Kabuki

- is a popular form of Japanese

musical drama characterized by
elaborate costuming and make-up and
stylized dancing, music, and acting.
Both male and female acting roles are
performed by men.

Kabuki Play in Tokyo

Japan’s Traditional Performing Arts

developed in Samurai Period

Traditional Play of Kabuki in Minami-za,

Kyoto

-strange acts and clothes were

called “kabuki”, and a man of these
features was said to be “kabuki-
mono”.

 “ka” means “singing”

 “bu” means “dancing”
 “ki” means “performances” (or
performers)
 -Although Non-Japanese and
even many Japanese can’t understand
what the actors say, kabuki’s wild
costumes, expressive make-up,
slapstick action and dance can hold the
interest of most Westerners for about a
half an hour (but unfortunately most
Kabuki plays are four or five hours long,
including the long pauses which are
supposed to give observers a chance to
think).
Actors and their Types of
Role
Wagoto is a young man about town,
usually elegant, even effeminate, and
most often in love with a famous
courtesan. He may be a hero but he is
often also a vain and even slightly
comical character. This role category
was the creation of the actor Sakata
Torujo (1647–1709).

Brief History of Kabuki

-Kabuki is said to have originated
from “IZUMO no Okuni”, who delivered a
performance at Kitano Tenman-gu
Shrine in 1603, and thereby gaining a
good reputation in Kyoto.
-Some say Okuni was “miko” (a
shrine maiden), while others say she
was a derelict.
-Kabuki was performed on a
“noh-stage” or the “Hanamichi” (a
passage running through the audience Aragoto (wild warrior style) refers to
to the stage). strong, even aggressive male characters
that may be good or evil. With their
- As Okuni became popular,
flashy, exaggerated acting technique,
many imitators appeared including:
stylised make-up, heavy costuming and
 “Yujo- kabuki”- courtesans’ often with high shoes they are, both
kabuki or women’s kabuki metaphorically and literally, “larger-than-
 performed by “yujo” – prostitutes life” characters.
 “wakashu- kabuki”- young men’s
kabuki
- But the former was banned in
1629 for the reason that it corrupted
public morals, and the latter was also
banned in 1652 because the Kabuki
groups which also engaged in the
business of male prostitutes were
rampant.
Onnagata, the female impersonator, ASPECTS OF KABUKI ACCORDING
may be regarded as the epitome of the TO ORIGIN
stylised, caricature-like acting technique
During the Edo Period
of kabuki. The practice of having male
actors in female roles has its roots in the
early 17th-century wakashu kabuki or
“young men’s kabuki”. When female
actors were banned from the stage in
1629, young boys replaced them.

Yoshizawa Ayame (1673–1729)- An

early important onnagata actor. He was
a “transvestite” actor, as he also lived
his off-stage life as a woman.

➢ Kabuki was sophisticated and

completed in the mature culture
during the Edo period, and it now
forms its peculiar world of beauty.
➢ Kabuki is said to be classified
according to its formation process
into:
➢ "Kabuki Odori" (Kabuki
Dance)Kabuki Odori lasted until
the time of Wakashu-kabuki, and
it showed dances matched to the
popular songs of those days.

Kabuki odor

WAKASHU KABUKI
Kabuki Geki
 “Kabuki Geki" (Kabuki Drama).
was produced for the common
people during the Edo period.
➢ Tokugawa shogunate ordered
them to play "impersonation &
During and after the Meiji Period
'Kyogen' (Noh comedies)," and
this also encouraged the
development of Kabuki as a
drama.
➢ The content of the drama came
from historical facts, fiction,
events and other topics, and the
drama was called "Kabuki
Kyogen."
➢ This was not irrelevant to
Kabuki's facilitating transition to
the theater specialized for
Kabuki, what we call the Kabuki-
za (Kabuki theater).
➢ Through the staging of separating
time using a draw curtain, the
time flow was naturally introduced
into the story, and this enabled a
complicated play to be
developed. And Hanamichi, the
passage running through the
audience on which Kabuki actors
enter on and depart, provides the
audience with the two-
dimensional image (or depth) that
cannot be experienced in other
kinds of theater, and "seri" (a
trapdoor) & "chunori" (a flight on
wires from the stage over the
heads of the audience) provide
the audience with the three-
dimensional image (or the
height), thereby upgrading Kabuki
to the higher level of theater
➢ Until the middle of the Edo
period, Kabuki Kyogen created in
"Kamigata" (Kyoto and Osaka
area) weighed so much.
➢ Kabuki Kyogen were simply
called "Shibai" (play) during the
Edo period.
➢ Kabuki was still quite popular, but
it also began to be criticized from
intellectuals and others as
inappropriate content for a
civilized country.
➢ a reform campaign of the style of
Kabuki, which is called Theater
Reform Campaign, was
advanced during and after the
Meiji period.
➢ During the Showa period, many
great actors were active, such as
the sixth "Kikugoro ONOE," the
 first "Kichiemon NAKAMURA," new movements emerged one
the fifteenth "Uzaemon after another.
ICHIMURA," the second "Enjaku ➢ In 1965, Kabuki received the
JITSUKAWA" and the third overall designation as an
"Baigyoku NAKAMURA," and important intangible cultural
they had a great impact on property
today's Kabuki. ➢ the third "Ennosuke ICHIKAWA"
➢ This campaign achieved one energetically performed revived
good result: *the opening of the Kyogen, into which he fully
Kabuki-za (Kabuki theater), which reintroduced the factors of Keren
impacts today's theaters. that were once despised;
*establishment of a new styling Ennosuke sought to improve
Japanese theater, called "Shinpa- Kabuki as the theater, so he tried
Geki" (a New-School Play), can a much more boldly staged
be said to be another good result. Kabuki, called Super Kabuki.

SUPER KABUKI

KABUKI-ZA THEATRE ➢ Cocoon Kabuki by the eighteenth

Kanzaburo Nakamura.
➢ Afterward, under the influence of
Theater Reform Campaign, many
works, called "Shin Kabuki" (New
Kabuki), were born from the Meiji
period to the prewar age of the
Showa period

From postwar Showa Period to Today

➢ kabuki Taisho Period In 1950s,
as Japanese people became
better off, their recreation began
to be diversified.
➢ From 1960s to 1970s, when Cocoon kabuki
Kabuki was in its postwar prime,