Kabuki Star Plays Exiled Priest on Remote Island; Real-Life Setting Highlights His Lonely Despair

MISHIMA, Kagoshima — In the latter years of the Heian period, which stretched from 794 to the late 12th century, a Buddhist priest named Shunkan was banished for conspiring to topple the Heike regime. He was sent to Kikaigashima, a small, solitary island far off in the sea.