ASIAN THEATREJAPAN

early period & medieval Japan

EARLY FORMS

• Yamato Period (300–710 C.E.)

• masks, ritual

• Gigaku (died out by Edo period) and Bugaku dance forms

• kagura dances

TRADITIONAL THEATREFORMS

NO (NOH)BUNRAKU

KABUKI

NO (NOH)

• earliest of Japanese Traditional Theatre forms- 14th century C.E.

• incorporates singing, dancing, acting, and mime

• connected to Shinto spiritualism & Buddhism

NOH STAGE

• main playing space under a temple like roof

• a bridge- actors enter from dressing room

• audience on two sides

• placement of musicians, chorus

NOH STAGE

BUNRAKU

• puppet theatre

• narrators chant the story

• shamisen music (plucked instrument)

early Edo period (1603–1868)

BUNRAKU

• complex movements- three puppeteers used to move one puppet

KABUKI• first performed by women -

a shinto priestess - Okuni of Izumo

• women outlawed from performing (1629)

• since 1629 -tradition of men playing all the roles

• shares repertoire of stories/scripts with bunraku

early 1600s C.E.

PLAYS- 2 TYPES

• jidaimono or “historical plays”

• sewamono or “domestic” plays - recount the fates of ordinary people

Shibai Ukie ("A Scene from A Play") by Masanobu Okumura (1686–1764), depicting Edo Ichimura-za theater in the early 1740s

MAIN CHARACTERSOnnagata – female characters portrayed by male actors

Wagoto – male characters played with a feminine/gentle acting style such as romantic leads; close to that of the onnagata roles and more fluid in comparison to the aragoto roles

Aragoto – translates as "rough stuff or business" and refers to the super heroes and villains in kabuki plays, wearing heavily padded costumes and brightly colored face makeup; performed with a broad and bombastic style - dynamic kata.source:

Kabuki

INSPIRED- UKIYO-E

• multi-colored wood block printing

• combines illustration, carving, printing

• popular subjects - landscapes, beautiful women, kabuki characters

• KISS Kabukisource: http://ukiyoeproject.com/project_en.html

https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/jacult.arts.drama.macbeth/japanese-culture-scene-from-macbeth-kabuki-style/#.WeblNzOZORs

https://ed.ted.com/lessons/kabuki-the-people-s-dramatic-art-amanda-mattes

Kabuki Actorhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdLPtdzunxg

Kabuki, the formhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlTQUzPZU8Y

Bunrakuhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4G68civvo8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBslstUPKdk

Noh Theatrehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2Oi3C4G1WI