KABUKI: Traditional Theatrical Arts

Kabuki is one of Japan's traditional theatrical arts. Its inception goes back to the latter part of the 16th century and, with extensive and continuous evolution, it has now been perfected into a state of classical refinement. Though not as flourishing as it once was, the kabuki theater retains a wide popularity among the people, and is in fact drawing quite large audiences even now.

During the period generally referred to as the Edo Era, during which much of the development of kabuki took place, distinction between the warrior class and the commoners was more rigidly observed than at any other time in Japan's history. The art of kabuki was cultivated mainly by the merchants in those days. They had become increasingly powerful economically, but had to remain socially inferior as they belonged to the commoner class. To them kabuki was perhaps most significant as the artistic means by which to express their emotions under such conditions. Thus, the fundamental themes of kabuki plays are conflicts between humanity and the feudalistic system. It is largely due to this humanistic quality of the art that it gained such an enduring popularity among the general public of those days and remains this way today.A unique feature of the kabuki art, and perhaps the most significant and in keeping with the kabuki spirit of unusualness, is the fact that it has no actresses whatsoever. All female parts are played by male impersonators known as onnagata. The players of the kabuki drama in its primitive stage were principally women, and with the increasing popularity of kabuki, many of the actresses began to attract undue attention from male admirers. The authorities felt that this would lead to a serious demoralization of the public and in 1629 the theatrical appearance of women was officially banned.Until kabuki, the people of Japan had never seen theater of such color, glamour, excitement and general extraordinariness.

In these qualities, perhaps no theater elsewhere in the world can excel the kabuki drama.There are about 300 plays in the conventional kabuki repertoire. To these, new plays are now being added by men of letters who are not directly associated with the kabuki.kabuki plays can be classified into the following three groups
1) Plays adapted from noh and kyogen dramas
A substantial number of comic dance-plays were adapted from kyogen, such as Migawari Zazen. Dance-plays of a more serious nature, such as Kanjincho and Musume Dojoji, were adapted from regular noh plays.
2) Plays adapted from the puppet theater
In these plays a large part of' the text is derived almost verbatim from their originals. They are still performed in a unique style particular to the puppet theater. A singer and his accompanist sit at the right of the stage on a dais in full view of the audience, as in the puppet theater.

3) Plays intended for kabuki
These plays were written and produced exclusively for the kabuki theater. Among them are a considerable number of excellent dramatic works such as Kagotsurube.
Theater and Stage

Kabuki theaters in Japan today are built, without exception, in Western style, insofar as their building and staging facilities and accoutrements are concerned. They have retained, however, some of the significant features of the traditional kabuki theater, such as the hanamichi and the mawari-butai.
Every kabuki actor has a special house-identification, called yago, in addition to his regular name. For instance, Kanzaburo Nakamura, Shoroku Onoe, and Utaemon Nakamura have their house names of Nakamuraya, Otowaya, and Narikomaya, respectively. One of the traditional functions of these special names is quite unique. Enthusiastic members of the audience cheer their favorite actor upon his entrance or at certain timely moments during his performance by calling out his house name. In a kabuki performance, certain persons appear on the stages who are not actors. Especially during the early moments following the opening of the curtain, the audience will notice several strange-looking figures, clad and hooded all in black, taking their places immediately behind the actors. Known as kurogo (man in black), they handle properties on the stage while the curtain is open and serve also as prompters. They are not characters in the play and the audience is supposed to disregard them.


Kabuki in Present-Day Japan

A review of theatrical history of the world shows that an ancient dramatic art, once its form has been stabilized in a near perfect state, has been capable of surviving the test of time even when its literary elements were no longer contemporary. The truth of this statement is borne out by the present state of kabuki. It does not depict contemporary life in Japan, a country whose whole civilization has undergone a great degree of Westernization. Yet it enjoys wide popularity. A principal reason for this lies in the fact that it is now a crystallized form. Kabuki has thus retained, and seems destined to retain, a place in the nation's pride and affection.