In a rare appearance, manga power couple, Naoko Takeuchi and Yoshihiro Togashi appear in a public photo alongside Japanese photographer Mika Ninagawa. Fans of Sailor Moon and Hunter x Hunter reacted with shock and awe as both appear with beaming smiles on their face. Last October, Togashi gave fans a glimpse into the future chapters for Hunter x Hunter. He’s been regularly updating his X (formerly Twitter) account, but comments still express concerns over his shaky handwriting. Both he and Takeuchi keep their lives private for the most part, making this recent photo a first look at them in years.
Ninagawa’s Instagram post provides details around how she encountered Takeuchi and Togashi. Supposedly, they were there for “Hanayoi no Daichakai (named The Six Shadows in English),” an immersive theater performance currently at the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine in Kyoto, Japan. This art experience is part of Kyoto Nippon Festival 2026, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.
The photographer and film director was surprised to see the legendary couple who came to experience the performance. In her Instagram post, she said the entire cast and crew were “moved to tears” as they couldn’t believe their work would be seen by “two legends such as them.”
Meeting Naoko Takeuchi-sensei (the legendary creator of *Sailor Moon*! ) and Yoshihiro Togashi-sensei (the artist behind *Yu Yu Hakusho*, *HUNTER×HUNTER*, and so many others—I love *Level E* too! ❕) left me absolutely trembling with excitement.
According to Ninagawa, the couple enjoyed themselves and shared their impressions with the creative team. In fact, Takeuchi gave them a “lengthy, heartfelt comment,” which gave her a “massive boost of motivation.”
The creative team behind the spectacle of the festival, EiM (Eternity in a Moment), consists of various artists such as Mika Ninagawa and Hiroaki Miyata. Together, they’ve transformed Kitano Tenmangu Shrine’s famous plum tree garden into a “dreamlike world where some 1,200 crystal garlands fracture light into a kaleidoscope of color.”
Tickets are on sale and more information can be found on event website linked here. There are two types of tickets for Weekday and Weekends (including Holidays). The performance runs from March 20, 2026 to May 24, 2026, and runs for about 70 minutes.
The story behind the performance is as follows:
Four hundred years ago, at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, Hideyoshi Toyotomi hosted a legendary tea gathering. This unprecedented feast, where daimyo and commoners alike enjoyed tea without distinction, concluded after just one night.
Tonight, it revives as the ‘Grand Tea Gathering of the Flowered Night’—the “ phantom second day” that history never recorded. Attendees become guests invited to this extraordinary feast, bearing witness to a silent tale.
What appears there are shadows lurking in every heart—jealousy, arrogance, regret. Their presence somehow evokes figures whose names are etched in history.
A tea ceremony where flowers and light flicker together, ephemeral yet beautiful. When sharing a seat with these shadowed figures, attendees breathe with the story, and the boundary between reality and fantasy begins to quietly blur.
And when the viewer’s heart resonates with their struggles, the experience transforms into their own story. After the performance, hands clasped in reverence before the main hall amidst lingering echoes—even that quiet moment is part of this tale.
