Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
com).
Today, kabuki retains a number of leading plays and theatrical groups. The conventional kabuki repertoire has about 300 plays, although others are being added. Play types range from the shosa-goto (dance-drama), to the jidai-mono (historical drama), and the sewa-mono (domestic drama) (University of Texas at Austin)
There are three main groups of kabuki plays. Many kabuki plays were adapted from the puppet theater (such as Chushingura and Tsubosaka-Dera), or the no and kyogen dramas (such as Zazen, Kanjincho, and Musume Dojoji. Kagotsurube is among plays written especially for kabuki theater (University of Texas at Austin).
Kabuki performers Nakamura Kichiemon II, Sawamura Sojuro, Ichikawa Sadanji, Nakamura Matsue and Nakamura Kasho perform with the 70-member Shochiku Company of Tokyo. Of these performers, Nakamura Kichiemon II is considered to be one of Kabuki's strongest actors. Director Nakamura Utaemon is considered to be a "living national treasure" (Lo).
Today, Kabuki presentations in America influence the character of American theater. The Grand Kabuki Theater of Japan commonly performs outside of Japan, in a number of American venues. For example, Tokyo's Shochiku Company has performed Tsuri Onna ("Fishing for a Wife") and the drama Shunkan in Houston, Texas. Production of Kabuki in the United States often involves the use of simultaneous interpretation devices (Lo).
A number of the different types of kabuki theater have influenced American theater patrons. For example, performances by the Tokyo's Shochiku Company in Texas featured the shosa-goto (dance drama) and jidai mono ("historical drama") (Lo).
Generally, American theater patrons have responded favorably to kabuki theater.
In 1979, Clive Barnes of the New York Post noted, "What is the fascination of Kabuki, it's ritual and magic? I do not understand a single word of Japanese... But this theater, with its traditions and remembrances, simply thrills me" (cited in Lo).
Western culture has also had a profound impact on kabuki theater. Notes Ichimura Manjiro Presents Kabuki for Everyone, "The opening of Japan to the West in 1868 affected Kabuki...
In doing this, individuals learn that different societies have made significant theatrical and artistic contributions to their cultures. This, in turn, can help dispel preconceptions that a specific society or culture is less advanced. Similarly, it can create a respect for different artistic and cultural interpretations and traditions.
In conclusion, the interaction of American theater and culture and Japanese kabuki theater provides a real opportunity for understanding the importance of theater of diversity. Theater of diversity can help improve understanding of different cultures, thus increasing tolerance. In addition, an understanding of American theater and Japanese kabuki theater provides a strong cultural contrast that can only increase creativity among theater in both traditions.
Works Cited
Ichimura Manjiro Presents Kabuki for Everyone. Kabuki: A Brief History. 21 October 2004. http://www.fix.co.jp/kabuki/about/history/overview.html
Japan-Guide.com. Theater - Kabuki. 21 October 2004. http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2090.html
Lo, Tamara. Graceful stars of Japan's Kabuki Theater take over Jones Hall. The Daily Cougar, 1996. 21 October 2004. http://www.stp.uh.edu/vol62/16/Lifestyl/life1/life1.html
Nakamura, Matazo. Kabuki, backstage, onstage: An actor's life. Kodansha International, 1990.
Spencer, Michael. Kabuki Story 2001 Japan Festival Award. 22 October 2004.
Project devised and co-ordinated http://www.lightbrigade.demon.co.uk/
University of Texas at Austin. KABUKI: Traditional Theatrical Arts. Courtesy of: The International Society for Educational Information, Inc., Tokyo. 21 October 2004. http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/countries/japan/kabuki.html
Works Cited
Ichimura Manjiro Presents Kabuki for Everyone. Kabuki: A Brief History. 21 October 2004. http://www.fix.co.jp/kabuki/about/history/overview.html
Japan-Guide.com. Theater - Kabuki. 21 October 2004. http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2090.html
Lo, Tamara. Graceful stars of Japan's Kabuki Theater take over Jones Hall. The Daily Cougar, 1996. 21 October 2004. http://www.stp.uh.edu/vol62/16/Lifestyl/life1/life1.html
Nakamura, Matazo. Kabuki, backstage, onstage: An actor's life. Kodansha International, 1990.
Project devised and co-ordinated http://www.lightbrigade.demon.co.uk/
University of Texas at Austin. KABUKI: Traditional Theatrical Arts. Courtesy of: The International Society for Educational Information, Inc., Tokyo. 21 October 2004. http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/countries/japan/kabuki.html
Kabuki In the country of Japan the art of Kabuki has been popular for centuries, dating back to the year 1603 when Izumo no Okuni started performing a new form of dance which was inspired by dramatic plays being written both by Japanese playwrights and which were being imported to the country through trade with the western world. Traditional Kabuki performances were highly dramatic and featured elaborate makeup and hairstyles for
Japanese Kabuki Theater Japan's classical theater comprises four major forms i.e. noh, kyogen, bunraku puppet theater, and Kabuki. Japanese Kabuki Theater emerged during the Edo period, which was a period of more than 250 years of peace i.e. between 1600 and 1868. The theater is a reflection of the merchant culture that characterized the Edo period as reflected in its magnificent costumes and scenery. Moreover, the influence of this era on
Classical and Contemporary Dancing -- Dancing of stylization, dancing of tradition, dancing of innovation, dancing of continuity Chapter 5 of Gerald Jonas's Dancing: The Pleasure, Power, and Art of Movement illustrates that classical dance, or traditional forms of 'taught' performed dance have some very similar qualities in very different cultural contexts such as Japan and Europe. For example, both classical ballet theater and Japanese Kabuki, a traditional Japanese form of dance
relationship of music and culture and history in Japan. The music of Japan is as rich and diverse as the culture of Japan's people, and it has a long place in Japan's history. Several different musical forms and instruments make up Japan's musical history, and it has ancient beginnings in the earliest history of Japan in many cases. While the Japanese have held on to their musical past, they
Their primary aim was to destabilize existing orders and this is what they accomplished with arts forms such as butoh. "Liminal entities are neither here nor there; they are betwixt and between the positions assigned and arrayed by law, custom, convention, and ceremonial" (Turner 1969, 94). Hijikata, the man responsible for creating Butoh, also upheld Artaudian views on life and humanity. Keeping in view the traditional Japanese thinking of a
Art India: Unknown artist. Unknown date. This is a painting of Vedic art, depicting Krishna eating lunch with his friends. It was commissioned for an Indian monastery. Culturally, this form of art depicts a story from the life of Krishna. Krishna is usually depicted as an adult, so this is somewhat unusual, but in this case as a child from folklore. The story would probably be well-known to the audience at the