(Movie)
The kabuki is the epic form of traditional Japanese theater. Focused on a game player at the same time spectacular and codified, it is distinguished by its makeup developed players and the abundance of scenic devices intended to highlight paroxismes and overturning of the room.
The three ideograms meaning of the word: vocals, dance and technical skill. This is likely to ateji (characters used only for the value phonetic), and this appears to be the ancient form of the verb katamuku at the time kabuku designating what was unorthodox , in reference to a form of theatre at the time regarded as avant-garde.
History of kabuki
The origin of kabuki performances religious dates back to a priestess named Okuni, in 1603. During these shows, the sequence showed the disguised as a man taking a good time in a district of pleasures. Scandaleux, they were quickly arrested, to be reborn in the form of performances by prostitutes in the dry river bed. This yujo kabuki quickly became very popular, partly because of its role in development of prostitutes, who deliberately gave a sexually suggestive dances.
The performances took an abrupt end with a restriction by the Tokugawa Shogunate prostitutes to ward reserved (kuruwa) in 1629. In the meantime (from 1612), the troops of women (kabuki onna) had seen the emergence of a competition kabuki men (wakashu kabuki or ōkabuki), in order to avoid public disorder. The ban on women troops propulsa this type of troops in the front row, the boys can play female roles to be mistaken. With the change of sex, the interplay of actors changed dance being neglected in favour of the dramatic action and postures highlighting the physical actor. The stigma dissolues about the morals of young players as well as public disorder 1642 of the younger players, until 1653, only men of mature age are allowed to play, leading to yarō kabuki.
1653: kabuki men
The yarō kabuki suffers under the influence of Kyogen (comic theatre linked to Noh theater, highly appreciated the Shogunate), a radical change of style in the direction of high sophistication and the stylization of the game Meanwhile, men specialized in female roles. Appelés'onnagata or oyama (two readings character), but these players is to express femininity as well if not better than a woman. In recent years actresses studying again kabuki successfully without dethrone the traditional onnagata stars such as Tamasaburō or Jakuemon.
It was at this time qu'apparurent two major styles of play. The style "rude" (aragoto) was created by Ichikawa Danjūrō (1660-1704) and style "soft" (wagoto) by Sakata Tōjūrō in Kansai. The first of these styles is characterized by an outraged Thursday, where the actor is exaggerating the accentuation of the words, gestures, helped by costumes and makeup loaded. Deriving its name from a word meaning those so brutal warriors, this type of play focuses on the actions of the characters often with exceptional abilities. By contrast, the wagoto adopts a game and a more realistic phrasing, suitable for turning parts for the most part around a tragic romance.
These differences reflect those of the public. The public Kyoto aristocrats formed refined preferred the wagoto and exhibits telling the descent social young men took a passion for prostitutes and abandoning their state for a miserable life, or to a life of pleasure. Formed merchants, Osaka affectionnait coins putting forward samurai unworthy or bad, with stories of the facts related to various topics. The young city of Edo, with a population largely male and remuante finally was logically the crucible for a rough style more suitable for rooms where the hero recovers the wrongs of force wrist.
1673-1735: the period Genroku
The period initiated by the Genroku era was that of the real constitution of kabuki. This process of formalizing parts, Thursday and roles is inseparable from that of ningyō jōruri, puppet theatre (the future bunraku).
It was for bunraku that the writer Chikamatsu Monzaemon originally wrote many of his major pieces prior to transpose for kabuki. Most of these transpositions were specifically aimed at the actor starring in Osaka, Tojuro Sakata, specializing in the roles of villain. Although he later returned to bunraku, preferring absolute respect for the text of the author who prevails where the kabuki is entirely dedicated to acting skills, his work was crucial in that it gave the kabuki of a wealth of quality parts. Half roughly repertoire of traditional kabuki is composed of pieces written primarily to bunraku.
At the same time, the actor Ichikawa Danjūrō I set up two essential elements of aragoto style, placement (crumb), stopping the movement of the actor intended to highlight a particularly important moment in the plot, and makeup ( Kumadori), which visually indicates the type of character represented and accentuates its expressions.
Starting from the second half of the eighteenth century, kabuki declined, supplanted with the working classes by bunraku, the success of the latter due to the presence of several major writers. The event most of the period and the merger of schools in the Kansai (Osaka and Kyoto) in a single school, whose influence on the result of the history of kabuki was fundamental.
The kabuki after the "Meiji Restoration"
The kabuki experienced a return for clemency from the Meiji era, in response to the introduction of Western culture. The development of newspapers also provides a new source of stories, adding to the fund of facts various adaptations of novels soap operas that were published. Meanwhile, all the players in the world of kabuki tried to rectify the image of this theatre in the minds of the new ruling classes, with a certain success, culminating on April 21, 1887 a representation before the Emperor.
The bombing of the Second World War destroyed many theaters, and representations were banned from the beginning of the occupation, like most events cristallisateur can serve as a national sentiment. However, the ban was lifted in 1947, and troops quickly resumed their business.
The kabuki today
Like other practices that have served as the fulcrum to nationalist ideology, the kabuki suffered after World War II to reject a phenomenon. The revival of interest in the kabuki in the Kansai region is attributed to the efforts of the director Tetsuji Takechi, who sought to present innovative productions. He was assisted in this by the young actor Nakamura Ganjiro III (born 1931), who left his first stage name, Nakamura Senjaku at this time of the production of kabuki in Osaka.
Today, the kabuki remains the most popular styles of traditional Japanese theater in terms of audience. Although mobilizes less professional than the Noh theater, they enjoy greater visibility, often appearing in films or television is going beyond its universe, in the image of the onnagata Bandō Tamasaburō V. The venues devoted to kabuki remain rare, and concentrated in big cities.
Outside the major institutions, several troops employ women to play the roles of onnagata. In the same vein recognition of women's role in the creation of kabuki, a statue was erected Okuni in Kyoto in the district of Pontochō.
Major kabuki troupes perform regularly tours outside Japan, helping to make this kind of theatre [9], sometimes playing for adjustments to the styles of Kabuki western parts. As for the nō, kabuki has benefited from the efforts of the writer Yukio Mishima, who showed that it was possible to write pieces which the plot takes place in a contemporary world.
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