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Kabuki theatre is a traditional form of Japanese Theater that has developed over the last 300 years into the form that audiences can view now. Through many eras and different government laws, Kabuki has been able to maintain a high popularity in Japanese Theater. Kabuki incorporates stylized gestures, movements, and postures as well as bringing out the essence of real emotion and action. Kabuki started out as an all women cast, later changing to both women and men acting, and now today, the audience will see only men performing, even as the roles of women.
Kabuki theatre originated in Kyoto, Japan during the Edo period (1600-1868). Compared to the older forms of art, Kabuki has been appreciated by members of lower social classes, such as the warrior class and the commoners. In around 1600, Okuni, a ceremonial dancer, founded this type of theater by dancing using stylized movements to an audience in Kyoto. Early Kabuki theatre were sketches that contained dancing and were performed by all women. It wasn’t until 1664 that Kabuki plays developed into 2 acts. Since the beginning of Kabuki theatre, the popularity of it had increased causing many rival companies to form.
In 1629, because of the amount of attention that had befallen on the female actors by the male admirers, the government believed that they have corrupted the public’s morals, and consequently restricted women from acting on stage. Even when the ban was lifted, men had perfected the woman’s roles, (known as onnagata), in that there was not any room to incorporate female actresses to the theatre.
With the women not acting, Kabuki theatre turned to the young men of Japan. In 1652, they soon fell into the same fate as the women and young men were banned from performing. Therefore it is now considered men’s kabuki. The changes in Kabuki resulted in having more stress put on the drama aspect of than of the dancing.
In the end of the 17th century, a new period came around, known as the Genroku period. This period is considered to be the renaissance in Japanese culture. In this time, Kabuki formed new stylized movements as well as improved the old ones. Famous Kabuki writers emerged from this era. One famous writer was Chikamatsu Monzaemon, who started off with Kabuki then later went to puppet theatre. The plays he created for the puppet theatre were later adapted to Kabuki theatre. Following after him was Takeda Izumo, the writer of the play “Chushingura”, (an eleven-act Kabuki play about forty-seven followers that avenged their master). The play lasted for one day. Kawatake Mokuami was also another famous writer that incorporated character of the lower class. In the 1960s, almost every play contained a part from one of Mokuami’s 50 original plays. Also in this era, actors, such as, Ichikawa Danjuro and Sakata Tojuro incorporated their style to the Kabuki theatre. Variations of their work are shown in Kabuki plays today.
After the renaissance period, in the early 18th century, the Kabuki’s popularity fell to its lowest. In an effect to the low popularity, the actors began to adapt puppet plays to the stage and in return produced stylized movements that coincided with the puppet’s actions. During this time, the puppet theatre and the Kabuki theatre almost combined with each other. In the late 18th century, the women’s roles changed their universal characteristics. This change occurred because the main location of Kabuki switched from Kyoto and Osaka to Edo. Instead of the common “soft and gentle nature” found in Kyoto and Osaka, it was changed to show the “strong pride and nature of Edo women”. The new characteristics of women roles showed off the beautification of the ghost and murder scenes in the early 19th century. From these famous people and because of the enlightenment of the arts, Kabuki has progressed to what is seen today. Plays during the 18th century ran long, sometimes lasting all day. By 1868, the play’s length shortened to 8 hours. Since World War II, Kabuki Theater has performed 2 plays in one day, each play lasting five hours.
In Kabuki, there are 3 main types of plays. They are as followed: Jidai Kyogen, Sewamono, and Shosugoto plays, respectively, historical background, where the play depicts historical facts, domestic background, where the focus is on the commoners and is more of a realistic nature, and dance plays, where the actors tell a story by dancing. Each play has no exact dramatic form and can contain both comedic and serious elements to them. Most of the plays are melodramatic. They would have climatic moments, but in effect of that, there would be strong scenes but the connection between each scene is vague. Every now and then there were completely comedic plays, or also called dance plays, that would last for one act.
Invented 300 years ago, the revolving stage has been the most popular stage found in Kabuki theatre. The rotating stage contains many gadgets such as trapdoors where the actors can appear and disappear. This type of stage also makes it easier to change a scene without interrupting the plot.
The actors are trained as young as the age of six or seven and play children’s roles on stage. This way they get both the study and the practice of Kabuki. The actors are taught to speak in a monotonous voice, which are accompanied by traditional Japanese instruments. Most of the actors come from families that have been part of tradition of Kabuki actors. Some actors can trace their ancestor’s involvement in Kabuki theatre back 17 generations.
Over the 300 years, dances have maintained an important role in Kabuki. Through government oppression during the Edo period, World War II, having the effect of many actors leaving to defend their country, the censorship following the war, and competing against the different entertainment such as television and the movies, Kabuki has continued to thrive.
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This page was last updated July 25th, 1999.
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