I. Review of different kinds of kabuki:

A. EARLY jidaimono 時代物 "history" plays (late 17th century)

1. group of 18 plays (“Kabuki Jûhachiban”歌舞伎十八番) associated with the Ichikawa Danjûrô 市川団十郎 lineage of actors.

2. associated with Edo (Tokyo)          

3. style: aragoto 荒事 acting, kumadori 隈取 makeup

4. examples: Saint Narukami　鳴神, Shibaraku 暫(Wait a Moment!)

B. LATE jidaimono (mid-18th century)

1. plays associated with Bunraku playwrights: Chikamatsu, and the playwriting team of  Takeda Izumo 竹田出雲, Miyoshi Shôraku三好松洛, Namiki Sôsuke並木宗助

2. Style: “realistic” makeup, acting (but still highly stylized movement and voice, sections of dance choreography, music etc.)

3. Examples: Kanadehon Chûshingura 仮名手本忠臣蔵(The Treasury of Loyal Retainers), Yoshitsune Senbon-zakura 義経千本桜(Yoshitsune and the thousand cherry trees), Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami 菅原伝授手習鑑( Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy, except for the Kuruma biki 車引き"Tearing apart the carriage" scene which is classic aragoto)              

4. Both early and late jidaimono are usually set in a specific "dramatic world" (sekai)

Kabuki21.com : " In Kabuki, a sekai is a dramatic world, with a well-defined set of characters and actions, related to well-known historical events or legends. In Japanese: ??"

eg. world of Tale of Heike(historical fiction covering the Genpei civil war, 1180-85, between Genji and Heike clans)

eg. world of the Taiheiki; (historical fiction covering period from 1318-1338) when Emperor Go-Daigo attempted to reassert rule by emperors, but was overthrown by the Ashikaga

C. Early (18th century) sewamono世話物: contemporary "domestic" plays about merchant life and the pleasure quarters

1.  Invented by Chikamatsu Monzaemon for the puppet theater, but so wildly popular that Kabuki quickly copied the plays.

2. Example: Love Suicides at Amijima 心中天の網島. First Bunraku version was early 1721. First Kabuki adaptation was in the summer of 1721, starring Ichikawa Danjuro II. The currently performed version blends the original bunraku play with elements from a Kabuki version written by Chikamatsu Hanji.

a. eg., Kabuki version adds a backstory about Jihei’s father-in-law Gozaemon getting into debt, which was invented for Kabuki to make Jihei seem like a better person – but it makes no sense in terms of the actual plot

3. The main male role is usually performed wagoto 和事 style (image)style

a. relatively realistic compared to aragoto; in later jidaimono a wagoto actor is often used as a foil for an aragoto actor

b. associated with: Kyoto/Osaka and Chikamatsu Monzaemon 近松門左衛門

D. Later kizewamono 生世話物 (19th century): “twisted” or “raw” domestic plays, depicting lowest class of Edo period city life.

1. style: mixed sewamono and jidaimono; lots of acrobatics; actors playing multiple roles; mixing of sekai 世界and parodying of previous plays; darker content

2. example:  Yotsuya Ghost Stories (Tôkaidô Yotsuya Kaidan　東海道四谷怪談) --ghost story/parody of Chûshingura

3. associated with: early 19th century Edo; playwrights Tsuruya Nanboku 鶴谷南北 (1755-1829) and Kawatake Mokuami 河竹黙阿弥 (1816-1893)

E. shosagoto 所作事(dance pieces)

1. If based (very loosely) on Noh or Kyogen plays, called matsubame mono 松羽目物　（pine tree board pieces)

2. Style: primarily pieces to show off Kabuki dancing (buyô舞踊); if early, sometimes with aragoto elements

3. Example: A Maiden at Dôjôji (Musume Dôjôji　娘道場寺)

II. Aragoto 荒事(“rough stuff”) plays: example, Shibaraku 暫(images)

A. Edo Style (highly dramatic/exaggerated, hyper masculine)

1. Invented by Ichikawa Danjurô I (1660-1704) around 1684-5 when he was in his early 20s, and became a specialty of the Danjurô line of actors. It was refined by Danjurô II,  but brought to perfection by Danjurô VII, who established the Danjurô collection of 18 Kabuki Plays (Kabuki Jûhachiban).

a. How Edo audience saw aragoto actors: as arahitogami 現人神(living deities)

B. Costumes/Makeup/Wigs

1. kumadori makeup (image)

a. borrowed from Chinese makeup techniques, but changed quite a bit.

b. symbolic meaning

1) eg. blue versus red

c. Question: what is the effect of using this kind of makeup rather than masks? Which do you prefer?  

2. costumes:

a. symbolic meaning:

image takes some patterns from Noh but tends to be more exagerated

image crest of actor used as part of costume

C. Vocal Style

1. special dramatic monologues (tsurane連ね) delivered on the hanamichi 花道 runway that demonstrate the actor's elocutionary skills and are filled with wordplay

a. religious purpose: Gongorô's speech in Shibaraku

D. Movement Style

1. Mie 見得(non-realistic, dance-like pose taken by one or more actors at a climactic moment of emotional intensity to make a powerful impression)

a. invented for use in aragoto plays, but came to be used in all genres

1. example of “Genroku mie” from Shibaraku

b. Deity Fudô不動明王: (image)

c. Religious meaning: in aragoto signals character's superhuman power

d. Timing/clappers: done in rhythm to clappers (batta, batta, batta, battari)

2. Roppô 六方("Six directions"): highly stylized hanamichi runway exit (image)

a. expresses:

b. Folk religion/theater: signifies a ritualistic stamping that is supposed to frighten away the evil spirits lurking in the ground (what the shirabyôshi dancer does in Dôjôji)

c. Flying roppô飛び六方:

videos: Tradition of Performing Arts in Japan, “Acting in Kabuki”: Male Movement Techniques (Leonard Pronko), excerpts from Shibaraku, Narukami,

III. Saint Narukami (images)

1. one of the 18 Famous Plays of the Ichikawa Danjurô line of actors.

1. Basic Plot:

2. Unusual point: 

3. What to look for:

a. first half: onnagata acting, moments of humor, earthy bawdiness

b. second half: how transformation from esoteric priest to thunder deity is conveyed through make-up and costume changes. 

1. Bukkaeri technique: threads are pulled out of the top half of the costume so it falls around the actor's waist, so that the inside lining covers the lower half of the garment. The inner lining matches the top that has been revealed, giving the impression that the costume has changed. To heighten the effect, the actor poses in a mie when the change is made, and the rear portion of the dropped fabric is held up behind him by kurogo, which serves to increase his size.

a. When is it used?

1)

2)

2. Examples of mie:

Hashira maki no mie: “pillar wrapping” mie

Fudô mie: modeled on deity Fudô Myôô

Sutra mie

1. Narukami as esoteric Buddhist priest:

2. Acolytes:

3. What does this say about Edo period attitudes toward Buddhism?