Kabuki Theater, Theater, College Term Papers.com


		Data Bases
		• Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism?

		Links
		• Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com

		Free Essays
		• Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers

Search Lots of Essays

Back to Subjects - Theater

Kabuki Theater

Kabuki Theater Kabuki Theater was created around the year 1600. It was almost around the same time that the English began to form colonies on the American continent. The history of Kabuki is as long as the history of the United States. Kabuki was created by a shrine maiden named Okuni. Okuni was from Izumo Shrine. Her performances in the rive beds of the ancient capital of Kyoto caused a sensation. Soon their scale increased and a number of competing companies started. Early Kabuki was much different from what is seen today. It was consisted mostly of large group dances performed by women. Most of these women acted as prostitutes off stage. Finally the government banned women from the stage in an effort to protect public ‘morals’. This would become just one, in the long history of government restrictions placed on the theater. This ban on women, though, is often seen as a good move. This was because it required the importance of skill over beauty. It also put more stress on drama than dance. This put Kabuki theater on the path to become a style of theater. With the need for female representations in plays, ‘onnagatas’ were developed. ‘Onnagatas’ were female role specialists, in lowest terms- men who played women. The last quarter of the 17th century is referred to as the Genroku period and was a time of renaissance in the culture of Japanese0 towns-people. It was a time when both aristocratic and common arts flourished. Since the West and China were cut off from the outside world for over 50 years, many new art forms were introduced during this time. With Kabuki as the main form of theatrical entertainment for commoners, there was an outburst of creativity. During this period the styles that would be the foundation of Kabuki were created. The playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon and actors like Ichikawa Danjuro and Sakata Tojuro were huge contributors to Kabuki theater. It was also during this period that the close relationship between Kabuki and the Bunraku puppet theater began. The two would continue to grow while influencing each other. The decades after the Genroku period saw numerous cycles of creative periods followed by refinement. In the early 18th century, the rise of skilled playwrights in the Bunraku puppet theater helped it to deprive Kabuki of popularity for a time. I t was remarked by one observer that it seemed as though "there was no Kabuki." Actors responded by adapting puppet plays for the stage and creating stylized movements to mimic the puppets themselves. The late 18th century saw a trend towards realism and the switch of the cultural center from Kyoto and Osaka to Edo. One consequence of this was the change of tastes in onnagata acting. While onnagata trained in Kyoto who had the soft, gentle nature of that city had been valued before, now audiences preferred those who showed the strong pride and nature of Edo women. An increasing audience desire for decadence as seen in the ghost plays and beautification of murder scenes marked early 19th century. The opening of Japan to the West in 1868 affected Kabuki and the rest of the country profoundly. Just when it thought it was free from government restrictions; Kabuki was faced with the challenge to adapt to the changing world. Actors like Ichikawa Danjuro IX tried to raise the reputation of Kabuki. Since its beginning, the reputation had been seen as base by the upper classes. While others like Onoe Kikugoro V worked to adapt old styles to new tastes. The defining moment of the period, and a symbol of the success of their efforts, was a command performance before Emperor Meiji. Though Kabuki survived government oppression during the Edo period, the loss of many young actors in World War II and censorship by occupation forces after the war, it faces its most difficult enemies in modern forms of entertainment like movies and television. Its position as a "traditional" form of theater often makes it seem stuffy, and people are not as familiar with the special peculiarities of Kabuki as they used to be. Still, popular actors continue to bring audiences into the theater and there has recently been a "Kabuki boom" centered around young people. Kabuki continues to be a form of entertainment enjoyed by a wide range of people, just as it has been for 400 years. The Genroku period was also the time when most of the conventions and styles of Kabuki, including play structure, character types, the art of the onnagata, took form. Actors were arranged in a strict hierarchy, a hierarchy that determined which sort of character they would play each month. The head "tachiyaku" actor at the theater received the main role, while the star onnagata played the main woman role. Beneath came the waka-onnagata, or young onnagata, the villains and the comic actors. Among "tachiyaku" male character roles, two prominent acting styles emerged in this period. In Edo, presently Tokyo, Ichikawa Danjuro I created "aragoto," or rough style. This pompous, exaggerated style of acting was often used for characters of superhuman strength and Danjuro developed a specialized form of make-up, known as "kumadori," as well as movements and ways of delivering lines to emphasize their might. Also created by Danjuro were "mie." These poses, where the actor glares fiercely with one eye crossed, became a trademark of Kabuki and are often used to dramatic effect in ukiyoe woodblock prints of actors. These "aragoto" characters had a strong sense of justice and fought against strong villains that advanced their own causes at the cost of those too weak to protect themselves. In this sense, "aragoto" was seen as an embodiment of the animosity of the commoners towards the ruling samurai class, and actors where often thought of as gods when they played "aragoto" roles. In Kansai, Sakata Tojuro perfected a style of acting known as "wagoto" or soft style. While the "aragoto" of Danjuro was a hit in Edo, still very much a frontier town with a large military presence, Kyoto and Osaka, collectively known as "kamigata," had histories of over a 1000 years and were dominated by merchant culture. "Wagoto" appealed to the refined tastes of the kamigata audiences. "Wagoto" characters were often the sons of rich merchants that had fallen in love with beautiful courtesans. Having spent mast amounts of money to visit their lovers, they would be disowned by their families and forced to wear kimono made of paper. Despite their sunken state, though, they never lost their own self-perception of living in the lap of luxury, giving the role a comic touch as well. Bibliography:

Word Count: 1104