Lesson 1. Japan-Kabuki Play

TRUE OR FALSE
1. Kabuki (Japanese Theater) developed in 16th

century Japan due to a division of the warriors and
commoners.
2. Only males are allowed to act in Kabuki
Theater.
3. Kabuki is the spectacular blend of singing,
dancing, and acting.
4. The two basic styles are arragoto and wagato.
5. Wagato is the masculine while Arragoto is the
masculine.
Japan is rich in culture and
tradition.
Japan is rich in culture and
tradition.
Sakura
• It is one of the popular traditional
songs in Japan.
• It is translated in English as
CHERRY BLOSSOMS.
• It produces distinct characteristics
used in the Asian style of making
melodies (pentatonic scale)
Key features of
Japanese Theater
Ipponchoshi
(continuous pattern)
• It is the vocal technique used in
singing during Japanese theater
plays.
• It requires an extraordinary breath
control that only few experts
succeed in achieving.
Joruri (chanting)
• It is otherwise called as “nori”
• It implies a very sensitive capacity
of riding the rhythms of shamisen
(string instrument) declaiming
each accompaniment.
Yakuharai
• It is a technique described by
subtle delivery of poetical text
written in the Japanese metrical
form of alternating seven and five
syllables.
Vocal and
Instrumental Features
Shamisen music
• It is collected and popularized a
number of aspects from all
previous forms of Japanese
music.
• The most popular of all
shamisen music is nagauta (long
song).
Naugata music
• It is very flexible,can be performed
by one shamisen or by an entire
orchestra of twenty musicians of
which ten are shamisen players,
while the others play flutes (fue) and
drums (small-kotsuzumi; waist
drum-otsuzumi; and stick drum-
taiko)
歌舞伎
Map of Japan
•“Cultural Capital” of Modern Japan

Kabuki Theater
• Kabuki includes both plays and dances, performed
to the traditional music of Japan using Shamisen,
tsuzumi (drums), yoko-bue (flute), and voices.
Kabuki 歌舞伎
• form of traditional Japanese theatre
• Originally performed by women in the dry
riverbeds of the cities so they could escape
prostitution charges.
• known for stylization of drama and the
elaborate make-up worn by performers
• kanji characters mean:
– sing (歌), dance (舞), and skill (伎)
– sometimes translated as "the art of
singing and dancing“
1603–1629: Female Kabuki
• began in 1603 when Okuni, a miko (geisha in
training) began performing a new style of
dance drama in the dry riverbeds of Kyoto
• played both men and women in comic plays
about ordinary life
• instantly popular; rival troupes quickly
formed
• appeal was due to suggestive performances
and performers were sometimes available
for prostitution
Okuni dressed
as a samurai
1629-1652: Young Male Kabuki
• Wakashu - young male actors took over after
women were banned from performing
• could take the role of women due to their
less masculine appearance and higher pitched
voices
• focused more on drama rather than dance
• their performances were as equally suggestive
and they too became available for prostitution
• lead shogunate to ban young male actors in
1652
1652-1868
• Fell out of favor with ruling class
• Associated more with lower class
entertainment
• Became popular again in 1868 with fall of the
samurai class and the opening of Japan to the
west
• Actors were all older males by this period
Kabuki Today
• most popular of the traditional styles of Japanese
drama
• its star actors often appear in television or film roles
• the well-known onnagata Bandō Tamasaburō V has
appeared in several non-kabuki plays and movies—
often in a female role
• major theatres in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka
• many smaller theatres throughout the countryside
• Some troupes now use female actors but most
traditionalist still prefer the male onnagata
Performance Styles
• jidai-mono (時代物) historical
• sewa-mono (世話物) domestic
• shosagoto (所作事) dance pieces

Play Structure
• performed in full-day programs
• "escape" from the day-to-day world
– Idealized settings and stories
• devote a full day to entertainment in the theater
district
• most plays were short and would be arranged
alongside other plays in order to produce a full-day
program
• only the highlights of each play would be performed
Stage Design and the Kabuki House
• The kabuki stage features a projection called a
hanamichi (花道; flower path), a walkway which
has a trap door and extends into the audience.
Here dramatic entrances and exits are made
• important scenes are performed here to allow the
audience to be part of the action
• Technological innovations of the 18th century
included revolving stages and trap doors
Diagram of a Kabuki Stage – SKETCH!
Traditional Stage
Minamiza Theatre
Kyoto
Kabukiza in Ginza District

Tokyo
Kumadori (Make-up)
Face Paint Color Symbolism
• Dark Red- anger
• Red- activeness
• Pink- cheerfulness
• Light Blue- calmness
• Light Green- tranquility
• Purple- nobility
• Brown- selfishness
• Grey (on the chin) cheerlessness
• Black- fear, terror, fright
Create Your Own Kumadori Style Make up
http://www.glopac.org/Jparc/CosMask/kumadori.html
Face Painting Comparison
Geisha
Kabuki
Other forms of Japanese Art
• Pottery
• Shoji - Painted Screens
• Woodblock Prints
Storage jar
Middle Jomon period
(ca. 2500–1500 B.C.)
Japan
Earthenware,
unglazed H. 27 1/2 in.
(69.9 cm)
The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of
Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard,
and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris
Brisbane Dick and Louis V. Bell Funds,
Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The
Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975
(1975.268.182)
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/jomo/hd_jomo.ht
Deep bowl with sculptural
rim, late Middle Jomon
period (ca. 2500–1500 b.c.),
ca. 1500 b.c.
Japan
Earthenware H. 13 in. (33
cm)
Gift of Florence and Herbert
Irving, 1992 (1992.252.1)
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/jomo/hd_jomo.ht
The Four Accomplishments, Muromachi period (1392–1573), mid-16th century
Kano Motonobu (Japanese, 1476–1559)
Pair of six-panel screens; ink and color on paper 67 x 150 in. (170.2 x 381 cm); folded: 67 x 25 3/4 x 5 in. (170.2 x 65.4 x
12.7 cm)
Dr. and Mrs. Roger G. Gerry Collection, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Roger G. Gerry, 1991 (1991.480.1,.2)
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/kano/hd_kano.htm
The Old Plum, Edo period (1615–1868), ca. 1645
Attributed to Kano Sansetsu (Japanese, ca. 1589–1651)
Four sliding door panels (fusuma); ink, color, gold leaf on paper H. 68 3/4 in. (174.6 cm)
The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane
Dick and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.48a-d)
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/kano/hd_kano.htm
Utamaro
Woman Wiping Sweat
Hiroshige
53 Stations of the Tokaido
Hokusai - 36 Views of Mt. Fuji
Identification
1. What is the most popular traditional song of Japan?
2. What do we call the flower arrangement of Japan?
3. What is the English term for Sakura?
4-5 give the two theatrical play of Japan
6. What is the most popular shamisen music?
7. What do we call the small drum used in kabuki?
8. What enhances the characters during the play?
9. What do we call the young men taking the role of
women in Kabuki?
10. What do we call the continuous pattern in singing
used in Kabuki?

Lesson 1. Japan-Kabuki Play

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TRUE OR FALSE

1. Kabuki (Japanese Theater) developed in 16th

•“Cultural Capital” of Modern Japan

• jidai-mono (時代物) historical

• sewa-mono (世話物) domestic

• shosagoto (所作事) dance pieces

Kabukiza in Ginza District

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