who thinks money is everything. But he has a traumatic past. I discussed with the director how to show glimpses of his innate warm personality,” Sakiyama said.

The character is a villain who looks very different from Sakiyama’s well-tempered image, but he said it was a role he wanted to play.

Father’s legacy

Sakiyama’s first album, “Utopia,” features 12 songs, including his three singles.

TS, credited as the composer and lyricist of the track “In The Highway,” is Sakiyama’s father. The younger Sakiyama chose the song from a CD of an amateur band his father formed in his late 20s. It has a strong flavor of Japanese rock in the 1980s.

“Dancing Samurai” is a cover of the vocalo song (a song performed by vocaloid synthesizer) that became a hit in 2008. The YouTube video of the song shows a “kabuki dance” choreographed by Tomo and Kenzo of boyband DA PUMP and featuring Sakiyama and other performers. The deliberately old-fashioned clip caught viewers’ attention and the number of views keeps on increasing.

Sakiyama wrote lyrics for two songs on the album. One of them, “Re: quest,” is the theme song for the film “Kurogarasu.” He wrote what he felt while playing the protagonist. In the other song, “Snow Gift,” he wrote his thoughts for his fans.

Back to ‘Touken Ranbu’

“Touken Ranbu — Mihotose no Komoriuta (Lullaby of 300 years)” opened on Jan. 20 in Tokyo. The two-part show comprises a musical in the first half and a concert in the second. Ishikirimaru, played by Sakiyama, is the show’s master of ceremonies.

“It’s a revival of the show we did in 2017,” he said. “Many people may see ‘Touken Ranbu’ as a glitzy show that features all the good things about Japanese culture, with sword culture at its center. But I want to present it as a work of theater.“

Visit musical-toukenranbu.jp for more information.Speech