Japanese theater has a long tradition dating back to the 16th century. Two major forms are Noh and Kabuki. Noh features stylized performances that incorporate music, drama, and dance. Kabuki began as a more lively alternative to Noh, shocking audiences with contemporary stories told through dramatic costumes and sword fights. Both forms have evolved over time but maintain their cultural significance as unique Japanese art forms. Vocal techniques used in these theaters demonstrate extraordinary breath control and the ability to synchronize speech with shamisen music. Shamisen accompanies dances and provides music across multiple Japanese theatrical traditions.

1. Japanese
Theater

2. JAPAN
• Japan is rich in culture and tradition.
Ikebana and Cherry blossoms, to name a
few represent the beauty of its cultural
heritage.

3. • One of the traditions are that is very
popular until today is the traditional form
of theater which began at the end of
sixteenth century and soon became the most
successful theater entertainment in red light
districts of the great cities. Together with
Noh, it is considered the most important
Japanese contribution to world theater.

4. • Both NOH and KABUKI are unique and the
genuine expressions of the Japanese spirit
and culture. They mirror, however, taste and
ideals of different social classes, in
profoundly different environments and
periods.

5. • Kabuki
• The best known form of Japanese theatre is Kabuki. It was
performed by Okunis. Perhaps its fame comes from the wild
costumes and swordfights, which used real swords until the
1680s. Kabuki grew out of opposition to Noh — they wanted to
shock the audience with more lively and timely stories. The first
performance was in 1603.
• Like Noh, however, over time Kabuki became not just performing
in a new way, but a stylized art to be performed only a certain
way.
• As a matter of interest, the popular Gekidan Shinkansen, a
theatrical troupe based in Tokyo today, insists it follows pure
kabuki tradition by performing historical roles in a modern,
noisy, and outlandish way — to shock the audience as kabuki
intended, if you will. Whether or not they are kabuki, however,
remains a matter of debate and personal opinion.
• Kabuki is a type of theatre that combines music, drama, and
dance.

6. • Sakura is the one of the popular traditional
songs of Japan. It is translated as Cherry
Blossoms in English, it is a traditional
song that produces distinct characteristics
used in the Asian style of making melodies
also known as the pentatonic scale. The
pattern is mainly developed by using the
pentatonic style adopted mainly from
China. This style is mostly used in the
performance of noh and kabuki.

7. • One of the key features of Japanese theater
is the vocal technique used in singing. The
continuous pattern of or ipponchosis is used
in speeches building up to an explosive
climax in the arogato (oversize,
supernatural, rough hero) style, it requires
an extra ordinary breath control that only
few experts succeed in achieving. Another
technique adapted from the chanting or
jujuri is called nori.

8. NORI

9. It implies a very sensitive capacity of
riding the rhytms of the shamisen
(string instrument), declaiming each
accompaniment.
Yakuharai technique in the same way
describes the subtle delivery of poetical
text written in the Japanese metrical
form of alternating seven and five
syllable.

10. Shamisen

11. Vocal Instrument and Features
• Dances and movements are accompanied by
shamisen music, from gagaku (classic court
music imported from China during the 18th
century), kagura (performed in Shinto
shrines) no (chant derives from shomyo, the
sophisticated and rich tradition of Buddhist
chanting), down to the folk songs and
fashinable songs of the day.

12. • The most popular shamisen music was
called nagauta (Long song) which reached a
golden age in the first half of the1 19th
century as dance music for the henge mono
or quick change pieces.
• Nagauta music is very flexible can be
performed by one shamisen or by an entire
orchestra of twenty musicians, of which ten
are shamisen players, while others play
flutes (fue taken from the no) and drums
(small drum-kotsuzum; waist drum-
otsuzumi; stick drum-taiko).