Kabuki

Theatre
Overview
Caitlin Callahan
 Glossary

KABUKI ( 歌舞伎 ) - A theatrical form originating in Japan. Incorporates singing

( 歌 , uta), dancing ( 舞 , mai), and skill ( 伎 , ki).
MUROMACHI ( 室町 ) PERIOD - 1333 - 1573
AZUCHI-MOMOYAMA ( 安土桃山 ) PERIOD - 1573 - 1603
EDO ( 江戸 ) PERIOD - 1603 to 1868
- GENROKU ( 元禄 ) ERA - 1688 to 1704
MEIJI ( 明治 ) PERIOD - 1868 to 1912
 When looking at
kabuki, it is important
to view the craft with
its history and the
history of nō theatre in
Japan in mind.
 NŌ
- Nō theatre conveys a story through movement
and the appearances of the characters
- Shows utilize little dialogue and rely on the
audience’s preexisting knowledge of the story it’s
telling
- Mostly sung through
- Developed from traditional and ritual dance
practices (roughly 12th/13th centuries)
- Types of plays Nō
- God/Kami Plays: story of a Shintō shrine
- Fighting Plays/Shura Mono: story of
warriors
- Wig Plays/Katsura Mono: story with a
female protagonist
- Present Day Play/Gendai Mono: story
without supernatural elements
- Madwoman Play/Kyōjo Mono: story in
which the protagonist is driven insane after
losing a lover or child Kyōgen
- Final or Demon Play/ Kiri or Kichiku Interlude
Mono: story with demons and other
supernatural beings
 NŌ
- Roles of Nō actors:
- Shite, or principal actor
- Waki, or subordinate actor
- Kyōgen actors, who perform a comedic
sketch inbetween Nō performances
- Tsure, or an attendant
- Kokata, or boy
- Tomo, or non-speaking role
- A musical chorus is present with:
- A flute (nōkan)
- A small hand drum (ko-tsuzumi)
- A large hand drum (ō-tsuzumi)
- A large drum (taiko)
- A chorus of 8-10 singers (jiutai)
- Each form of song and dialogue has a name
- Sashi, a recitation
- Uta, a song
- Rongi, a debate between the shite and the
jiutai
- Kiri, the finale Nō at the
University
of Illinois
 NŌ
- Roughly 2,000 Nō plays have survived, but only around 230 of them are still in the modern
repertoire
- Kakyō (1424) by Zeami Motokiyo became a guide for acting practices in Nō
- The first main principal of Nō is monomane, which instructs performance with a lens of
imitation, truthfulness, identification, essentialization, and limitation or choice
- The second main principal of Nō is hana or, the flower. If a performer has mastered the
concept of hana, then they have achieved a depth to their acting that allows them to
continue surprising the audience and keeps their acting fresh.
- The third main principal of Nō is kokoro, or heart. “Encompasses such things as feeling and
emotion, soul and spirit, mind and the objective knowing process, consciousness and self,
intent and will, a pure and nonconscious mind, and a spiritual state representing the deepest
levels of total self.”
- The fourth main principal of Nō is that of yūgen. “Yūgen is the beauty of seeing such an
ideal person go through an intense suffering as a result of being human.”
- The fifth and final main principal of Nō is that of Rōjaku, the “quiet beauty of old age”

Wooden
carving of
Zeami
Motokiyo
 KYŌGEN
- Kyōgen is a comedic form of Japanese theatre
- Hon-Kyōgen are performed between
presentations of multiple nō plays. When the
term kyōgen is used, one is typically referring
to hon-kyōgen.
- Ai-Kyōgen are performed within the interludes
of nō plays. These are integral to the nō plays
that they are a part of. Often abbreviated to just
ai.
- Kyōgen usually feature 2-3 actors playing out
clever and conversational dialogue in order to
lighten the mood after a bleak performance.
- Ai are typically performed by one actor and are
used to move the plot of a nō play along.
- Kyōgen utilizes clever language and expressive
gestures to tell a comedic story

Typical plots kyōgen plays

 KABUKI
- Written with the characters ka ( 歌 ) for song, bu
( 舞 ) for dance and, ki ( 伎 ) for skill
- Kabuki is more about displaying the actors skill
than a literary form
- Popularized by a dancer named Okuni
- She and her troupe of female performers
traveled Japan, dancing and acting
- Her performances were created for
common people, which was uncommon at
the time
- Due to the mature nature of the
performances (and the fact that most of
the performers were prostitutes), the
government banned women from
performing in 1629
- Men took their place and continued to
perform kabuki plays
- Over time, kabuki became revered as a
high art
- As kabuki grew to be more sophisticated, so did
the stories that the plays told
 KABUKI
- Nō and Kyōgen were exclusive to nobility and
samurai, but Kabuki was open to all
- Kabuki utilizes more loose movement and is
extravagant compared to the subtleties of nō
- There are no actresses, the men who play
female roles are called Onnagata
- Kabuki performers often broke the fourth wall,
calling upon audience members for a response
- The two most common types of plays were…
- Jidaimono - The historical play
- Sewamono - The domestic play
- These plays would be performed one after the
other and ended with a dance finale (Ōgiri
Shosagoto)
- Though most kabuki plays were meant to be
entertaining, many included a lesson to teach
the audience
- Dance is a very important part of kabuki
- All movement is highly stylized
A QUICK
VIDEO
 KABUKI SETS
Honbutai: the stage
Shimote: the left side of the stage
Kamite: the right side of the stage
Mawaributai: a revolving turntable in the middle of the stage
Seri: trapdoors that can raise and lower actors and props
Naraku: the basement below the stage
Kuromisu: a room on the shimote side of the stage in which music is played
Yuka: an area on the kamite side on the 2nd floor of the stage where narration takes place.
Joshiki-Maku: the curtain
Hanamichi: a walkway stretching from the shimote side of the stage through the audience to the
edge of the theatre
Suppon: a small seri that raises or lowers a certain part of the hanamichi
Agemaku: a curtain the is hung on the audience’s side of the hanamichi
KABUKI SETS
KUMADORI, OR KABUKI MAKEUP
- A white base is almost always used
- Sometimes a light brown (for spirits) or
pink base (for minor villains) is used
- Red is used to signify a heroic character
- Blue is used to signify a villain
- A character may have red and blue makeup to
signify a fallen hero or a humorous villain
- Onnagata makeup is very simple in comparison

Common makeup for

Onnagata

Ipponguma: Common for Kugeare: Common for villains

heroic roles
 WORKS CITED
https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/kabuki-theatre-00163

Tsubaki, Andrew T. “The performing arts of sixteenth-century Japan: A prelude to kabuki.”

Educational Theatre Journal, vol. 29, no. 3, 1977, p. 299, https://doi.org/10.2307/3206176.

Brazell, Karen, and Benito Ortolani. “The Japanese theatre: From Shamanistic Ritual to contemporary
pluralism.” Journal of Japanese Studies, vol. 18, no. 2, 1992, p. 628, https://doi.org/10.2307/132856.

https://www.the-noh.com/en/world/kyogen.html

https://youtu.be/4fqC-u3g4uc?si=6MznZ4cKxUkxmFhF

https://youtu.be/YVARAMARvk8?si=4Kn_GCvvuL0W9s-n

https://www.britannica.com/art/Kabuki

https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2090.html

https://www2.ntj.jac.go.jp/unesco/kabuki/en/stage/index.html

https://www2.ntj.jac.go.jp/dglib/contents/learn/edc25/en/kumadori-makeup/types.html