Jensen 1 Sydney Jensen Cathy Black/Lindsy Cieslewicz Dance 460 4 December 2012 Japanese Kabuki This paper will

explore the development of kabuki dance and theater, which began in the early 17th century in Japan. The word kabuki is a combination of three characters, ka meaning song, bu meaning dance, and ki meaning act (Ashihara 50). The three elements together, song, dance, and acting, are what make up kabuki theater. Kabuki is one of the most recognizable icons of Japanese culture. While it began as an entertaining form of dance with female dancers, it evolved into a form of intricate dance theater, with predominantly or exclusively male performers, including the use of male performers for the female roles. As a multi-disciplinary form of entertainment and performance, kabuki was demanding of its participants, requiring skill in dancing, choreographing, singing, and acting. Female impersonation was ordinary for men, since women were not allowed to play roles in kabuki dance and theater through most of its history. In an effort to master the roles of the characters, the dancers and actors extensively studied their roles, causing their character role play to intertwine with their everyday lives. Political issues arose concerning gender roles, which determined how the kabuki art form was practiced over the centuries. Kabuki became an intricate form of entertainment, portraying tales with complex, intricate plots. Kabuki costumes and makeup developed into very characteristic styles, with specific meanings attached to the various elements of dress, hair design, and makeup. Kabuki, which originally began as a form of dance in the early 17th century, evolved into an elaborate form of dance theater, showcasing

Jensen 2 actors who often portrayed cross-gender roles, dramatized involved and detailed plots, and offered a distinctive style of costuming and facial makeup. Kabuki actually has an interesting religious origin. In the early seventeenth century, a woman name Okuni began to make major impacts upon the history of Japanese dance and culture. A shrine maiden of the Izumo Grand Shrine in Japan, Okuni gathered the women in the village that surrounded the Shinto shrine and proceeded to perform a local dance called nembutsu odori (Ashihara 48). Rather than simply dancing within the confines of or around the Izumo Grand Shrine, Okuni decided to branch out and travel to other places. She and her female dancers performed the nembutsu odori in various places and collected money for the performances (49). The nembutsu odori, the dance that Okuni and her troupe were performing, was originally done by a Buddhist priest who was attempting to share his religion (49). In the dance, the priest would repeatedly chant the Buddhas name (49). This makes sense when the etymology of the term nembutsu odori is examined, as nembutsu means chanting in adoration the name of Amitabba Buddha and odori means dancing (49). Okuni took this dance and adapted it into a form more suitable for entertainment. Her primary intention was not to proselytize, like the Buddhist priest, but to entertain her audiences. She retained the chanting of the Buddhas name only for the sake of having some sort of music and rhythm for the dancers to follow and to stimulate the auditory senses of the audience (49). Overall, Okuni made it a much more light-hearted dance, rather than such a religious and serious dance (49). Eiryo Ashihara, a dance and music scholar and critic, said that her chanting was . . . not so much Buddhist cant as it was mundane jokes and puns (49). This new approach on nembutsu odori was quite refreshing for the audience (49). The dance was like nothing they had seen before, which pleased the people, who flocked to her performances in search of entertainment. Okuni

Jensen 3 continued to share her version of nembutsu odori, which was warmly accepted by the audiences of her day. She also began to branch out away from the religious origin of the dance, training young girls to dance to choreography she had created for popular music of that time (49). Eventually, the dance evolved into the kabuki odori, the beginning of kabuki plays (50). Kabuki plays were a real fascination to the audiences for many reasons, including intrigue about the different roles the actors/dancers played. For example, part of the reason the people found so much interest in Okunis dancing was the fact that she was disguised as a man and played the role of a warrior (Ashihara 50). After Okunis dancing of the first kabuki odori in the disguise of a man, impersonating a warrior, this concept of male impersonation spread rapidly and many women involved themselves in this. As kabuki dance evolved as a popular form of entertainment, women in other kabuki groups adopted the use of male impersonation. Interestingly, many of these groups of women were using this form of entertainment as a way to help them in their prostitution business (51). The Japanese government felt that the morals of their society were being damaged by this practice, and they eventually banned the actresses/female dancers, also known as onna kabuki, from participating in such activities (52). The women who had previously been acting in the kabuki plays were replaced by wakash kabuki, meaning boyish beauty (52). These handsome, young boys played the roles previously acted by women in the plays (including both female and male roles), since females were now prohibited from taking part in the plays (52). However, the use of the wakash kabuki did not last long, and women as well as the juvenile males were soon banned from participating in the kabuki theater (60). The females and young boys were replaced by the yar kabuki, grown men (52). These men presumably did not have issues with arousing the audiences, and the serious dramas that resulted were deemed to be successful (52). Due to the prohibition of actresses, the

Jensen 4 men had to play all of the female roles, as well as the male roles. These men who played the female roles were called oyama or onnagata (60). Sakon Murayama was the first man to become an oyama, helping to popularize and standardize the practice (60). Kabuki theater required the actors to make an in depth study of their roles. In fact, they were required or strongly encouraged to make their characters become part of their normal daily (off-stage) lives. The actors divided themselves and worked to specialize and perfect their roles (60). The oyama (female impersonators) were required to do the same thing, living their roles in their daily lives as much as possible. They were required to not only behave as a female but attempt to think like a female (61). The whole purpose of this was to optimize the actors understanding and development of their roles in the kabuki theater. Actors took their character roles home and made it a part of their daily lives trying to become one with their on-stage character. Ashihara explained that, At their homes they acted like young ladies or housewives, never as the masters of their households (61). Eventually, the female roles played by male actors became one of the most characteristic aspects of kabuki, and kabuki dance and drama became the kingdom of the oyama (61). Eventually, a metamorphic dance called hengemono was introduced (Ashihara 62). Hengemono was a form of kabuki dance where a dancer played several different roles and switched characters by switching their costumes (62). For a time, the oyama, or female impersonators, could only participate in hengemono if some of the roles were female roles (63). During this period of time, female impersonators were not allowed to play male roles (63). In later years, when women were once again permitted to participate and learn the kabuki dances, many women were hesitant to learn the dance, because it was originally created for and performed by female impersonators (65). Some of the rules developed by the female

Jensen 5 impersonators, such as hiding their arms in order to hide their muscular arms, and keeping their knees together to try to look feminine, were looked down upon by women considering learning the kabuki dance (104). The women felt that they were feminine enough and did not want to cover their arms and be limited to certain postures and movements (104). It is interesting to note that as the female impersonators were trying to imitate and in some ways become women by developing rules like covering their arms and closing their knees, the women who attempted to dance as in the place of the female impersonators found it very uncomfortable and not feminine at all. No matter how much study and practice the female impersonators had, none could truly impersonate a female in a genuine fashion. Kabuki dances and plays have been known for their complex, intricate plots. The plays told stories that were sometimes familiar and sometimes new to the patrons of the theater. Some famous kabuki plays were daylong performances, beginning at sunrise and telling the story as the day wore on, concluding at evening time. The songs, dancing, and acting portrayed very detailed, complex plots to which the audiences could often make connections with their daily lives or with their knowledge of history. The key presentational elements of the plots and structures of the plays were highly stylized movement, speech, dance, song, as well as simplicity, meaningful movement, symbolism in gestures, beauty in line and posture, harmonious sequence, expression, and the idea of the Inner Spirit becoming a part of the dance (Keister 215 and Zarina 169). All of these elements worked together to create masterpieces full of symbolism and deep meaning. The plots of kabuki theater included tales of triumph and tragedy (Walsh 2). A variety of complex comedies, legends, and tragedies were the focus of kabuki plays (2). In creating a play, a simple subject matter, or dramatic idea, was taken and stretched out to express the emotions involved (4). The Japanese loved nature and had a great appreciation of natural

Jensen 6 beauty (Zarina 169). In fact, many Japanese people believed there was no difference between man and nature, and that there was no boundary between the two (Ikema 6). This was apparent in their gardens, architecture, decorations, clothing, religious services, and arts (Zarina 169). Many dances and plays were influenced by this characteristic passion of the Japanese people. Others were simply inspired by some other idea. For example, Sumidagawa was a kabuki play about a mother searching for her kidnapped child (Walsh 4). Narukami, or The Thunder God, was another kabuki play about Princess Kumo-no-taema who goes to a mountain to Priest Narukami to try to seduce him and convince him to free the rain god, whom he had captured previously (6). Kumagai Jinya was another kabuki play in which General Kumagai struggles with the dilemma of killing his son to save an enemy who helped his mother in the far past (7). Yet, another example is the story of Sukeroku: Yukari no Edo Zakura, or Sukeroku: Flower of Edo, which incorporates social status and politics. The main character, Sukeroku, plays a commoner who stands up against the elites, touching upon the idea of social stratification and the strict, forceful government (Keister 218). This particular play is one of great importance as it humiliates the upper classmen, especially when Sukeroku subjects the upper class to silly things like offering a tobacco pipe with his bare feet, putting noodles on their head, and making them crawl between his legs (218). This play was meant to intimidate enemies by showing strength, toughness, a strong reputation, and aggressiveness (218). The plots were full of symbolism, which made the plays meaningful and influential in the lives of the audience members. Certain movements and poses symbolized different things and often provided multiple meanings (Keister 224). Kabuki dance was a particularly important aspect to the kabuki theater, especially the particular plots of the kabuki plays. Kabuki dance, sometimes referred to as Nihon buy, or Japanese Classical Dance, was an important element of

Jensen 7 kabuki theater (Young). There were at least one to three dance pieces throughout a play (Young). The purpose of kabuki dance was to support the narrative of the kabuki play (Keister 216). Movement in the form of dance created an important vantage point. Through dance, one can better see the character and style of the performers, and the symbolism attached to the movements (216). In kabuki theater, the actors were not supposed to tell a story directly but rather paint a lyrical image of a story, often one that the audience already knew (227). Symbolism was a key part in the plays. The plays were not so much dramatizing the dance, but rather dance elements were added to enhance the drama (Ashihara 53). As dance was added to the dramas, the performances became more complex and difficult with the added symbolism (53). Another element that made the kabuki plays and dances so unique were the costumes and makeup. The Japanese were experts in design and color, and never failed to use their imagination in the costumes and makeup designs (Zarina 178). Kimonos were very common, and layers upon layers of kimonos were worn at a time (178). Typically three were worn, but sometimes more were worn depending on how many characters an actor was playing. Most of the time a shorter kimono falling just below the hips was put on first, then a skirt was worn on top of that, allowing the legs to stay covered but giving the actor/dancer freedom to move (178). On top of the first kimono and skirt was placed another brocade kimono, followed by the outer kimono, which distinguished which dance was being performed (178). The kimonos were always folded left over right for performance purposes (179). Collars against the neck were considered countrified and destroy[ed] the chic and grace of the kimono (178). Therefore, it was quite complicated to dress properly in the kimonos, and special techniques were necessary to make sure everything was done properly. Headbands were worn as well. The headbands

Jensen 8 contained great symbolic meaning (Keister 232). A white samurai headband was traditional, while a purple headband soaked with medicinal root of murasakigusa grass signified nobility (232). The purple headband also served as a way to subtly intimidate enemies (233). If the band was tied on the left side, it was for ritual purposes, while the band was tied on the right side to show opposition to the ruling class (233). Costume and makeup, along with movement and poses, demonstrated rank in social classes and occupation (223). Besides the kimonos, the actors wore theatrical wigs called katsura and white socks called tabi (Zarina 178). Masks were sometimes worn. In the lion kabuki dances, lion masks were worn, but since lions were not endemic to Japan, the masks were more stylized and elaborate, rather than realistic (179). Masks were also worn for their humorous effect in some of the more comical kabuki plays (180). The Japanese emphasized the beauty of the line of the costumes rather than the curves of the body (Ashihara 110). The costumes were not very functional; therefore, movement could be somewhat restricted and abstract gestures were very common (110). In fact, the costumes were extremely difficult to manage and control, and the performers would only wear them for the actual performances (Chiyo 246). The makeup employed in kabuki was very unique and distinctive. The actor/dancers face was painted white with a water-paint base (Zarina 180). Eyes were outlined and eyebrows were colored black (180). The mouth was painted full and small with a cherry red color (180). If the actor represented a different character such as a demon or some other creature, the makeup was very different (180). Today, a graphic representation of a kabuki dancer in traditional costume and with characteristic makeup immediately brings to mind vivid images of kabuki dance to most informed observers.

Jensen 9 The history of the development and evolution of kabuki dance and theater is quite fascinating. Having its roots in religion, it developed into a popular form of entertainment, revered by the people of Japan and recognized by people throughout the world. Cross-gender role playing has been one of the very interesting aspects of this artistic form. Complex, detailed plots that have firmly connected with the audiences have also been a key feature of kabuki. The costuming and facial makeup have such unique characteristics that they are immediately recognized as part of kabuki by art and culture observers throughout the world. Kabuki has contributed immensely to the culture and social development of Japan. Originating over four centuries ago, this iconic style of Japanese dance and theater has certainly survived the test of time. The fact that it is still practiced today, with only some minor differences, such as the way in which roles of the characters are now assigned to gender-appropriate actors and actresses, stands as a testament to the love the Japanese people have for this enduring form of dance and theater.

Jensen 10 Works Cited Ashihara, Eiryo. The Japanese Dance. Japan: Japan Travel Bureau, 1964. Print. Chiyo, Hanayagi. Fundamentals of Japanese Dance: Kabuki Dance. Japan: Kodansha shuppan service center Ltd., 2008. Print. Ikema, Hiroyuki. Folk Dance of Japan. Japan: National Recreation Association of Japan, 1981. Print. Keister, Jay. "Urban style, sexuality, resistance, and refinement in the Japanese dance Sukeroku.." Asian Theatre Journal. Vol. 26. (2009): n. page. Web. 3 Oct. 2012. Walsh, Michael. "Japan's Wondrous Road Show." Time 120.4 (1982): 60. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Dec. 2012. Young, Joshua. "Kabuki Dance." Japanese Performing Arts Resource Center. National Endowment for the Humanities. Web. 3 Dec 2012. <www.glopad.org>. Zarina, Xenia. Classic Dances of the Orient. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1967. Print.