Kabuki
Presented by:
Sydney Tucker, Howard Murray, Kwame Moffett-Knight, and Ashton Washington
 Created
by a woman named Okuni from
Kyoto
 She is an entertainer who is best known in
history for founding a Japanese dance style
 Kabuki Comes from the Japanese
 Performed by men and women
 Popular from Japanese musical drama
 Influenced by Noh theater
 There were several actors involved in Kabuki
such as: Chikamatsu Monzaemon, Tsuruya
Nanmboku , and Kawatake Mokuami .
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Kabuki means song and dance technique derived from the
meaning “tilted”
Described as “actor-centered sensory theater”
Involves elaborating designed costumes, eye watching
make-up, outlandish wigs, and exaggerated actions
Traditionally for upper class
Incorporates larger than life gestures and musical
enhancement
A days performance was dived in two or three segments
Inspired by activities of Kabukimono
Western style seats
The make-up helps the audience to understand the
character’s role
 Founded
in the early 17th century
 The Kabuki stage gradually evolved out of
the Noh stage and a draw curtain was added.
 The revolving stage was first used in 1758
 In 1629 women were banned from the stage.
 In November 2005 Kabuki was designed by
UNESCO
 Told historical events from the Edo period
91600-1868)
 Started close to 400 years ago
 Takes
place in Japan
 Performed in big cities like Edo, present day
Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto.
 The first recognized Kabuki show was
performed in Kyoto
 Okuni’s
Kabuki was the first dramatic
entertainment
 Its not meant to look like real like
 Today people globally are interested in
Kabuki
 One of four forms of Japanese classical
theater and Kabuki is one of them
 There are three main categories of Kabuki
is Jidaimono, Sewamono, Shosagoto
Traditional Japanese masked drama
 Evolved from Shinto rites
 Features dance and songs
 Not only is Noh told through a story but singing
plays a big factor
 A mask is usually worn which is really important
 Performed on a square shaped stage. Each side is
about 5.4 meters long.
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Kabuki went from being performed by men and women to
just women.
The performance was based on historical events in
Japanese history
Set in the context of Gempei war
The focus on the samuri class
Traditional Japanese theatre includes Kabuki, Noh, and
bunraku
Noh was performed by upper class and sometimes for
common audiences
In Noh performances mask are worn
The most popular performance was Kabuki but soon grew
out opposition to the Noh perforance.
 Bunraku
is a puppet theatre while Kabuki
uses singing and dancing.
 A samisen-playing chorus are the main
elements of bunraku
 Puppets were 3-4 foot tall
 The head of the puppet is colorful while
everything else is black
 Kabuki uses actual people and they’re entire
outfit is colorful and attracts attention.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3IHdm2
Tf8g
 http://factsanddetails.com/Japan
 http://www.yamasa.org/acjs/network/englis
h/newsletter/things_japanese_18.html
 http://japan-guaide.com/e/e2090.html
 http://www.livetaos.com