Kabuki, the traditional drama of Japan is more than drama, it is spectacle!
It is a feast for the eyes, a delight for the ears and an occassion for feeling
and expressing emotion. According to legend, kabuki had its origin in the
early seventeenth century when a renegade Shinto priestess (Okuni) and
her troupe of dancers and actors began performing dances in the dry river
beds in the ancient capital of Kyoto. Soon other troupes of female dancers
began to lure audiences with their sensuous performances
as well as their off stage activities.

In the early years, the interests of such acting groups seems to have been more
in sex than in serious dramatic performance. Alarmed by the immorality
of the theater, the government banned all women performers from
the stage in an effort to safeguard the public's morals.

This move radically changed the direction of kabuki, because now, more importance
was placed on skill over beauty and more stress placed on drama than dance.
These changes put kabuki on the path of developing into a dramatic art form
and the ban on women performers resulted in the appearance of the
"onnagata", men who became highly skilled in playing women's roles.
Some of kabuki's greatest actors have gained a large
following by specializing in just such roles

Kabuki was, in many ways, a child of the Genroku era, when the
merchant class emerged as a strong economic force in the urban
areas.Common people soon became enamored of these dramas
with their gaudy and bright costumes, violent actions and strong
emotional tension; the colorful day-long performances attracted
all ranks of society, shop keepers and merchants to samurai.

To appreciate its appeal, one must see kabuki as a fusion into a single form of the arts
of music, dance, acting, literature as well as the graphic arts. Color and motion are
important elements in kabuki; ingenious mechanical devices such as the revolving
stage, trapdoors, and the passageway ('hanamichi"-flower road) that runs directly
through the audience enabled production managers to heighten dramatic effects.

Kabuki had its own Shakespeare in the person of Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725)
who wrote more than one hundred and sixty dramas and puppet plays. His plays dealt
not only with significant historical events but also with the lives of ordinary people
of his time. A favorite theme was the love suicide drama. The plot usually involved
a hero who was either a samurai or townsman and a heroine who was a courtesan
from the "pleasure quarters" ("yoshiwara"). The focus then was on the conflict
between love and duty or "ninjo" (human feelings) and "giri" (social and moral
obligations). Too often, the only solution to this conflict for the lovers was suicide.
This struggle between "ninjo" and "giri" continues to be a constant in Japanese life.

As a "traditional" form of theater, kabuki today faces competition from modern forms
of entertainment like movies and television. Its position as "traditional theater" often
makes it seem "stuffy" to some. Still, the kabuki stage is very much alive today,
being ably maintained by hereditary lines of great actors at the kabuki
theater in Tokyo ("Kabukiza") and elsewhere in Japan.

~ BACK ~~NEXT~