Bakumatsu Kabuki Keywords + Stuff Flashcards
Kabuki
Seen as Akusho
Troupes Mainly consisted of Prostitutes
Theater performances were prelude to sexual activity later; audiences fought over favors of the
women
Originator: Okuni from Izumo
Unlike the noh theater, kabuki does not employ masks
Women’s kabuki —> young boys’ (wakashu) kabuki — adult men’s (yarō)
kabuki
Kabuki: Onnagata
Male Performer of female roles (due to ban of Women in Kabuki)
onnagata is not based on women but rather on wakashu
Onnagata as “epitome” of “femininity”
How is Kabuki different from Bunraku Theater?
In Kabuki, focus is on the actor’s physical body in motion.
Why were women eventually banned from performing Kabuki?
Gradual banning of women due to the constant brawls that occurred after. Also, there were incidents of “corruption” of samurai
Kabuki was developed alongside what?
Developed alongside the Bunraku Puppet Theater
What are the three main portions that make up the compound kanji for Kabuki?
songs, dance, technique.
KABUKI AS POPULAR
CULTURE (exs)
There were books published that were illustrated of actors, books that reviewed Kabuki actors, illustrated summaries, and even posters sold
Kabuki actors endorsed products and influence fashion (ie. clothing was made to copy what they where on stage)
Kabuki-type dance became widely popular amateur activity in the 18th century
Fan-clubs were formed, particularly in the Kyoto/Osaka region.
Who were the main audience at Kabuki theater?
mainly townsmen and merchants but also included samurai
List one way the audience would interact with the Kabuki actors?
The Hanamichi (lit. flower path) — it was a raised passageway leading from the left side of the stage through the audience to the back of the theater
gifts were given to the actors via this path.
Late Bakumatsu/Early Meiji Kabuki (“EDO” as a “MIRROR OF TRADITIONS)
Although SPAM was essentially dead by Early Meiji Period - some forms of social expression continued in early Meiji Kabuki
Gradually “Edo” would be a kind of “recent past” – a
repository of “Japaneseness”
Reform Kabuki away from hedonism while restoring aspects that were suppressed by Tokugawa laws
Ministry of Instruction urged kabuki leaders to raise the theatre’s moral standards and appeal to a better audience
Emperor/Empress viewed Kabuki
Playwrights elevated to the level of artists/author
Dramatized everyday Meiji-period domestic life
Late Bakumatsu/Early Meiji period context
Fragmentation of SPAM
New forms of communal
identity beyond official
rhetorics
Older forms of community
becoming obsolete in face
of rapid modernization and industrialization
Local art forms — National
Art (“discovery of art”)
Discovery of aesthetics
Kawatake Mokuami
Of the late Edo / early Meiji playwrights, Kawatake Mokuami is often hailed as the greatest
Student of the great playwright Tsuruya Nanboku V
Famous for Shiranami-mono (bandit plays)
