Kabuki is a form of traditional Japanese theater that began in the 17th century. It features highly stylized singing, dancing, and mime performed exclusively by male actors. Kabuki emerged from dance performances done by women but became popular entertainment in cities. It is characterized by elaborate stage techniques and sets, distinctive vocal and dance styles, and dramatic poses. Kabuki remains an important part of Japanese culture and is considered one of the country's most significant artistic traditions.

1. JAPANESE THEATER

2. HISTORY
The history of Kabuki began in 1603 when
Okuni who called herself a priestess began
performing a new style of dance drama in
Kyoto. Female performers played both men
and women. It was bout ordinary life. The style
was instantly popular. Rival troupes quickly
formed and Kabuki was born as ensemble
dance drama performed by women. Much of
its appeal in this era was due to the ribald,
suggestive performances put on by many of
the imitators; these actresses were often
available for prostitution.

3. WHAT IS KABUKI?
Kabuki is a form of traditional
Japanese drama with highly
stylized song, mime, and dance,
now performed only by male
actors.
Japanese, originally as a verb
meaning “act dissolutely,’ later
interpreted as: ka – song, bu –
dance and ki – art/skill.

4. The Kabuki stage features
• Hanamichi – a flower path, a walkway
which extends into the audience and via
which dramatic entrances and exits are
made; Okuni also perform on a hanamichi
stage with her entourage.
• • Kogakudo - kabuki theaters that have
stages both in front of the audience and
along the sides help create a bond
between the actors and viewers
• • Mawaro butal -the interior of the theater
contains a revolving stage

5. The Kabuki stage features
• Suppon - a platform that rises from
below the stage
• Hanamicho – a walkway that cuts
through the audience seating area to
connect the stage with the back of the
theater
• Magicians and supernatural beings
often make their entrances from trap
doors in the hanamichi • Some stages
have 17 trapdoors.

6. Threemain categories of the kabuki play
• jidai-mono- historical, or
pre-Sengoku period stories
• sewa-mono- domestic, or
post-Sengoku stories
• shosagoto - dance pieces

7. Elements of Kabuki Theatre
• Mie - in which the actor holds a
picturesque pose to establish his
character and his house name yagō, is
sometimes heard in a loud shout
(kakegoe) from expert audience
member, serving both to express and
enhance the audience's appreciation of
the actor's achievement. An even
greater compliment can be paid by
shouting the name of the actor's father.
Keshō

8. ACTORS TWO MAIN CATEGORIES
• Onna-gata - female
roles an
• Aragoto - male roles.

9. Japan is rich in culture and tradition
IKEBANA SAKURA
KABUKI
NOH

10. WHAT IS KABUKI?
Kabuki is a form of traditional
Japanese drama with highly
stylized song, mime, and dance,
now performed only by male
actors.
Japanese, originally as a verb
meaning “act dissolutely,’ later
interpreted as: ka – song, bu –
dance and ki – art/skill.

11. KABUKI
• is one of the traditions that is very
popular until today
• is the traditional form of theater
which began at the end of the 16th
century
• became the most successful
theater entertainment in the red
light districts of the great cities

12. KABUKI
is considered the most important
Japanese contribution to World
Theater

13. NOH and KABUKI
• Both noh and kabuki are unique
and genuine expressions of the
Japanese spirit and culture.
• However, they mirror taste and
ideals of different social classes, in
profoundly different
environments and periods.

14. SAKURA
• is one of the popular traditional
songs of Japan
• is a traditional song that produces
distinct characteristics used in the
Asian style of making melodies
also known as the pentatonic
scale

15. 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.

16. VOCAL PATTERN AND
TECHNIQUES
Ipponchōshi
• or the continuous pattern
• used in speeches building up to an
explosive climax in the aragoto
(oversized, supernatural, rough
hero) style
• requires an extraordinary breath
control that only few experts
succeed in achieving

17. VOCAL PATTERN AND
TECHNIQUES
Nori
• adapted from the chanting or
jōruri (a traditional Japanese
narrative music in which a tayū (
太夫) sings to the accompaniment
of a shamisen)
• implies a very sensitive capacity of
riding the rhythms of the
shamisen (string instrument),
declaiming each accompaniment

18. VOCAL PATTERN AND
TECHNIQUES
Yakuharai
• the subtle delivery of poetical text
written in the Japanese metrical
form of alternating seven and five
syllables

19. VOCAL AND TECHNIQUES
FEATURES
Dances and Movements
• are accompanied by shamisen
music collected and popularized a
number of aspects from all
previous forms of Japanese music

20. JAPANESE SHAMISEN MUSIC
• Gagaku – classic court music
imported from China during the
18th century
• Kagura – performed in Shinto
shrines
• Nō – chant derives from shōmyō,
the sophisticated and rich
tradition of Buddhist chanting

21. JAPANESE SHAMISEN MUSIC
Nagauta
• is a love song which reached a
golden age in the first half of
the 19th century as dance
music for the henge mono
(quick-change piece)

22. JAPANESE SHAMISEN MUSIC
Nagauta
• is very flexible, can be performed by
one shamisen or by an entire orchestra
of 20 musicians
 10 are shamisen players
 while other play flutes
– a. fue taken from the nō
– b. drums (small drum-kotsuzumi;
waist drum-ōtsuzumi; stick drum-
taiko)