Kabuki

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

Kabuki Geki period, Kabuki Kyogen created in
"Kamigata" (Kyoto and Osaka
area) weighed so much.
 “Kabuki Geki" (Kabuki Drama). ➢ Kabuki Kyogen were simply
was produced for the common called "Shibai" (play) during the
people during the Edo period. Edo period.
➢ Tokugawa shogunate ordered
them to play "impersonation &
During and after the Meiji Period
'Kyogen' (Noh comedies)," and
this also encouraged the ➢ Kabuki was still quite popular, but
development of Kabuki as a it also began to be criticized from
drama. intellectuals and others as
➢ The content of the drama came inappropriate content for a
from historical facts, fiction, civilized country.
events and other topics, and the ➢ a reform campaign of the style of
drama was called "Kabuki Kabuki, which is called Theater
Kyogen." Reform Campaign, was
➢ This was not irrelevant to advanced during and after the
Kabuki's facilitating transition to Meiji period.
the theater specialized for ➢ During the Showa period, many
Kabuki, what we call the Kabuki- great actors were active, such as
za (Kabuki theater). 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,

Kabuki

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Kabuki

- is a popular form of Japanese

Kabuki Play in Tokyo

Japan’s Traditional Performing Arts

Traditional Play of Kabuki in Minami-za,

-strange acts and clothes were

 “ka” means “singing”

Brief History of Kabuki

Yoshizawa Ayame (1673–1729)- An

➢ Kabuki was sophisticated and

➢ Until the middle of the Edo

KABUKI-ZA THEATRE ➢ Cocoon Kabuki by the eighteenth

From postwar Showa Period to Today

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