Japanese Theatre and Dance

Japanese Theatre and Dance Classic Forms

Japanese Theatre and Dance Ainu music and dance • The earliest music and dance in Japan is that which surrounds the animistic beliefs of the ancient indigenous peoples, ancestors of today's dwindling Ainu community of Hokkaido. The present Ainu community is believed to be 80 per cent of mixed blood, relatively few of whom now even speak or understand the Ainu language, let alone practice its traditional customs. • Until recently the ancient Ainu music tradition had been perpetuated by an ever-diminishing number of elderly individuals. However, over the past decade young Hokkaido-based musician Oki Kano has been active in reviving the Ainu music tradition with the aim of making it more relevant for today's Ainu youth. • Much of the Ainu music and dance tradition is associated with the worship of spirit deities (kamui), in particular those connected with animals such as the bear, the owl and the sea turtle. • Ainu dance is very reminiscent of that of Melanesia, comprising both participatory social dances accompanied by responsorial singing and pantomimic dance such as the chikap rimse (bird dance) which portrays flying birds and the humpenere (whale dance) which tells of the discovery on the beach of a whale carcase and the subsequent division of whalemeat amongst the tribe.on May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Japanese Theatre and Dance • Classical Forms • Gagaku • Noh • Kyogen • Bunraku • Kabuki • Contemporary Performances May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Noh • Noh preserves what all other contemporary theatre has lost: its origin in ritual, reflecting an essentially Buddhist view of existence. The performance looks and sounds more like solemn observance than life.The actors play the role of intermediaries between the worlds of gods and men. In strict rhythms, out of music voice and movement rather than the artifice of stagecraft, time and space are created and destroyed. May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Noh • Noh combines elements of dance, drama, music and poetry into one highly aesthetic stage art. • An art form in which so few elements say so much. Trims off unnecessary details. The ‘moment’ is important, not the plot. May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Noh History • Noh developed into its present form during the 14th and 15th centuries under the leadership of the distinguished performer -playwrights Kannami and his son Zeami. Zeami, in particular, wrote numerous plays which are still performed in today's classical repertory of some 250 plays. May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Noh History • Zeami also wrote a number of secret works which explain the aesthetic principles governing Noh and give details on how the art should be composed, acted, directed, taught, and produced. May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Noh History • Noh flourished during Zeami's time under the patronage of the military shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. Later during the Edo period (1603-1868), Noh became the official performance art of the military government. Feudal military lords throughout the country supported their own troupes and many studied and performed the art themselves. May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Noh History • With the societal reforms of the Meiji period (1868-1912), Noh lost its governmental patronage and was left to fend for itself. • Although it nearly died out, enough performers regrouped, found private sponsors, and began teaching the art to amateurs so that it slowly began to flourish again. May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Noh Now • Today, like many classical performance forms throughout the world, Noh cannot be described as a popular art among the Japanese people as a whole. • Yet supporters are enthusiastic, and professional performers are highly trained and extremely busy performing and teaching throughout the country. May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Noh Now • Approximately 1,500 professional performers make their living largely through performing and teaching Noh. • There is also a wide following of both male and female amateurs who practice and perform its chant, dance, and instruments. May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Noh • Largely based in the cities of Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto, it is performed throughout the country by professional artists, mainly men, who have passed down the art among family members for numerous generations. May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Elements of Noh May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Elements of Noh • What really makes Noh ‘Noh’ is what the actor does with his voice or body • Also important to the creation of the ‘moment’ are the instruments you choose to accompany the texts, the rhythm of the speech: how does it support the structure and flow of the story? May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Elements of Noh • Body and Movement (kata) • Walking (suriashi) • Alignment (Kamae), presence, economy • Jo Ha Kyu (begin, develop, finish) • Dance-mvt. patterns (Shimae) May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Elements of Noh • Music • Chant (Utaibon) 6-8 singers (Jiutai) • narrate the background and the story itself. It also sometimes describes the character's thoughts and emotions or even sings lines for the characters. • 3 different drums Taiko, Kotsozumi, Otsozumi, • Drum ‘calls’ (Kakegoe) These are syllables spoken by drummers - “yo-ho-ho’-yoi-i-ya” • Flute (Nohkan) May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Elements of Noh • Plays • Gods (Shinto) • Warriors • Women • Miscellaneous • Demons May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Elements of Noh • Order of Plays • One from each category with Kyogen in between May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Kyogen • Comic theater which balances the more serious Noh. • Noh emphasizes music, Kyogen emphasizes dialogue. • The two are traditionally performed alternately on the same program and they share a common heritage. May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Kabuki • A magnificent blend of playacting, dance and music, kabuki today offers an extraordinary spectacle combining form, colour and sound, and is recognized as one of the world’s great theatrical traditions. May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Kabuki • Kabuki developed from dance, from the sensuality of the actor’s body. • Kabuki is written with the characters for ‘song, dance and skill’, but it originally was a verb meaning ‘outlandish, bent, or wild’. • Kabuki has always been considered a subversive art within the Confucian-based ethical and political system May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Kabuki - images • http://www.jaccc.org/event_%20related/kabukiphotos.htm May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Kabuki • Often incorporates the prevailing moral notions of Tokugawa society as a mechanism upon which plots turn. For example infa oho, (law of retributive justice), a Buddhist notion, may result in the destruction of an evildoer, or the bestowal of prosperity and happiness upon a long-suffering woman. The notion of mujo (impermanence of all things), may be illustrated by the demise of a proud family or the fall of a powerful military leader. May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Kabuki • Certain ethical notions based on Confucian traditions, such as duty, obligation, and filial piety, may come into direct conflict with personal desires and passions, leading to a series of dramatic situations. May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Kabuki • Legend/history of founding by woman performer, ‘Okuni’ a female attendant at the Izumo shrine in Kyoto who led her company of mostly women in light theatrical performances featuring dancing and comic sketches, gaining nationwide recognition. (early 17th century) May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Kabuki • Okuni’s dramas and later the genre itself became identified as ‘kabuki’ - a term connoting its ‘out of the ordinary’ and ‘shocking’ character. • The attraction of women’s (onna) kabuki was inclusion of sensual dances and erotic scenes. Fights often broke out among spectators over these entertainers, who practised prostitution. Women were banned from performing in 1629 May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Kabuki • Then wakushu (young men’s) kabuki was extremely successful but had exactly the same problems (public disturbances, prostitution) • In 1652 this was also forbidden, the shogunate required basic reforms, plays had to be based on kyogen, and performed by men (yaro). May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Kabuki • The actors’ performance was the focus. Kabuki remained very much an oral tradition in which playwrights and performers were expected to produce a new play for each new production. • Woodblock actor prints brought actors into homes throughout Japan, much like the celebrity magazines of today. This cult of the actor led to the creation of actors as superstars and brought many of them fabulous wealth. May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Kabuki • After a period of waning popularity due to the rise of Bunraku (puppet theatre) (early 18th century) Kabuki began to adapt Bunraku scripts to live performers - actors even imitated the movements of the puppets. • Under Meiji restoration, attempts made to modernize kabuki - not popular - and in the early 1900s actors urged a return to tradition May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Kabuki • Now traditional style plays are performed - often excerpted, just favorite acts and scenes presented together with a dance (buyo) piece. The national theatre in Tokyo continues to present full length plays. • The average length of a Kabuki performance is 5 hours including intermissions. May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Kabuki • Kabuki’s image as an actor-centred and total theatre (music, dance, gesture, song, declamation), marked by formal, yet realistic acting and voice, has been a constant source of inspiration for westerners, who have felt that modern drama’s sacrifice of theatricality for realism has left the stage sparse of the techniques once available to create powerful theatre. May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Contemporary - Butoh May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Contemporary - Butoh • http://www.fujiwaradance.com/ May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Contemporary - pop culture • http://www.condors.jp/con.html May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

LINKS • General Japanese performing arts • http://www.culturalprofiles.net/japan/Directories/Japan_Cultural_Profile/-33.html • NOH • http://www2.ntj.jac.go.jp/unesco/noh/en/ • http://www.theatrenohgaku.org/noh/index.html • Kabuki • http://www.fix.co.jp/kabuki/kabuki.html May 2007 Lisa Doolittle

Japanese Theatre and Dance