Kabuki+of+Japan

= = =Kabuki=

Kabuki actor Ennosuke lll demonstrates his exceptional talent as an actor in the video below.

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**__Kanjincho__ with English explanation of the dramatic action**

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media type="youtube" key="4q1MPwD7zCI" height="344" width="425" media type="youtube" key="kP4TdEMrNuo" height="344" width="425" Notes 9/28/09

-Curtain is pulled aside by a stage hand to reveal the performers in tableau -unlike modern theater with realism, the actors are the focus with stylized gestures and exaggerated vocals -18 plays in the kabuki canon -Arigato- plays about ruffians -costumes are overtly large to show heroism -over 300 years old, began as a popular drama -Grand Kabuki Za - the kabuki theatre of Japan -makeup highly developed art - kumadori -exaggerates facial features -colorful music, sculpture like poses -stylized fighting, highly choreographed -much of kabuki was taken from puppet theatre, so the gestures are much like them -stage right has a slanted wall for the musicians -walking ceremoniously - hanamichi -costumes weigh as much as 50 pounds -kabuki dance - buyo- some elements taken from Noh and Bunraku - costume emphasizes grace of movement with sleeves and skirts -everything is played to the audience - it should be appeal to the audience -everything was done by actors - no scenographers or directors -Dojoji - play about a woman scorned by a priest; she then chases him to the temple -erotic love important in this style of theatre -kokin- actors assistants, sit with back to the audience, fix costumes mid-performance -onmigata- male actors who play females, thought to be able to better portray femininity than women -roles played by the same actor - flexibility required -kata - a technique of laughing -geta- tall shoes to keep costumes off the ground (as tall as anything the Greeks might have worn) -Kabuki developed at the same time as Shakespeare -at the beginning of Kabuki, the entire theatre was lit at the same level -started as the dance of a prostitute, Izumo-no-Okuni, in a dry riverbed -rulers got nervous because warriors would rather watch Kabuki than fight, so female troupes outlawed -troupes of boys, turned into prostitution -shaved head is because the forelocks were considered attractive and removing them kept the performance from being sensual -military plays, followed by sentimental plays (domestic and love affairs) - transferred to the Banraku -playwrights were writing for both Banraku and Kabuki -the actors wanted control over what happened in the theatre - it all centers on the actor -In Bunraku, it is more about the singers who sing the stories than the puppeteers
 * red - justice and bravery
 * blue - evil

Notes 9/30/09 -transferred information from father to son -social mores are strictly prescribed in Japanese culture, so kabuki is a way to express the unexpressable -kabuki theatres surrounded by tea houses -ukiyoe - kabuki paintings which begin in the 18th century -some of the great Japanese art in museums around the world is ukiyoe

10/2 -Kabuki actors spend years perfecting vocal patterns -vocal styles are based on chanting and singing -each character has a typical way of speaking -young girl-relatively high voice, seems hesitant and timid with the pauses -wife of a samurai - middle aged woman, lower voice than the younger woman, seems more deliberate than the young girl -samurai - evil makes the voice deep and menacing, allowing resonance at specific points -young man - handsome young lover - played in a refined style, effeminate to the Western eye, higher voice -old lady - almost the natural male voice of the actor -refined samurai - refined manner of speaking -Kabuki actors study classical chant and singing, narrative accompaniment to theatre -Rounding of words, extension of words, almost singing within the word -the middle age woman character uses the natural break in the voice to create a rusty tone -The na at the end of lines gives a soft, feminine line -Japanese has no stress accent, which allows the Kabuki actor to extend the line in a way that is difficult in English -the point of a Kabuki performance is to get ahold of the strength and passion in the lines through the intonation of the lines, in the gut -the vocal placement seems to be more at the top of the mouth than forward -older women use more range -centering the voice in the stomach -Kabuki visually and vocally seems to point to the theatre of Artaud

10/5 -Ennosuke III - actor being followed in the film - his life outside of the theatre -quickness o fmakeup application shows the skill of training and discipline -Kabuki actors cut off their eyebrows for female roles -Ennosuke began at an early age - his grandfather was Ennosuke II -Name changes for actors occur onstage facing the audience -makeup is changed through thin pieces of cloth -10 characters, 5 hours, twice a day - physically demanding -reviving old drama and presenting new insights -joruri - single singer was incorporated into Kabuki from the puppet theatre -musicians follow the actor in this tradition because the actor is the primary concern of Kabuki -Use of media to condense plays, keeping sections for the stage which enhance and heighten the emotions and actions -dengaku- field drama- the forerunner of Kabuki -just watch, then reproduce - no notes, but understanding through the body -acrobatics are a part of Kabuki -children are always considered beautiful in Kabuki -you must be born into a Kabuki family in order to act in a Kabuki family

Kanjincho - 10/14/09 -Noh theatre - haskigakari - walkway from the mirror room to the stage. Called hanamichi in Kabuki, flower pathway. -Katashagiri - special flute which preceeds Kabuki plays which indicate they come from the Noh- pine board play
 * particular type of pine tree painted on the back of the stage
 * gravel space with stones around the walkway and stage; water sprinked on it to bring forth fresh smell
 * 3 pine trees planted along the walkway
 * Come into an environment that is fresh and warm
 * Chorus and subsidiary people come through the mouse door at the side of the stage
 * In Kanjincho the set of the play has been adapted to approximate the Noh stage since the play was adapted from a Noh play
 * Togashi is associated with the waki pillar, so when he heads stage left, that's the approximate position he would have on the Noh stage
 * Waki announces who he is, what he's doing, where he's going. Togashi does that at the beginning of Kanjincho
 * Underneath the Noh stage are pots that are angled so that when the actor stamps, it creates a larger vibration
 * Three steps going down from the Noh stage have no relevance today but when the theatres were out of doors the steps were used by the actors to walk down and move toward the chief patron who sat in a pavilion opposite the stage
 * In Noh the Shite is chief character.
 * Waki stands in for the audience - asks the questions who is this person?
 * Tsure - sidekick people - guards
 * Shite- chief character - Benkei in Kanjincho
 * Kokata - head honcho with the big hat on - played by a child in the Noh - the whole idea is that the central attention should go on the shite - a child reduces the impact of the Kokata
 * Noh - the dance of the Shite is of the greatest importance
 * In the Kabuki, the play is far more divided among the actors, but Benkei is the central role in Kanjincho
 * Real characters in history
 * First performed in 1840 - first of the plays derived from the Noh
 * Opening of the side curtain same as the Noh
 * Audience shouting at the actors?
 * The prelude telling what the story is about took the place of the program
 * Costumes with long trailing legs reminiscent of court costumes
 * Chanter and shamasan player comes from Banraku
 * The script is always in front of them; they refer to it throughout the performance; the script is there
 * Chant slowly until the next character comes out
 * String instruments would never be in the Noh theatre
 * The hanamichi is in this play used like the haskigakari twisted around to the front
 * geza -
 * Hanamichi used as a place to demonstrate distant journeys and sad farewells
 * The style of chanting follows the Noh, but it's not the same language
 * Use of the voice by the drummers is typical of the Noh
 * Several Kabuki plays happen in a day - Kanjicho takes about an hour
 * Light isn't used to separate as in Western plays - Light isn't done in a realistic fashion or even the hint of it
 * The performances are subtitled because it isn't a style of Japanese that is still used
 * Putting back the sleeve in order to grasp the sword
 * fight section extremely dance like
 * audience calls to the actors to encourage them during the performance - no applause at the end of the performance
 * Hand movement used in Noh for crying is used by Yotsitsune during the forgiveness scene
 * The conventions of the fan are often as complicated as the hand gestures of the Kathakali

Bunraku
 * Yoshido Tamao
 * joruri - chanter
 * Banraku chanter - tayu
 * Vocal expressions of the chanter similar to the kabuki
 * National Bunraku Theater in Osaka; started 300 years ago
 * 90 performers in a single troupe
 * 3 people per puppet
 * special wooden shoes for feet operator
 * each performer expected to hone their own technique
 * when the performers are in perfect harmony, only the puppet remains
 * breath is absolutely tied to the performance of the puppeteers and their movements
 * "talking from the belly" - letting the puppet move from your own inner self
 * the smallest movement is needed to express the most intense of emotions
 * [|Pictures of Yoshida Tamao in Performance]
 * Every expression of emotion through the chanter's delivery
 * Yukahon - floor book - books for chanters passed down from master to disciple - additions added in red to show performance technique
 * Yuka - floor - revolve that holds the chanter
 * Typical of Asian instruction to have a teacher and disciple model with a good deal of strict teaching
 * [|Audio clip of Takemoto Koshijidayū]
 * there is no end of training - there's always something to be learned
 * Text in Bunraku is extremely important, the inverse of actor as most important in Kabuki
 * [|Images of Takemoto Sumitayu chanting]
 * Plays taken from the newspaper and turned them into Bunraku plays overnight

10/26
 * The dance should show the grace of a young woman
 * If a dancer can achieve this role, they can play anything
 * Dance always performed to song
 * Movements of the dancer illustrate the meaning of the song
 * Movements as a type of mime
 * Music can demonstrate the emotion of the character (fast drums for the excitement of a maiden)
 * Bando Tamasaburo V -[| link to his bio]
 * [|His official website]
 * Based on the story of the maiden who fell in love with a priest; pursued him to Dojoji, where she turned into a serpent and wrapped herself around the bell where the priest has hidden himself, melting it and destroying; return as a young maid for the dedication of the new bell
 * Throw things to the audience as a memento of their presence
 * The questioning of the maiden correlates to the questioning of Benkei
 * Ongaku - played to create tense and formal atmosphere
 * Eboshi cap - traditional court headdress used for dances
 * Metatheatricality of mentioning stage actor within the production - naming Bando
 * Mimics the Noh theatre - opening line mentions the pine, the important scenic effect in the Noh
 * The audience will have a sense of the connections to Noh
 * The traditional kimono exposes the dancer's neck, which is considered most beautiful
 * The miming gestures are much like the gestures of Kathakali
 * Ball bouncing is typical in Indian and Japanese theater to show young girls at play
 * Stretches for the Kabuki actor are strenuous and create extreme flexibility
 * Makeup as ritual for the Kabuki actor
 * The onnagatta doesn't impersonate a woman, but expresses the ultimate in femininity
 * "There's a mysterious joy in living in another world"
 * The glittering sparkles on the headdress draws attention to the face

10/26 - Notes -Put a lot of attention on the actor as the center of all the things that happen -It's not about the ensemble, but about the single actor -Musical transitions -Borrowing of fashionable tunes for interludes within a play - highlights the popular quality of Kabuki theatre -Young actors play smaller roles, such as priests, in their early days with the company -Monks portrayed in a comic way to reflect the suspicion that they weren't particularly repressing their desires -Kabuki actors are very commercial -15th of January - Japanese concert here at UGA -There are important places to sit: the front seats and the seats at the 7/3 position are considered the most prized -The scarf used by the actor is emblazoned with his own emblem (available on Bando's website) -Musicians wet the drums to get exactly the right sound - softer sound which blends with the shamisen -Gifts thrown into the audience - best gift: the fan -Drums represented in the embroidery and worn on the chest are from kokadu, the drums used at court - a very slow musical style -Puns in the language give emotional weight to the situations -The stage assistants wrap up the costumes as quickly as possible, hiding the color from sight to maintain the spectacle's focus on the actor -The walk of the stage assistants is much like the actors when in a crouch -stage assistant holding up parts of the costume to add width and attention