Kabuki

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Kabuki (歌舞伎, kabuki^?) is a form of traditional Japanese theatre. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by its performers.

The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing (歌), dance (舞), and skill (伎). Kabuki is therefore sometimes translated as "the art of singing and dancing." These are, however, ateji, characters that do not reflect actual etymology. The word kabuki is believed to derive from the verb kabuku, meaning to lean or to be out of the ordinary, so kabuki can be interpreted to mean avant-garde or bizarre theatre.^[1]''

Contents 1 History 1.1 1603-1629: female kabuki 1.2 After 1653: men's kabuki 1.3 1673-1735: The Genroku period 1.4 Kabuki after the Meiji Restoration 1.5 Kabuki today 2 Elements of kabuki 2.1 Stage design 2.2 Performance 3 Play structure 4 Famous plays 5 Major theatres in operation 6 References 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] History

Kabuki has changed drastically since its earliest incarnations.

[edit] 1603-1629: female kabuki

The history of kabuki began in 1603, when Okuni, a miko (young woman in the service of a Shinto shrine) of Izumo Taisha, began performing a new style of dance drama in the dry river beds of Kyoto.[2] Female performers played both men and women in comic playlets about ordinary life. The style was instantly popular; Okuni was even asked to perform before the Imperial Court. In the wake of such success, rival troupes quickly formed, and kabuki was born as ensemble dance drama performed by women — a form very different from its modern incarnation. Much of its appeal in this era was due to the ribald, suggestive performances put on by many troupes; this appeal was further augmented by the fact that the performers were often also available for prostitution.[1] For this reason, kabuki was also written "歌舞妓" (singing and dancing prostitute) during the Edo Period.

Since kabuki was already so popular, young male actors took over after women were banned from performing. Along with the change in the performers' gender came a change in the emphasis of the performance: increased stress was placed on drama rather than dance.^[2] Their performances were equally ribald, however, and they too were available for prostitution (also to male customers). Audiences frequently became rowdy, and brawls occasionally broke out, sometimes over the favors of a particularly handsome young actor, leading the shogunate to ban young male actors in 1652.^[3]

[edit] After 1653: men's kabuki

From 1653, only mature men could perform kabuki, which developed into a sophisticated, highly stylized form called yarō kabuki (野郎歌舞伎, roughly, men's kabuki). This metamorphosis in style was heavily influenced by kyogen comic theater, as mandated by the shogunate.^[1] Kyogen was, in any case, extremely popular at the time.

The yarō was eventually dropped, but all roles in a kabuki play continued to be performed by men. Male actors who specialize in playing women's roles, called onnagata or oyama (both 女形), emerged, and families of onnagata specialists developed. In later years, most onnagata came from these families.

Two major role types developed: aragoto (rough style) was pioneered by Ichikawa Danjūrō (1660-1704) in Edo, and wagoto (soft style) by Sakata Tōjūrō (1647-1709) in the Kyoto-Osaka area. Aragoto is a bombastic style of role, in which the actor greatly exaggerates words, gestures, and even costumes and makeup; its name is derived from a word meaning the reckless warrior matter, and its plays emphasize action. In contrast, wagoto features more realistic speech and gestures, and its plays are usually tragic romances.^[4]

[edit] 1673-1735: The Genroku period

During the Genroku era, kabuki thrived. The structure of a kabuki play was formalized during this period, as were many elements of stylization. Conventional character types were determined. Kabuki theater and ningyō jōruri, the elaborate form of puppet theater that later came to be known as bunraku, became closely associated with each other during this period, and each has since influenced the development of the other.^[2] The famous playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon, one of the first professional playwrights of kabuki, produced several influential works, though the piece usually acknowledged as his most significant, Sonezaki Shinju (The Love Suicides at Sonezaki), was originally written for bunraku. Like many bunraku plays, however, it was adapted for kabuki, and it spawned many imitators — in fact, it and similar plays reportedly caused so many real-life "copycat" suicides that the government banned shinju mono (plays about lovers' double suicides) in 1723. Ichikawa Danjūrō I also lived during this time; he is credited with the development of mie^[5] poses and mask-like kumadori make-up^[6].

In the mid-18th century, kabuki fell out of favor for a time, with bunraku taking its place as the premier form of stage entertainment among the lower social classes.^[2] This occurred partly because of the emergence of several skilled bunraku playwrights in that time. Little of note would occur in the development of kabuki until the end of the century, when it began to re-emerge.

[edit] Kabuki after the Meiji Restoration

The tremendous cultural changes begun in 1868 by the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate, the elimination of the samurai class, and the opening of Japan to the west helped to spark that re-emergence. As the culture struggled to adapt to its new lack of isolation, actors strove to increase the reputation of kabuki among the upper classes and to adapt the traditional styles to modern tastes. They ultimately proved successful in this regard — on one occasion (21 April 1887), a performance was given for the Meiji Emperor.^[7]

Many kabuki houses were destroyed by bombing during World War II, and the occupying forces briefly banned kabuki performances after the war. However, by 1947 the ban had been rescinded, and performances began once more.

[edit] Kabuki today

Today, kabuki remains relatively popular — it is the most popular of the traditional styles of Japanese drama — and its star actors often appear in television or film roles. ^[8] For example, the well-known onnagata Bandō Tamasaburō V has appeared in several (non-kabuki) plays and movies — often in a female role. Kabuki is also referenced in works of Japanese popular culture such as anime.

Though there are only a handful of major theatres in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, there are many smaller theatres in Osaka, and throughout the countryside. The Ōshika Kabuki troupe, based in Ōshika"大鹿", Nagano Prefecture"長野県", is one example.^[9]

Some kabuki troupes now use female actors in the onnagata roles, and the Ichikawa Kabuki-za (an all-female troupe) was formed after World War II. In 2003, a statue of Okuni, has been erected near Kyoto's Pontochō district.

Interest in kabuki has also spread in the West. Kabuki troupes regularly tour Europe and America, and there have been several kabuki-themed productions of canonical Western plays such as those of Shakespeare. Western playwrights and novelists have also experimented with kabuki themes, an example of which is Gerald Vizenor's Hiroshima Bugi (2004). Writer Yukio Mishima pioneered and popularized the use of kabuki in modern settings, and revived other traditional arts, such as Noh, adapting them to modern contexts.

In Australia, the Za Kabuki troupe at the Australian National University has been performing a Kabuki drama each year since 1976; the single longest regular Kabuki performance outside of Japan.

Kabuki was enlisted on the UNESCO's 'Third Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity' on 24 November 2005. Kabuki has come very far since its beginning.

[edit] Elements of kabuki

[edit] Stage design

The kabuki stage features a projection called a hanamichi (花道; literally, flower path), a walkway which extends into the audience and via which dramatic entrances and exits are made. Kabuki stages and theaters have steadily become more technologically sophisticated, and innovations including revolving stages and trap doors, introduced during the 18th century, added greatly to the staging of kabuki plays. A driving force has been the desire to make manifest one frequent theme of kabuki theater, that of the sudden, dramatic revelation or transformation.^[10] A number of stage tricks, including rapid appearances and disappearances of actors, have evolved using these innovations. The term keren (外連), often translated playing to the gallery, is sometimes used as a catch-all term for these tricks.

Mawari-butai (revolving stage) developed in the Kyōhō era (1716-1735). Originally accomplished by the on-stage pushing of a round, wheeled platform this technique evolved into a circle being cut into the stage floor with wheels beneath it facilitating movement. When the stage lights are lowered during this transition it is known as kuraten (“darkened revolve”). More commonly the lights are left on for akaten (“lighted revolve”), sometimes with the transitioning scenes being performed simultaneously for dramatic effect.

Seri refers to the stage traps that have been commonly employed in kabuki since the middle of the eighteenth century. These traps raise and lower actors or sets to the stage. Seridashi or seriage refers to the traps moving upward and serisage or serioroshi when they are being lowered. This technique is often used for dramatic effect of having an entire scene rise up to appear onstage.

Chūnori (riding in mid-air) is a technique, which appeared toward the middle of the nineteenth century, by which an actor’s costume is attached to wires and he is made to “fly” over the stage and/or certain parts of the auditorium. This is similar to wire fu of modern cinema. As these “trick” (keren) devices have fallen out of favor many stages are no longer equipped to handle them.

In kabuki, as in some other Japanese performing arts, scenery changes are sometimes made mid-scene, while the actors remain on stage and the curtain stays open. This is sometimes accomplished by using a Hiki Dōgu, or small wagon stage. This technique originated at the beginning of the 18th century, where scenery or actors are moved on or off stage by means of a wheeled platform. Also common are stage hands rushing onto the stage adding and removing props, backdrops and other scenery; these stage hands, known as kuroko (黒子), are always dressed entirely in black and are traditionally considered invisible. These stage hands also assist in a variety of quick costume changes known as hayagawari (quick change technique). In plays, when a character's true nature is suddenly revealed, the devices of hikinuki or bukkaeri are often used. Hikinuki or bukkaeri is accomplished by having costumes layered one over another and having a stage assistant pull the outer one off in front of the audience.

[edit] Performance

There are three main categories of kabuki play: jidai-mono (時代物, historical, or pre-Sengoku period stories), sewa-mono (世話物, domestic, or post-Sengoku stories), and shosagoto (所作事, dance pieces).

Important characteristics of Kabuki theater include the mie (見得), in which the actor holds a picturesque pose to establish his character.^[10] At this point his house name (yagō, 屋号) is sometimes heard in loud shout (kakegoe,掛け声) from an expert audience member, serving both to express and enhance the audience's appreciation of the actor's achievement. Keshō, kabuki makeup, provides an element of style easily recognizable even by those unfamiliar with the art form. Rice powder is used to create the white oshiroi base, and kumadori enhances or exaggerates facial lines to produce dramatic animal or supernatural masks for the actors. The color of the kumadori is an expression of the character's nature: red lines are used to indicate passion, heroism, righteousness, and other positive traits; blue or black, villainy, jealousy, and other negative traits; green, the supernatural; and purple, nobility.^[6]

[edit] Play structure

Kabuki, like other traditional forms of drama in Japan as well as in other cultures around the world, was (and sometimes still is) performed in full-day programs. Rather than attending a single play for 2-5 hours, as one might do in a modern Western-style theater, one would "escape" from the day-to-day world, devoting a full day to entertainment in the theater district. Though some plays, particularly the historical jidaimono, might go on for an entire day, most plays were shorter and would be arranged, in full or in part, alongside other plays in order to produce a full-day program.

The structure of the full-day program, like the structure of the plays themselves, was derived largely from the conventions of bunraku and Noh, conventions which also appear in countless other traditional Japanese arts. Chief among these is the concept of jo-ha-kyū (序破急), which states that all things should be done at a certain pace, one which starts out slow, speeds up, and ends quickly. The concept, elaborated on at length by master Noh playwright Zeami, governs not only the actions of the actors, but also the structure of the play as well as the structure of scenes and plays within a day-long program.

Nearly every full-length play would be performed in five acts, the first one corresponding to jo, an auspicious and slow opening which introduces the audience to the characters and the plot. The next three acts would correspond to ha, speeding events up, culminating almost always in a great moment of drama or tragedy in the third act and possibly a battle in the second and/or fourth acts. The final act, corresponding to kyu, is almost always very short, providing a quick and satisfying conclusion.^[11]

While many plays were written for kabuki, many others were taken from jōruri plays, Noh plays, folklore, or other performing traditions such as the oral tradition of the Tale of the Heike. While plays taken from jōruri tend to have serious, emotionally dramatic, and organized plots, those plays written specifically for kabuki generally have far looser, sillier plots.^[12] One of the crucial differences in the philosophy of the two forms is that jōruri focuses primarily on the story and on the chanter who recites it, while kabuki focuses more on the actors. Thus, it is not unknown in a jōruri play to sacrifice the details of sets, puppets, or onstage action in favor of directing attention to the chanter, while by contrast kabuki is known to sacrifice drama and even the plot itself in favor of showing off an actor's talents. It was not uncommon in kabuki to insert or remove individual scenes from a day's schedule in order to cater to the talents or desires of an individual actor — scenes he was famed for, or better at showing off in, would be inserted into a day's program where it made no sense in terms of plot continuity.^[12]

Another crucial stylistic element of kabuki is the difference between traditions in Edo and in Kamigata (the Kyoto-Osaka region). Through most of the Edo period, kabuki in Edo was defined by extravagance and bombast, as exemplified by stark makeup patterns, flashy costumes, fancy keren (stage tricks), and bold mie (poses). Kamigata kabuki, meanwhile, was much calmer in tone and focused on naturalism and realism in acting. Only towards the end of the Edo period in the 19th century did the two regions begin to adopt one another's styles to any significant degree.^[13] For a long time, actors from one region often failed to adjust to the styles of the other region and were unsuccessful in their performance tours of that region.

[edit] Famous plays

While there are many famous plays known today, the three most famous ones were written in three successive years in the middle of the 18th century. Like most of kabuki's longer, more serious, more dramatic plays, these were originally written for jōruri (bunraku) and were adopted by kabuki soon afterwards. All three were written by Takeda Izumo II, Miyoshi Shōraku, and Namiki Senryū I, between 1746 and 1748.

• Kanadehon Chūshingura (Treasury of Loyal Retainers) is the famous story of the Forty-seven Ronin who track down their lord's killer, and exact revenge upon him before committing seppuku as required by their code of honor upon the death of their lord.^[14]

• Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura (Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees) follows Minamoto no Yoshitsune as he flees from agents of his brother Yoritomo. Three Taira clan generals supposed killed in the Genpei War figure prominently, as their deaths ensure a complete end to the war and the arrival of peace, as does a kitsune named Genkurō.^[15]

• Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami (Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy) is based on the life of famed scholar Sugawara no Michizane (845-903), who is exiled from Kyoto, and upon his death causes a number of calamities in the capital. He is then deified, as Tenjin, kami (divine spirit) of scholarship, and worshipped in order to propitiate his angry spirit.^[14]

[edit] Major theatres in operation

• Kyoto
  • Minami-za
• Osaka
  • Shin-Kabuki-za
• Tokyo
  • Kabuki-za
  • National Theater

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Kanteiryū, a lettering style invented to advertize kabuki and other theatrical performances
• Rakugo, a Japanese entertainment form based on comic monologues
• Kyogen, a traditional form of Japanese comic theatre that influenced the development of kabuki
• Noh, a traditional form of Japanese theatre
• Bunraku, a traditional Japanese puppet theatre from whose scripts many kabuki plays were adapted
• Butoh, an avant-garde dance form
• Takarazuka Revue, an all-female theatrical troupe based upon the original form of kabuki
• Benshi, a tradition of narrating silent films, based on the narration style of kabuki

[edit] External links

• Kabuki Story 2001 Japan Festival Award
• WebJapan Kabuki Fact Sheet
• Kabuki 21
• Listen to music sample of KOKAJI and MUSUME DOJOJI (After clicking on this link, scroll down page)