Golden+Age+of+Kabuki+to+Present

Golden Age of Kabuki to Present By Matthew Dix

Brief Origin Overview

In 1603 a woman by the name of Okuni started dancing in a dry riverbed outside of Kyoto. She became wildly popular to watch by the men of the area. Soon after she started performing many women and prostitutes of the area joined her and thus Onna Kabuki began. Its popularity came from the women and there sexual movements along with the content of the performance portraying ordinary life. In 1629 women were banned from performing, due to its attraction to a rougher crowed. The dance-drama had become so popular that men took it up and began to perform both male and female roles. Young men played the female roles and the drama was stressed over the dance. This new breed was called Wakashu Kabuki. This too was eventually banned but due to its growing popularity it was recalled and Yara Kabuki developed using only adult males. Over the period that followed, the Golden Age of Kabuki, the art was refined and aspects were embellished, added and tuned. Society After the Golden Age 1842-

The Tokugawa shogunate ruled Japan at this time and saw Kabuki as a threat to the social order. Kabuki did not discriminate against class and the shogun saw this dance-drama as a breeding ground for scum and dark characters. After ripped through Edo, the city where Kabuki theaters were built, the shoguns banned the Kabuki theaters from being rebuilt. The shoguns did not want Kabuki with its rough and rowdy crowds in its capital city. So the theaters rebuilt outside the city in Asakusa. After 30 years of being banned from Edo, along with low attendance, Kabuki was once again allowed to return. With it, it brought many works that can still be seen today. This period also saw the opening of Japan to the outside world which greatly influenced Kabuki. The plays began to modernize in style and new tastes began to creep into the repertoires of plays.

Kabuki after the WWII

With the downfall of Japan in World War II, Kabuki as well as all of Japan faced many changes. Actors who once played great roles were thrown into the great war and were forced to fight. Many died and with them went much of the talent of Kabuki. The atomic bombs that fell on Japan destroyed more than just the Japanese spirit, they also destroyed many theaters in which Kabuki was performed. The occupation by the Allies in Japan also brought great changes to the theatre, namely the banning of it. This was due to the belief that these types of theatre forms were antidemocratic. In 1947 the occupying forces allowed for the theatre to reopen and in 1951 with the performance of Genji monogatari Kabuki was back in full swing.

Present Kabuki

With the modernization of the world, kabuki also modernized. The theaters now had lighting and other amenities. New plays were also created in order to attract a younger audience. With movies and television the theatre was put on the back burner and the general public started to look to the west for entertainment. Kabuki would not die though and it found its own niche in the older crowd who clung to the traditional ways. In 1973 a preservation society sprang up and since then Kabuki has slowly been winning fans. Traditionally Kabuki has only been seen in theaters around Japan but in the early 1900's Kabuki started spreading out and performing in other countries.

Work Cited

http://park.org/Japan/Kabuki/about/overview.html http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/meet/kabuki/kabuki01.html http://www2.ntj.jac.go.jp/unesco/kabuki/en/2/2_16.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabuki