AGENDA - Japan
Things To Get:
– Kabuki Reading
– Guided Notes
– Piece of notebook paper for opener
Things to Do:
– Opener: Japanese Theater with questions
– Notes: Overview of Japan
– Lecture: Japanese Kabuki Theater
– Video Questions: Make-up and the Actors
Technique
– Study Guide review – Non-Western World
Opener - Kabuki Questions
1. Kabuki (Japanese Theater) developed in 16th century Japan due
to a division in what two social classes?
2. Why were females not allowed to act in Kabuki Theater?
3. Kabuki can be described as a spectacular blend of what three
things (which actually make up it’s name)?
4. Acting in Kabuki Theater is seen as what type of profession?
5. What was the year of the first Kabuki tour of the United States?
6. Name the two basic acting styles of Kabuki
7. Define the above styles.
8. What is Kumadori and how does it translate into English?
9. What is an Onnagata?
10. Name the three instruments used in Kabuki to help tell the
story.
Opener - Kabuki Answers (restated)
1. Kabuki (Japanese Theater) developed in 16th century Japan due
to a division in the warrior and commoner classes.
2. Females were not allowed to act in Kabuki due to prostitution
charges.
3. Kabuki is a spectacular blend of singing, dancing, and acting.
4. Acting in Kabuki Theater is seen as a family profession.
5. The year of the first Kabuki tour in the US was 1960.
6. The two basic styles are arragoto and wagato
7. Arragtoto – rough business/masculine; wagato – soft
style/feminine
8. Make-up, kuma – lines or wrinkles; dori - draw
9. Onnagata are men portraying female characters.
10. The three instruments used in Kabuki are the drum, flute and
shamisen.
Notes - Overview of Japan
• Organized into periods named for the Emperor
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Jomon Period (Pre-historic)
Azuchi-Momoyama Period
Muromachi Period
Edo Period
Meji restoration
Taisho Period
Showa Period
5 Characteristics of Japanese Culture
-Conformist
-Heavily influenced by Chinese thought/culture
-Reserved
-Minimalist
-Process over product
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
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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
Video Questions 1, 2, 3 use KET Video
Make up, Costumes, Actors Technique
Video 4: Kabuki Make up
(Turn down volume before video starts!)
Kabuki Style Make up Video Example
Create Your Own Kumadori Style Make up
http://www.glopac.org/Jparc/CosMask/kumadori.html
Exit Slip – Kabuki Theatre of Japan
1. Identify and explain on example of the actors technique.
2. Who applies the make-up on a Kabuki actor?
3. What is the relationship of the character to the make-up in Kabuki;
what does the make-do?
4. Where did Kabuki first get its start?
5. What was the social perception of this art form at the beginning?
6. Define Onnagata. Does this role still exist today?
7. Who was Okuni?
8. What is the main feature in the Kabuki stage that is crucial to the
performance and is NOT found in Western style theatre?
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
colin.broderick@fayette.kyschools.us