Essay On Kabuki Theatre

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Kabuki which was understood to be the greatest form of theatre throughout Japan for over three centuries, entails an intense mixture of dance, music, mime, costumes, and remarkable staging. As Kabuki originated at the time of Banraku, Kabuki adopted numerous movements and multiple plays from this theatre form that have played a big part in the creation of Kabuki Theatre. While The Picture Book of the Taiko was created and performed by the Banraku movement in 1789, its first performance in Kabuki form was achieved in 1799. According to many Kabuki folklores, in 1603, this art form was created by Okuni, a Buddhist priestess who performed ritual dances on riverbeds along the Kamogawa River in Kyoto. Even though a woman created this theatre form, women worked as prostitutes when they were not performing, and ultimately the government banned women from performing Kabuki theatre, for the attempt to save the public standards of women. Because of this upset command by the government, men perform all women characters.
The Picture Book of the Taiko, the latest play to be performed and adopted from Banruku theatre, existed to be a thirteen act production. Although the only lingering scene that is still performed is the “Amgasaki scene”, it is the only scene performed of the thirteen because it is the most well-known and important part that describes the meaning of the play. This scene consists of Takechi Mitshuide, the protagonist who reluctantly lances his mother Satsuki, who was bathing, misidentifying her as the feudal Lord Oda Harunaga.
Equally, among all Kabuki theatre, the performance is followed by three Japanese characters for song (ka: 歌), dance (bu: 舞), and skill (ki: 伎), thus Kabuki means exactly “the skill of song and dance”,...

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...ormance is dedicated to the singing narrators there are also multiple characters who do sing in a production. For instance, in The Picture Book of the Taiko, Lord Harunaga sings almost all of his lines played with the otsuzmi and the tzsumi. These lines happen during the transitions of scenes that make the proceeding of each scene more exciting and choral.
Concisely, dance, instruments, and music have all played a strong meaningful part in helping describe the Japanese literal meaning of Kabuki, “the skill of song and dance”. Without the help of musical instruments and the dance techniques used in Kabuki theatre, the literal meaning of “Kabuki” would be misunderstood and lost in translation. Through these critical and valuable aids, the staging of this production wouldn’t be able to demonstrate the vast variety of abilities in the visual and sung performance.

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