UCLA Theatre History Seminar
October 19, 2012
Japanese Theatre - The Quest For Balance
Japanese Theatre - The Quest For Balance
I. Introduction
Covering
800 years of history in 60 minutes – Mission Impossible
II. 3
Major Nexus Points Important to Theatre
A.
Gempei Wars 1180-85
1.
Fujiwara Vs. Genji Vs. Heike
2.
Rise and Dominance of the Samurai
3.
Source Material for many of the most popular plays (*Yoshitsune)
4.
The Samurai quest for Balance
(Bun and Bu) brings No into being
B.
Tokugawa Shogunate 1603–1868
1.
First sustained peace in nearly 400 years
2.
Flourishing of Popular Arts (Kabuki & puppets)
3.
Struggle between Bakfu and Kabuki
C.
WWII and the US Army Occupation of Japan 1945—48
1.
Kabuki faces its biggest challenge for survival
2.
Shochiku uses Kabuki to resist US Occupation
3.
Army trained linguists bring Japanese Theatre to America
“Though I am ruler of Japan, there are three things which
are beyond my control: the rapids on the Kamo River, the fall of the dice at
gambling, and the monks of the mountains!” – Emperor Go-Shirakawa 12th
Century
III. Noh
Theatre
A.
Kanami and Zeami “invent” Noh out of Sarugaku
B.
Noh flourishes under patronage of Ashikaga Shoguns 1338—1534
Performance before Shogun Yorimitsu in 1374
Performance before Shogun Yorimitsu in 1374
C.
Jo – Ha - Kyu
D.
The goal of Noh is the balance of Hana and Yugen
Yugen -- lit. ‘Obscure and Dark.’ As used by Zeami it means: “half
revealed or suggested beauty, at once elusive and meaningful,
tinged with wistful sadness.”
Hana -- To have hana is to have grasped the universal in the individual. It is to have creative freedom within limitation. As Zeami noted, "Whatever is suitable to the occasion is real hana."
Hana -- To have hana is to have grasped the universal in the individual. It is to have creative freedom within limitation. As Zeami noted, "Whatever is suitable to the occasion is real hana."
“The purpose of all art is to bring sweetness to the hearts
of all people and
to harmonize high and low” – Zeami, Kadensho
E. Noh is refined, elusive,
distant. The stage is so
constructed to separate
actor from audience –
The White Sand Bar emphasizes this separation.
F.
The Mirror Room where the actor becomes the character.
IV. Kyogen
A.
Comic plays staged between Noh plays on a normal program
B.
Comparison to Laurel and Hardy or R2D2 and C3PO
C.
Most scripts 10 pages or less, 3 to 4 characters (Busu)
D.
Zeami notes:
“Kyogen should kindle the mind to laughter, but neither in speech nor in gesture should there be anything low. The jokes and repartee however funny they may be, should not introduce the vulgar.”
“Kyogen should kindle the mind to laughter, but neither in speech nor in gesture should there be anything low. The jokes and repartee however funny they may be, should not introduce the vulgar.”
E.
Kyogen in Children’s Theatre (Jennifer DeCosta’s Kyogen O’ Hawai’i)
V. Kabuki and Puppet Theatre
A. Kabuki from the verb “kabuku” = at an angle,
askew
Is Kabuki a Chonin
response to theatrical and Tokugawa orthodoxy?
1.
Okuni starts kabuki dancing 1596
2.
Onna Kabuki 1603 – 1629
3.
Wakasu Kabuki 1629 – 1652
4.
Yaro Kabuki 1652 –
5.
Bakfu forbids ALL amateur theatricals 1697.
B.
Struggle Between Kabuki and the Bakfu
1. Laws segregating actors & prostitutes
2. Actors required to have their hair length measured
3. Forbidden to depict current events or people
4. Bakfu wants to keep everything just as it is.
They use “morality” as a means of
control.
Their other major tool is segregation – of
the country,
of classes, of the towns &
provinces.
Everyone has a place and they must remain
there.
“People are easily influenced by the
behavior of actors and prostitutes.
Recently there has been a tendency for even high-ranking people to use
the argot of actors and prostitutes.
This habit has become a kind of fashion, and people think that those who
do not use such words and phrases are rustics. I am ashamed that this is so. Such a tendency will result in the collapse of the social
order. It is therefore necessary
to segregate actors and prostitutes from ordinary people.”
“Morality is
nothing but the necessary means of controlling the subjects of the
Empire …
Morality may be regarded as a device for governing the people”
Ogyu
Sorai (1666 – 1728), advisor to Tokugawa Yoshimune, 8th Shogun
C.
Competition between Kabuki and Puppets
1.
Ideas move in both directions (Double Suicide Plays)
2.
Puppets Not Viewed as Threat to Social Order
3.
Joruri is 3rd Person while Kabuki is 1st Person
Kabuki is an Actor’s
drama, Joruri belongs to the Chanter
Original 1-man puppets have
limited movement
They essentially
“disappear” when not moving.
To compete with Kabuki,
larger 3-man puppets are developed
4.
Chikamatsu the Japanese Shakespeare?
5.
Puppets Theatre undergoes MAJOR change in 1746-48 moving
away from the style of
Chikamatsu to one more like Kabuki.
3 Great Epics of Takemoto
Puppet Theatre:
Sugewara Denju Tenarai
Kagami – 1746
Yoshitsune Senbonzakura –
1747
Kanadehon Chushingura –
1748
“From the
beginning joruri has modeled itself on kabuki, with even the puppets imitating
kabuki actors. The natural result,
now that kabuki is imitating puppet movement, is the decline of kabuki.”
– Kabuki Actor Otowa Jirosaburo
In the first staging of Chushingura by the puppet theatre, 6
chanters were used in the Ichiriki Brothel/Tea House scene – one chanter for
each major character. This made the
scene much more like a kabuki play, more 1st person drama than 3rd
person narrative.
D.
The Physical Theatre
1.
Hannamichi – Single and Double
2.
Traps, Lifts, Revolves
Scenery Lift - 1727, Actor Lift - 1736, Revolving Stage - 1758
Scenery Lift - 1727, Actor Lift - 1736, Revolving Stage - 1758
3. Draw and Drop Curtains
4.
Geza Music
The kabuki stage invites the audience in. The house is traditionally wider than
it is deep so that everyone is close to the stage. (At the old Kabuki-za in Tokyo the stage is 90' wide while the house is 60' deep.) Likewise the hannamichi is more than simply a runway from the
back of the house to the stage – it is an acting space upon which (usually at
the 7-3 point, major characters are introduced, and important action takes
place, right in the midst of the audience.
An important action that takes place there is the maku-soto – acting outside the curtain.
Kumagai’s final exit
Kampei and Okaru’s exit at end of michiyuki (with Bannai
closing the curtain)
Benkei’s ropo exit at the end of the Daimotsu Ura act, Yoshitsune Senbonzakura
Brandon calls the maku-soto “The
single most important solo moment in any play.”
-- Chushingura – Studies in Kabuki, p133
E.
Kabuki Play Formats, Acting Styles and Major Themes
1.
Play Types
Jidaimono – History Plays
Sewamono – Domestic Tragedy
Shoshigoto – Dance Play
2.
Acting Styles
Aragoto – Rough House, Edo
Wagoto – Soft Style, Osaka
Onnagata – Female Roles
The goal of the onnagata is not to imitate or impersonate a
woman, but rather it is to capture the very essence of femininity. This is why, even today, geisha closely
observe the onnagata at the Minami-za theatre for tips and examples of how to
behave, move, and speak.
3.
The Major Theme of Japanese Theatre – Balance
Bun and Bu – the
Civic and the Military Virtues (Arts)
Giri and Ninjo Duty vs. the yearnings of the
Heart
Life and Death The Beauty of Each
*Yoshitsune
epitomizes this Balance.
4.
Juhachiban – The 18 Favorite Plays of the Ichikawa Family
5.
Misc. Notes on Kabuki
In Japanese theatre the
pauses, the silence, the stillness, are just as important (perhaps even more
so) than the moments of action.
The Noh and Kabuki actor use
“stillness” as expressively as a Western actor uses movement. (Consider Steve McQueen’s performance in
the film The Magnificent Seven –
he is always moving, always doing ‘business’ never still.)
When Okuni staged her dances in the dry bed of the Kamo river, actors were often called kawara-kojiki (river bank beggars).
The audience sat on the grass and perhaps this is why the Japanese word for play, shibai, is written with the Chinese character (kanji) meaning turf and to sit.
When Okuni staged her dances in the dry bed of the Kamo river, actors were often called kawara-kojiki (river bank beggars).
The audience sat on the grass and perhaps this is why the Japanese word for play, shibai, is written with the Chinese character (kanji) meaning turf and to sit.
Videos:
Daimostu Ura no Ba from Yoshitsune Senbonzakura
Entire
Act: 30 minutes
Maku
Soto (out of curtain exit) 5 minutes
Michiyuki from Yoshitsune Senbonzakura
Entire
Act 25 minutes
Tadanobu’s
entrance and dance 5 minutes
Yoshitsune, hero of stage, screen and the video game console
At the Battle of Yashima, during the Gempei War 1180-85,
Minamoto no Yoshitsune, leader of the Genji Army, dropped his bow in the water.
Despite heavy enemy fire and the frantic urgings of his own troops, Yoshitsune
continued looking for his bow and returned to the safety of his own lines only
after he had recovered it.
His own officers and veteran warriors were angry with the young
general and told him so.
"That was a terrible thing to do sir. Your bow may be worth
a thousand, even tens of thousands of gold, but how could it be worth risking
your life?"
"It isn't that I didn't want to lose the bow itself,"
Yoshitsune replied. "If my bow were like my uncle Tametomo's and required
two or three men for the stinging, I even might have deliberately dropped it
for the enemy to take. But mine is weak and feeble. If the enemy had taken it,
he would have jeered at me, saying 'See, this is Minamoto no Yoshitsune's bow!'
I wouldn't have liked that. That's why I risked my life to get it back."
Yoshitsune epitomizes this ideal of Balance so admired by
the Japanese, combining the refined grace of the Heike with the robust spirit of the
Genji. He is the quintessential
tragic hero in Japanese literature and theatre.
Sources / Further Reading
The Gempei Wars
The Samurai – A Military History by S.R. Turnbull, ©1977
See in particular pp. 13 – 83 for the Hekei-Genji struggle
And pp. 266-90 for the Decline of the Samurai during the Edo
period
The Nobility of Failure
by Ivan Morris, ©1975
See in particular pp.67-105 Chap 5 Yoshitsune Victory
Through Defeat
Legends of the Samurai
by Hiroaki Sato, ©1995
See the Introduction for an excellent essay on the origins
of the samurai
Also pp.110-56 for Yoshitsune and pp.304-38 for the 47 Ronin
The Tale of the Heike
Vols. I and II translated by H Kitagawa & B Tsuchida ©1975
The Kabuki Handbook
by Aubrey and Giovanna Halford ©1956
See in particular pp. 418-25 for a synopsis of the
Heike--Genji Cycle
Noh and Kyogen
The Noh Drama
translated by the Special Noh Committee, Japanese Classics © 1955
See in particular the Introduction pp.9-16
20 Plays of the No Theatre edited by Donald Keene, ©1970
See in particular pp.1-15 Conventions of the No Drama
Ze-ami’s Kadensho
translated by Sakurai, Hayashi, Satoi & Miyai, ©1968
The man who started it all writes on No and the search for artistic truth.
A Guide To Kyogen by
Don Kenny, ©1968
See in particular pp.7-14
Three Modern Kyogen
by Donald Richie, ©1972
The Introduction is excellent and the plays themselves very
funny.
Japanese Folk Plays
translated by Shio Sakanishi, ©1960
See in particular the Introduction pp.1-22.
This slim volume contains many of the most popular Kyogen
and a few obscure plays as well, like The Magic Mallet Of The Devil.
Kabuki and Puppet Theatre
The Kabuki Theatre
by Earl Ernst, ©1956 & 1974
This remains the very best detailed study of Kabuki covering history, theory and production
written by one the officers who was part of the US Army Occupation Forces.
If you have a serious interest in the Kabuki Theatre this
book is a Must Have.
The Kabuki Handbook
by Aubrey and Giovanna M Halford, ©1956
Contains synopses of the most popular plays as well as
explanatory notes on acting styles, make-up, costumes, music, play cycles, etc. An indispensable book.
Kabuki Encyclopedia (Kabuki Jiten) translated and adapted by Samuel Leiter ©1979
An excellent one-volume reference book on all things kabuki.
The Art Of Kabuki Famous Plays In Performance by Samuel Leiter, ©1979
Translations of the kabuki scripts for Benten Kozo, Sugawara’s Secrets Of Calligraphy,
Shunkan, and Naozamurai.
The Actor’s Analects
translated by Charles J Dunn and Bunzo Torigoe, ©1969
A fascinating collection of notes and advice on the kabuki
theatre made by kabuki actors.
Kabuki – Five Classic Plays by James R Brandon ©1975
Excellent translations each with extensive notes on staging,
costumes, etc. Includes the plays Sukeroku,
Narukami, Ichinotani (with Kumagai’s
Battle Camp), Sakura Hime and the wagoto masterpiece Love Letters
From The Licensed Quarter.
Studies in Kabuki by
James R Brandon, William P Malm, Donald H Shively, ©1978
Essays on Kabuki Vs. the Tokugawa Bakfu (Shively), Kabuki
Music (Malm) and Kabuki acting techniques, styles and kata (Brandon).
Chushingura Studies in Kabuki and the Puppet Theatre by James R Brandon, ©1982
Contains a new translation of the kabuki version of this
famous play along with excellent essays on Chushingura (Keene), Forbidden Plays (Shively), Jouri Music
(Malm) and the differences in the puppet and kabuki versions of Chushingura.
Sukeroku’s Double Identity: The Dramatic Structure of Edo
Kabuki by Barbara E Thornbury, ©1982
Excellent study of Edo Kabuki and the Soga Brothers
tradition in both Noh and Kabuki.
The Traditional Theatre of Japan by Yoshinobu Inoura & Toshio Kawatake, ©1981
Good General Text covering No, Kabuki and the Puppet
Theatres
Four Major Plays of Chikamatsu translated by Donald Keene, ©1961
Excellent Introduction on Chikamatsu and the puppet theatre pp.10-38
The Puppet Theatre of Japan: Honor, Vengeance, and Love
translated by Stanleigh Jones, ©2012
4 Classics of the Puppet stage newly translated into English
Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees translated by Stanleigh Jones ©1993
Translation of the Joruri text along with extensive stage
notes, background information and bibliography
Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy translated by Stanleigh Jones, ©1985
“His translation is of excellent quality, as he attempts to
offer not only the strict English version of the story but also to mimic poetic
devices so often lost in most translations.”
The Voices and Hands of Bunraku by Barbara Adachi, ©1978
This is a good general text with excellent photos of the
puppets and their puppeteers.
An Interpretive Guide to Bunraku edited by Patricia Pringle, ©1992
In depth essays on every aspect of the puppet classic The
Love Suicides At Sonezaki
This was a special publication for the 1992 Bunraku
Artist-in-Residence program at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. Contact the Dept. of Drama and Dance
directly to see if any copies are available.
Kabuki and the West
Kabuki’s Forgotten War 1931 – 1945 by James R Brandon, ©2009
Fascinating study of how Kabuki adapted and survived World
War Two and how Shochiku used Kabuki to resist the US Occupation
Theatre East and West–Perspectives Toward a Total
Theatre by Leonard Pronko, ©1967
Pronko’s ideas for using Asian Theatre to infuse new life
into the theatre of the West.
The Challenge Of Kabuki
by Mitsuko Unno, translated by Ann Cary ©1979
A detailed study of the kabuki productions staged by the
foreign students at the Canadian Academy in Kobe, Japan.
Dreamers, Dilettantes and Documenters by Leonard Pronko, ©2010
An essay by Dr. Pronko on the use of kabuki in Western
Theatre, “Super Kabuki” in Japan and the concept of “Kabuki imaginaire.”
On-Line Resources
Theatre Nohgaku Blog
http://theatrenohgaku.wordpress.com/about/
A blog dedicated to Noh Theatre with excellent photos and commentary
For example - their report on the No play Aoinoue
http://theatrenohgaku.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/hyakuman-and-aoinoue/
Bunraku Bay is a US based troupe performing with traditional Japanese puppets.
http://bunraku.us/index.html
Using the word "Bunraku" in their name has a nice ring to it, but it is a bit of a misnomer as Bunraku is the name of a specific troupe in Japan. However ... Bunraku Bay is doing some very interesting work name notwithstanding.
Kabuki21 http://kabuki21.com/
This is, by far, the most accessible and comprehensive web
site for all things kabuki. In
addition to current news and performance schedules, there are synopses of
plays, actor bio’s and an exhaustive list of links to other useful web
sites. This should be your first
stop in researching topics in kabuki.
The 47 Ronin are the
most revered samurai in all of Japanese history. Their story has been told not only in the Puppet and Kabuki
theatres but over 100 times on film and television. There have been turned into toy soldiers for collectors, a
board game for adults, and I dare say someone somewhere is even now working on
a video game version. Indeed,
Universal Studios is currently producing a new version of the 47 Ronin, for the
first time in 3D and staring Keanu Reeves.
Not surprisingly, there are numerous web sites devoted to this
band of loyal retainers. Here is a
list of the more useful or interesting ones:
On-Line Video
There are quite a few kabuki videos on YouTube. Most are fragments or short sections of plays while a few videos contain the entire act. There are also several documentaries from the NHK or National Geographic that provide a good 'general' introduction to Japanese Theatre.
Below are links to a few of the kabuki videos on YouTube. No doubt the diligent will find many more.
Noh and Kyogen
Atsumori Otoko-mai Atsumori's dance as performed by the Nogaku Theatre, a US based Noh troupe. (5 minutes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgsALoKic9s
Busu - a short section of the Kyogen performed in Japan (4 minutes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaBT0fedCME&feature=channel&list=UL
Puppet Theatre
Short Introduction to Puppet Theatre (10 minutes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TKt67ouaqM
Kabuki Theatre
Dai Motsu Ura act from Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura (Yoshitsune And The Thousand Cherry Trees)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txaxum007X4 (31 minutes)
Michiyuki (Travel Dance) from Yoshisune Senbon Zakura (40 minutes)
Musume Dojoji starring Bando Tamasaburo (each part is 12 - 14 minutes in length)
Short Introduction to Kabuki (10 minutes)
Kanjincho - The Subscription List (adapted from the No Theatre. In Multiple parts with English narration.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYqdC4x-Vns&feature=related
Additional parts are listed on the YouTube site.
Renjishi - Two Lions a Kabuki Dance Drama (Shoshigoto)
In 1978 the University of Hawaii undertook a year-long
program of intensive kabuki study culminating in the production of
Chushingura. The play ran for
three weeks in Honolulu, then toured the neighbor islands before embarking on a
six week mainland tour beginning in LA and ending in Boston.
Here are a few videos from that production
A final thought ...
The Zen of Noh.
The Zen of Noh.
Zeami divided hana into nine grades or levels. He described the top three grades as:
3rd Grade: "The whiteness and purity of snow lying on a silver garden"
2nd Grade: "Among snow-covered mountains one peak has ceased to be white."
1st Grade: "The light of the sun at midnight."
This is the state of mind beyond thought and language. It is mind without mind ... The human is no longer human and art is no longer art. -- from the introduction to Zeami's Kasenso.
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