I would like to express my deepest gratitude for your kind condolences and warm support upon the passing of Iku Otani.

Iku Otani passed away peacefully on August 27 at the age of 72. We are truly grateful for the warm encouragement and kindness he received from all of you throughout his life.

Born and raised in Minami, Osaka, Otani moved to Tokyo for university after high school. He encountered butoh and became one of the founding members of the Hoppo Butoh-ha group. After working in Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, and Otaru, Hokkaido, he spent a year traveling through Africa and Europe. Upon returning to Japan, he worked as a clown and a hand-carved stamp artist before becoming a producer at the Torii Hall.

In 1996, he founded DANCE BOX with artists from the Kansai region. Later, he established Art Theater dB at Festival Gate and moved the base to Shin-Nagata, Kobe, in 2009, after a brief period in Shin-Osaka. From 2017, he also served as the director of Shinkaichi Art Hiroba (formerly Kobe Art Village Center). Throughout all these years, his life was filled with artists and dance performances, never stopping for a moment.

Otani also had another face as a choreographer. Under the name Akadama, he was the choreographer for the Sennichimae Aozora Dance Club, creating works at his own pace since 2000. He was actually in the middle of choreographing a new piece for the dance company Mi-Mi-Bi, scheduled to be performed this month (September). Although the work is unfinished, I would love for all of you to see the romantic world of Akadama, and we are doing our best to bring it to the stage. Otani truly seemed to enjoy himself when he was creating his work.

In 2015, he moved his home to Shin-Nagata, where he lived with me and our two cats. He had been in a wheelchair since an accident three years ago, but he was still maintaining his daily routine, watching a performance at Shinkaichi Art Hiroba on August 23 and a DANCE BOX show on the 24th.

Otani was a person who treated everyone equally. He welcomed all and didn’t hold on those who left. He loved dance, Iichiko (shochu), and cigarettes, and he was always surrounded by people.

The funeral was held at the temple he used to visit with his grandmother and mother when he was a child. Surrounded by flowers and watched over by everyone, Otani was able to embark on his journey peacefully.

Moving forward, with Otani’s wishes in our hearts, all of us at DANCE BOX will work together to carry on his legacy. We kindly ask for your continued support and connection.

Thank you very much.

Chief Mourner: Aya (Managing Director of NPO DANCE BOX)