kABUKI ARTS lesson for Grade 8 students

1. Arts – Lesson 2

2. Kabuki (in Arts)
•A traditional Japanese theater that tells a story in
a purely narrative form.
•Is focused on telling an understandable story and
providing an entertaining spectacle to the
audience.

3. Kabuki theater

4. Theaters
•Were two- or three-story buildings with multiple
floors and dressing rooms and reception rooms
(18th and 19th centuries)
•Masugata – the boxes where in the main floor
seating in front of the stage were divided into.

6. Nowadays, kabuki use:
•Elaborate stage sets and multiple set changes
•Large casts
•Bold costumes with several costume changes
•Hayashi – musical ensemble they employs

8. Nowadays, kabuki use:
•Bold face makeup patterns (kumadori)
•Special effects including trapdoors and wirework
(keren)
•Dramatic poses (mie)
•Distinctive form of chanting
•Bold costumes

9. Kumadori Keren

10. Mie

11. Kanamaruza (Kotohira, Kagawa
Prefecture)

16. Stage Design Features
•Shimote – lower hand; stage right
•Kamite – upper hand; stage left
•Hanamichi – a flower path; a walkway which
extends into the audience via which dramatic
entrances and exits are made

17. Stage Design Features
•Mawari butai – revolving stage; allows scene
changes to be done quickly and dramatically
•Suppon – a platform that rises from below the
stage

18. The Three Main Categories of the
Kabuki Play
•Jidaimono – historical or pre-Sengoku period
stories; major events in Japanese history
•Sewamono – domestic or post-Sengoku stories;
commoner (townspeople and peasants)
•Shosagoto – dance pieces