facts JPN-kabuki

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Kabuki is one of Japan's traditional theatrical arts. Its inception goes back to the latter part of the 16th century and, with extensive and continuous evolution, it has now been perfected into a state of classical refinement. Though not as flourishing as it once was, the kabuki theater retains a wide popularity among the people, and is in fact drawing quite large audiences even now.

During the period generally referred to as the Edo Era, during which much of the development of kabuki took place, distinction between the warrior class and the commoners was more rigidly observed than at any other time in Japan's history. The art of kabuki was cultivated mainly by the merchants in those days. They had be come increasingly powerful economically, but had to remain socially inferior as they belonged to the commoner class. To them kabuki was perhaps most significant as the artistic means by which to express their emotions under such conditions. Thus, the fundamental themes of kabuki plays are conflicts between humanity and the feudalistic system. It is largely due to this humanistic quality of the art that it gained such an enduring popularity among the general public of those days and remains this way today.

A unique feature of the kabuki art, and perhaps the most significant and in keeping with the kabuki spirit of unusualness, is the fact that it has no actresses whatsoever. All female parts are played by male impersonators known as onnagata. The players of the kabuki drama in its primitive stage were principally women, and with the increasing popularity of kabuki, many of the actresses began to attract undue attention from male admirers. The authorities felt that this would lead to a serious demoralization of the public and in 1629 the theatrical appearance of women was officially banned.

However, since kabuki as an art form was already accepted by the public, men immediately took over and have continued performing to the present. The ban on actresses was in effect for about 250 years. In the mean time kabuki brought to perfection the art of the onnagata. As a result, there was no room for actresses in kabuki when the ban was lifted. Moreover, the art of onnagata had become such an integral part of kabuki that, if deprived of this element, the traditional quality of kabuki could be lost forever.

Another important characteristic of kabuki is that it is an inclusive and accumulative theater. Born at the turn of the 16th century, it incorporated parts of all the preceding theater forms of Japan. Among the traditional arts from which kabuki has drawn for stage techniques and repertoire are the noh drama and the kyogen play, or the comic interlude presented between noh performances. Today, the number of Japanese who appreciate noh proper is far smaller than that of those who favor kabuki, but those kabuki plays adapted from or inspired by noh plays enjoy a wide popularity and constitute an essential portion of the entire kabuki repertoire.

Another area from which kabuki has borrowed is the puppet theater, often referred to as bunraku, the development of which roughly paralleled that of earlier kabuki. In kabuki, the primary importance has always been placed on the actor rather than on any other aspect of the art, such as literary value of a play. During the early 17th century, some of the great writers, including Monzaemon Chikamatsu, often called the "Shakespeare of Japan," left kabuki with its actors' domination and turned to the puppet theater where their creative genius was more or less unrestricted. As a result, there was a period when puppets overshadowed actors and the puppet theater was more popular than kabuki. To meet this competition, kabuki adopted virtually all the puppet plays. Thus, today more than half of the conventional kabuki plays except for a group of dance-dramas are of bunraku origin. A final example of kabuki's all-embracing acquisitiveness came at the end of the 19th century, which added an element of literary realism to the art.

Until kabuki, the people of Japan had never seen theater of such color, glamour, excitement and general extraordinariness. In these qualities, perhaps no theater elsewhere in the world can excel the kabuki drama.

There are about 300 plays in the conventional kabuki repertoire. To these, new plays are now being added by men of letters who are not directly associated with the kabuki. Previously, the plays were supplied almost exclusively by the playwrights of the kabuki theater itself.

There is a group of plays in the repertoire designated as shosa-goto, or dance-drama, which is primarily and almost exclusively dance. In the dance-drama, actors dance to the full accompaniment of vocal and instrumental music. Many plays tell a complete story, while others are scarcely more than fragmental dance pieces. Many of them have their origin in the noh drama and the kyogen plays. Kanjincho (The Temple Offering List),Musume Dojoji (Maiden of the Dojoji Temple), Migawari Zazen (The Substitute), and Takatsuki (The Clog Dance) are examples of the dance-drama.

The remainder of the kabuki plays may be divided into two categories from the standpoint of theme and dramatis personae.

These plays depict historical facts or present dramatized accounts of warriors or nobles. Many of them are heavy tragedies relieved only by momentary flashes of comedy. Many of the texts come from the puppet plays and they often call upon the hero to make the greatest possible sacrifices. For example, Chushingura, one of the most celebrated kabuki adaptations of a bunraku play, tells the famous story of the forty-seven lordless knights. These men avenged the enforced self-immolation of their master after years of patient waiting and plotting, and, for this act, they also were compelled to commit suicide.

These plays invariably depict the life of the plebian class. The center of attention is focused upon the commoner. Kagotsurube (The Courtesan) and Tsubosaka-Dera (Miracle at Tsubosaka) are representatives of this group of plays. The domestic drama is essentially a realistic story. Nevertheless, it is not infrequent that plays of this type have scenes where the acting and staging become unrealistic, with emphasis placed upon such superficial aspects as elocution and splendid colors rather than upon internal elements like the logical consistency of the plot.

In terms of origin, kabuki plays can be classified into the following three groups.

A substantial number of comic dance-plays were adapted from kyogen, such as Migawari Zazen. Dance-plays of a more serious nature, such as Kanjincho and Musume Dojoji, were adapted from regular noh plays. These are characterized by exceeding grace and dignity, reflective of the noble atmosphere of their origins. The stage setting for many of these plays was adapted directly from the noh theater. It consists of only a panel background showing an aged pine tree and two side wings with pictures of bamboo groves.

In these plays a large part of' the text is derived almost verbatim from their originals. They are still performed in a unique style particular to the puppet theater. A singer and his accompanist sit at the right of the stage on a dais in full view of the audience, as in the puppet theater. But the actual lines are spoken by the actors, with narratives and descriptive passages left to the singer. In the puppet theater, the entire text is recited and sung by the singer. Among the representative plays of this group are Chushingura and Tsubosaka-Dera.

These plays were written and produced exclusively for the kabuki theater. Among them are a considerable number of excellent dramatic works such as Kagotsurube.

While beauty of formalization is one of the aesthetic principles upon which the art of kabuki as a whole is founded, it is most effectively demonstrated in the acting--the most important aspect of kabuki. When a kabuki actor prepares himself for a role in a classical play, it has long been customary for him to begin by studying the model style perfected by his predecessors. Such a model style, even if intended originally to produce a realistic representation, has been highly formalized and become symbolical in the course of the development of kabuki. Thus, even in the realistic kabuki play, the most trivial gestures are frequently closer to "dancing" than to "acting." Almost every gesticulation is accompanied by music. There are many cases where such symbolization has been carried to the extent of abstraction, so that the formalized action of the character is no longer relevant to or even in direct contact with any rational interpretation of the role.

A special technique of kabuki known as mie is perhaps most in keeping with this principle of formalized beauty. This is employed in certain climatic moments or at the close of a classical play by the principal actor who momentarily pauses in a pictorial posture and assumes a stare and crosses his eyes. This unique type of acting is an example of the tendency of kabuki to place maximum emphasis on statuesque beauty.

Formalization is also characteristic of the vocal aspect of kabuki acting. Even in the essentially realistic domestic play, the principle of speaking is not that of naturalism but of idealized elocution. Thus, lines in the kabuki plays, long monologues in particular, have a fascinating cadence half-way between singing and ordinary conversation. This is even more true, when, as happens often, dialogues and monologues are recited to the accompaniment of music. This renders the coinciding action on the stage even more rhythmic, with movement assuming an appearance more like a modified form of dancing.

2) Color scheme Spectacular beauty constitutes another of the fundamental characteristics of kabuki drama. In fact, sets, costumes and make-up in kabuki are generally recognized by theater people to be the most lavish and extravagant in the world. It can be said that the popularity of kabuki today is to a large degree due to its pictorial beauty. This is because the audience can derive full enjoyment from the wonderful spectacle of the superb color scheme unfolded dazzlingly before their eyes, even when they are not convinced of the plot of the story.

3) Acoustic elements As pointed out earlier, music is an integral part of the art of kabuki. While several kinds of instruments arc used in kabuki, both to accompany chanting and independently, the principal one is a three-stringed, balalaika-like instrument played with a plectrum, commonly called shamisen. Hence, the whole body of music associated with kabuki has been referred to as shamisen music.

In a historical or domestic play, as the curtain opens upon a scene, the music starts, stirring to life the otherwise inanimate atmosphere of the stage. The musicians are hidden from view in the left corner of the stage. The music serves as a leitmotif of the play; it gives the cue for the actor's entrance; and to its accompaniment, the actor conducts his dialogue and performance. In the case of a dance-drama, the musicians are in full view of the audience, and the music assumes a much more dominant part.

Kabuki music is classified into about a dozen categories, according to different schools. Among these, the most frequently used today are nagauta, tokiwazu, kiyomoto, and gidayu, the latter always being used in a drama adapted from the puppet theater.

Besides music proper, there are numerous kind of audio-effects employed in a kabuki performance. The most unique among them is the sounding of wooden clappers signaling the opening and the closing of a kabuki play. It is repeated in rhythmical, staccato measures. The wooden clappers are also used as one of the musical percussion instruments in the course of the performance.

Kabuki theaters in Japan today are built, without exception, in Western style, insofar as their building and staging facilities and accoutrements are concerned. They have retained, however, some of the significant features of the traditional kabuki theater, such as the hanamichi and the mawari-butai.

This is a passageway connecting the left side of the stage with the back of the hall through the spectators' seats at about head level of the audience. It provides a way for the actors' entrances and exits, in addition to the passages available at both wings of the stage. The hanamichi, however, serves not only as a passageway, but constitutes a part of the stage. While making their entrance or exit via this ramp, the actors very often give one of the most important scenes of their performance.

First invented in Japan nearly 300 years ago, this device was later introduced abroad. It makes rapid changes of scene possible without interrupting the sequence of the plot.

The proscenium of the kabuki stage is lower and much wider than that of American and European theaters. The stage has the appearance of a long rectangle instead of the nearly square form of theaters elsewhere.

The curtain in the kabuki theaters consists of red-brown, black, and green cotton stripes, and is not raised as in the Western theaters, but drawn aside.

The most distinguishing feature of kabuki as a theatrical art in comparison with other dramatic forms is perhaps that it places primary emphasis upon the actor. Thus the vast majority of the classical kabuki plays were supplied by the writers attached to the various kabuki theaters. Those writers were fully aware of the characteristic strengths and weaknesses of the individual actors as well as their dramatic taste in performance, and they took unusual pains to write plays capable of bringing out the superior talent of these actors. Not infrequently, actors, regarding the plays only as vehicles for them to star in, temperamentally altered the lines and the plots.

Yet, in the last analysis, it is to the actor that kabuki's chief greatness is due. And kabuki's requirements of the actor are exacting. Since the dramatic art of kabuki is based on its special formula of representation, every kabuki actor is required to have a fundamental preparatory training. This in turn makes it almost compulsory that a person who aspires to be a kabuki actor start his training from childhood. He must be thoroughly trained in many branches of artistic culture. Inasmuch as kabuki is a kind of musical drama, both Japanese dancing and music are integral parts of such training.

It is noteworthy that much of the dramatic technique in a kabuki performance is not what the contemporary actors have acquired by themselves, but is the fruit of accumulated efforts contributed by their ancestors for many generations back, and handed down to them by the principle of family inheritance. Hence, there are today families of kabuki actors which go back as far as seventeen generations. For one thing, under the feudalistic social system of the Edo period the veneration of family lineage was almost an unwritten law. For another, the very nature of the kabuki art with its vast requirements of training and experience made such a family system ideal. This system, still fairly rigidly observed today, is perhaps more important than generally considered, for it has made possible to a great extent the preservation of the kabuki art.

There was a time when it was customary for an actor to play only the role in which he excelled. This stimulated an exclusive study of the character of delineation of various types of men and women. Today, such specialization of action is much less practised, the actors generally being quite versatile. There is an exception, however, in the onnagata, or the impersonator of female characters. The secret of the onnagata's beauty as presented on the stage lies perhaps in the fact that it is a feminine beauty which has been created not naturally but artificially through the eyes of men objectively looking at the behavior and psychology of the opposite sex.

In feudal times, kabuki actors, while popular among the general masses, held a very low social status. Today, however, their status has risen to such an extent that some of the distinguished actors have been elected to membership in the Academy of Art of Japan, the highest possible honor to be conferred on an artist.

Every kabuki actor has a special house-identification, called yago, in addition to his regular name. For instance, Kanzaburo Nakamura, Shoroku Onoe, and Utaemon Nakamura have their house names of Nakamuraya, Otowaya, and Narikomaya, respectively. One of the traditional functions of these special names is quite unique. Enthusiastic members of the audience cheer their favorite actor upon his entrance or at certain timely moments during his performance by calling out his house name.

In a kabuki performance, certain persons appear on the stage who are not actors. Especially during the early moments following the opening of the curtain, the audience will notice several strange-looking figures, clad and hooded all in black, taking their places immediately behind the actors. Known as kurogo (man in black), they handle properties on the stage while the curtain is open and serve also as prompters. They are not characters in the play and the audience is supposed to disregard them.

A review of theatrical history of the world shows that an ancient dramatic art, once its form has been stabilized in a near perfect state, has been capable of surviving the test of time even when its literary elements were no longer contemporary.

The truth of this statement is borne out by the present state of kabuki. It does not depict contemporary life in Japan, a country whose whole civilization has undergone a great degree of Westernization. Yet it enjoys wide popularity. A principal reason for this lies in the fact that it is now a crystallized form. Kabuki has thus retained, and seems destined to retain, a place in the nation's pride and affection.

Courtesy of : The International Society for Educational Information, Inc., Tokyo

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