Japanese Theater Week 5b Outline

The Tradition of Performing Arts in Japan: Noh, Kabuki, Bunraku: Kabuki segment

 

1. Crossdressing:

2. Style:

a. definition of kabuki:

3. Plots:

1. 1629: women banned from public performances

2. 1652: "Boys Kabuki" (wakashu kabuki) outlawed and boys forced to shave their forelock

3. Result:

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.

VIDEO: Plays associated with Danjuro Family Explained (including Ichikawa Danjuro XII nametaking in 1985)

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 and 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."

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

a. relatively realistic compared to aragoto; wagoto is a softer, more delicate acting style used by romantic male characters. Speech and movement are performed in a soft, refined, “effeminate” manner, and in sewamono the character is nearly always preoccupied with a love affair.

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

c. in later jidaimono a wagoto actor is often used as a foil for an aragoto actor

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)

III. Wagoto acting in Love Suicides at Amijima

A. Example of 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. 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 Kabuki version blends the original bunraku play with elements from a Kabuki version written by Chikamatsu Hanji.

a. Kabuki retains narrator and shamisen from puppet theater, but large chunks of narration are removed and replaced by set pieces that showcase the actor

b. Sometimes plot is changed:

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 -- why would Gozaemon be so set against Jihei if he owed him such a debt of gratitude?

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

a. relatively realistic compared to aragoto

b. associated with: Kyoto/Osaka ("Kamigata" style) and Chikamatsu Monzaemon 近松門左衛門

4. Video: Leonard Pronko "Acting in Kabuki" on walking for merchant class characters (kabuki movement, 16:20; women 33:40)

5. Love Suicides at Amijima,Tea house scene:

a. Review Bunraku version: Bunraku: Masters of Japanese Puppet Theater (performance starts 42)

Osan folding kimono (1:03)

 

b. Kabuki version (overdubbed English, intro towagoto style acting). ("Shinju ten no Amijima NHK Eng")

Kabuki version (same actors as above, but better video. Japanese no subtitles). Jihei enters at 28

1) Actor commenting is Nakamura Ganjiro III (1931-2020). Actor playing Jihei ishis father, Nakamura Ganjiro II, performing the Kamigata (Osaka) style of Kabuki. Nakamura Ganjiro lineage claims to be the last of the true "kamigata" style of acting.

Nakamura Ganjuro III (naming ceremony 1990) became Sakata Tojuru IV (naming ceremony 2005). His grandson, Nakamura Kazutaro narrates the Kabuki Kool episode below.

2) In the modern era, his family has specialized in this kind of sewamono role; actors in this family play both male and female roles.

Kabuki Kool episode on wagoto acting focusing on Love Suicides at Amijima (also Lady Killer and the Hell of Oil). Narrated by Nakamura Kazutaro. In excerpt, Jihei is played by Sakata Tojuro IV (=Nakamura Ganjiro III).

Comparison of Jihei entrance scene: Nakamura Ganjiro II on left (Minami-za, Kyoto 1970) Sakata Tojuro IV on the right (Kabuki-za, Tokyo, 2009). Goes on to look at other kamigata versions of the hanamichi entrance scenes as quintessential wagoto acting.

MODERN FILM VERSION

Double Suicide film by Shinoda Masahiro based on Love Suicides at Amijima.

Opening credits (we see a Bunraku puppet play of Shinju ten no Amijima being set up, plus a conversation between the director and his location person about where to film the suicide scene)

Jihei's entrance: Jihei enters the pleasure quarters. Warning: contains some nudity.

Tahei tells Koharu why she'd be better off with him rather than Jihei

Jihei's suicide scene with kurogo. (Jihei stabs Koharu, then uses her obi to hang himself from a torii gate, with the help of kurogo)

II. Onnagata (female role specialists)

Video: Acting in Kabuki: Female Movement Techniques (Leonard Pronko) Starts 33:40

Kabuki Cool: Program 2 (on Onnagata female role specialists, including a great excerpt from Dote no oroku performed by Bando Tamasaburo [14.40], as well as the famous roles of Masaoka and Yaegaki and a bit on costumes at the end)

A. Highly stylized and idealized femininity

B. Why can men portray idealized femininity better than women?

III. “Ichiriki Brothel scene” 祇園一力茶屋　act from Kanedehon Chûshingura

A. Plot points: In the previous scene, Okaru was sold into prostitution so that her husband Kampei could join the vendetta. However, Kampei commits suicide because he mistakenly thinks he has killed his father-in-law. In this scene, Heimon has arrived to tell Okaru the bad news. Okaru has told her brother Heimon that Yuranosuke is going to buy out her contract. Heimon worries that this means that Yuranosuke has given up on the vendetta and is simply carousing. But Okaru whispers to him that she’s seen a letter that makes it clear that the vendetta is going to happen. This is where the scene begins.

Ichiriki Brothel scene"explained"

Kabuki Cool Program 4 (Chushingura, A Treasury of Loyal Retainers)includes explanation of story. Gives opening of Ichiriki Teahouse scene 14:50 (but skips over Okaru and Heimon)

Video: Bunraku and Kabuki versions (Okaru: Bando Tamasaburo; Heimon: Nakamura Kichiemon II; Yuranosuke: Ichikawa Danjuro XII)

Another version (1:06 asks about Kampei)

Another version with Utaemon (1:11:40)

　images

B. What to look for in Kabuki videos:

1. Okaru: use of hands, how actor walks, how actor conveys femininity

2. Heimon: lower-ranking samurai -- how is that conveyed? Look for mie.

3. Elements of humor: why are they there in a scene that is actually full of pathos (Okaru discovers her husband and father are dead, and agrees to die at the hand of her brother)?

 

C. Ninjo (human feelings/compassion) versus giri (duty)

1. giri:

2. ninjo:

3. How do the characters Okaru, Kampei (her husband), and Heimon (her brother) deal with the conflict between their duty/loyalty to their superiors (giri) and their desires/human emotions (ninjô)?

a. Why is Heimon initially not allowed to join the vendetta?

b. What role does Okaru play in the vendetta?

 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

How are women represented in Treasury of Loyal Retainers versus Love Suicides at Amijima?

1. List the main characteristics of the women (Osan, the wife and Koharu, the mistress in Love Suicides; Okaru in Treasury of Loyal Retainers).

2. Compare Okaru in Treasury with Koharu in Love Suicides. As courtesans how is each represented? What moral code do they each live by? How does the giri/ninjô dilemma apply in each case? Do these women's motivations seem plausible to you, given their situation? Look for specific examples from the plays to support your arguments.

3. How are women portrayed differently in these plays from women in Noh and Kyogen? To what would you attribute this difference?