What is Kabuki?

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Well when you really get right down to it, Kabuki is based on the Japanese word that means "to grab attention by acting outlandishly."

Apparently in the 16th and 17th centuries, there were these Kabuki people who went around dressed in weird clothes and doing weird things.  More than likely, they were the Japanese version of the punks from back in the 1970's.  And one of these Kabuki people is believed to have been the founder of Kabuki theater.

When and Where Kabuki Got Started

While no one really knows for certain, it is believed to have been started in the 17th century by a shrine maiden who came to Kyoto and started doing strange dances in men's clothing.  She became so popular that many other women began dancing the same way trying to become just as popular.  But apparently, they got so out of control with it that the government had to outlaw women from dancing to keep public order.

With men being the only Kabuki performers, the dancing was mostly replaced with performances.  Theatrical playhouses were set up around Japan with all the roles, including the roles of female characters, being played by men.  And because this was before photography was invented, the stars of the stage were represented by woodblock prints.

Kabuki Bounces Back Stronger

And although Kabuki continued to be a favorite form of entertainment even in the late 19th century when Japan began to modernize and westernize, Japan's defeat in WWII became a major problem.  With the American occupational forces determined to stamp out any traces of Japanese militarism, almost every Kabuki play was outlawed.  The only ones that were allowed were the ones that were made up almost entirely of dancing.

Fortunately, there was a very high ranking official in the occupational forces who was understanding of the Kabuki cause.  He argued that kabuki was a highly valuable Japanese treasure.

Two years later was when the ban on the Kabuki plays was lifted.  And in the years since, Kabuki did more than just perform their old plays again.  Brand new plays are being written all the time, including plays taken from western stories.

The Ways Kabuki Modernized

Over it's 400 year history, Kabuki has continued to develop.  Even though it still retains the same basic setup it had from back in the days of the samurai, Kabuki has modernized in many ways.  The Kabuki theaters now have modern seating whereas everyone would've just sat on the floor in the olden days.

The Kabuki theaters also now have modern lighting whereas the plays would've been held in the daytime and the lighting would've been controlled by opening and closing the shutters on the windows in the olden days.  In fact, the very reason for the bright colored clothes and the white make-up on their skin was to make the actors easier to see in that darkness.

The Ways Kabuki Retained It's Origins

But even though Kabuki has modernized, it mostly remains similar to how it was in the days of the samurai.

There are two main types of plays in Kabuki.  The first is the historical drama, which is based on events that took place in the past long before Kabuki itself even existed.  The other type is the domestic melodrama, which is based on famous murders and love related suicides that took place in the past.

Kabuki uses stock characters to make it easy to tell who the characters are from a glance.  If a character has very restrained make up, that's usually an elegant and refined character.  Whereas a character with more expressive make up in the form of red lines is a character who is very hot tempered and angry.  The red lines represent how the blood vessels pop out on a person's face when they're extremely enraged.

In giving the same effect as a freeze frame before freeze frames were even invented, the actors will stop and stand still at certain points of the play.  They will then move certain parts of their body to direct the audience's attention to that part of their body, for example shaking their head to make the audience pay attention to their head.  Afterward, the actor will just freeze in place to give the freeze frame effect.

As for the female roles, the men would walk around with their knees together in a pigeon toed stance to give the sense of femininity.  They would have their hips and shoulders dropped and their hands curved upwards to create the same effect.

Now just like how there are certain ways of speaking English that are so different from how people normally talk that you as a native English speaker can't understand what's being said, the Japanese spoken in Kabuki plays is the same way resulting in even native Japanese being unable to understand what the actors are saying.  Fortunately in Kabuki, it is very easy to understand what's going on in the story even without knowing anything about how to speak Japanese.

Now in most plays the audience sits still and keeps quiet, but in Kabuki there is often shouting from the audience.  This is because the stage names are often passed on from father to son.  So when a certain actor comes onto stage, they'll often shout the family name.

Now you'd have to know the family name and the timing of when to say it if you want to participate in this without making yourself look like a complete fool.  Now most people already know the stories of the classic plays so they don't come to the classic plays to see the story, but to compare an actor performing the role now to how his father would've done it in the past.

The other way in which Kabuki retains it's similarities to how it was back in the days of the samurai is how the stage itself is set up.  The stage itself is often setup to look like one large Ukiyo-e painting.  They use ways of painting the background of the stage to give the stage the illusion that it's much bigger than it really is.

There is also a runway that extends out into the audience for the actors to use for entrances and exits.  But in some plays, the runway can represent things like seashores or mountain trails.

Inspired by spinning tops, the stage itself rotates around to change from one scenery to another.  It also features trap doors for actors to make dramatic entrances and exits to and from the stage.  And finally, there's a fly system that lifts actors into the air and over the heads of the audience for plays where the actor is playing the character of an angel returning to heaven for example.

By using all of these techniques, Kabuki has retained it's popularity. Not only has Kabuki bounced back stronger than ever after almost being shut down after the war, it has also survived the assault of movies, television, internet, and every other form of new media that has sprung up.  And to this day, it is still so popular that tickets sell out almost immediately when a play is going to be held.

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