There were three main types of traditional Japanese theatre - Noh, Kabuki, and Bunraku. Noh featured ghosts/spirits and a serious tone. Kabuki used elaborate costumes and melodrama. Bunraku used giant puppets controlled by three puppeteers and a narrator. Each type had distinct acting styles, costumes, stages, and audiences determined by social class.

1. THE ASPECTS OF THEATRE By Mensheng & Grace

2. INTRODUCTION TO JAPANESE THEATRE There were three different types of theatre Each one was completely different Every thing was different. The acting style was different, the costumes were different. The stages were different and the people who watched them were different Each type was almost completely unique.

3. THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF THEATRE There are three different types of theatre: Bunraku, Kabuki, and Noh or No Each was almost completely different from one another.

4. WHAT MAKES THE TYPES OF THEATRE DIFFERENT Noh was based around ghosts and spirits. It was very serious. Kabuki was melodramatic and exaggerated. Masks were worn during Noh plays Kabuki costumes were very elaborate. Bunraku was played with giant puppets which took three people to control. One person controlled the right arm and head, one person for the left arm, and one for the feet. There was also a narrator called a tayu.

5. MORE DETAILS Noh plays inflicted moods and religious states, and the plays were often rigid with quite specific rules Kabuki plays were very long, sometimes taking up to six and ½ hours, and the plays were social occasions. In Bunraku plays, the audience could see the puppeteers, but they eventually forgot about them. A stringed instrument, called a samisen, often accompanied the action

6. SOCIAL STATUS An actor did not really have a social status and they were set out of the social classes. They were outside the social classes with outcasts although some actors entertained warriors and sometimes even taught them their art. They earned respect because it was their reward for entertaining the warriors. Samurai were only supposed to see Noh plays, and commoners watched Kabuki and Bunraku.

7. CONCLUSIONS As we have said there are so many distinctions that defined each type of theatre. All of Japan enjoyed each one. Even when you couldn’t go to a theater legally, the supposedly “higher class” broke the law to see them, disguising themselves. Ancient Japan theater apparently was worth that just to see it. So the theater during ancient times was awesome, if the “honorable warriors” went to the trouble to do that.

8. CITATIONS Mitchell, John D. and Miyoko Watanabe. “Aspects of Noh. Staging Japanese Theatre: Noh and Kabuki. Key West, FL: Institute for Advanced Studies in the Theatre Arts, 1994. Odihk, Pamela. The Japanese . Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Silver Burdett Press, 1989. The Packet.