7 Things You Need To Know About Kabuki Theatres


Kabuki is known out to be the famous form of Japanese performance art. This performance art is a combination of their dance, music, and mine along with the collaboration of sets and costumes.  Kabuki dramas are best depicting the tales that are derived from regional history and myths.  The majority of the modern based kabuki techniques, as well as performers, appeared as directly descended from the original methods or the historical actors.
Do you want to know more about Kabuki Theater? If yes, then here we have the 7 major things which you should know about Kabuki Theater:

What is Kabuki Theater all about?

Kabuki has been originated from three main Kanji characters which are ka which means sing, bu which means dance and ki which highlights the meaning of skills. So overall Kabuki is the art of dance and song!

2. How & When Did Kabuki Started?

Although this art was initiate by women, today all the performers of this art culture are male. It was started in the era of the 1600’s by Izumo no Okuni who was a Shintopriestess. She started this art in different locations in Kyoto. She emerged with a group of ladies which was based on prostitutes and misfits. Women used to portray the characters of both males and females in the plays.  It turned out to be a lot common in red-light districts from which most of the prostitution was associated with it.

3. What is Kabuki Plays All About?

Kabuki plays are divided into three main categories which include jidaimono as well as sewamono and shosagoto. Most of the dramatic sequences of this art performance is resting in between human emotions and mortality.  It depicts the religious values of Japan and pays more focus on community and devotion.

4. Who Are the Popular Kabuki Actors & Playwrights?

Apart from Izumo no Okuni who was the main founding performer priestess, there were so many more key players as well who completely shaped the whole modern Japanese kabuki. One such key player was Chikamatsu Monzaemon who was a Japanese playwright!  He wrote so many scripts of which become so much popular due to the visual effects in it.  We also have the name of Sakata Tojuro I who was an actor associated with Chikamatsu Monzaemon. 

5. Black Dressed Men in the Backstage

Some so many important people normally dressed as black to assist all the performers during the whole show. The main purpose to dress in black was to look invisible so it won’t bring any disturbance during the show performance.

6. Masterpieces of Oral & Intangible Heritage of Humanity

UNESCO even announced to present the appreciation award to Kabuki Theater. They highlighted it to be the first Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

7. Where you can See Kabuki In and Outside Japan?

Today you can watch Kabuki performances in every single state of Japan and even in overseas countries. The whole performance is divided into different segments which are performed once in the afternoon time and later on in the evening time.  This one segment is later on categorized into different acts as well. The ticket for this theater starts from ¥2000 ($18) for one act. Price can be different based on your seating arrangement. The full segment cost is around ¥250,000 ($2,250). Casual clothing is allowed. No revealing or shoes are allowed to wear during the performance.  Tokyo has three main Kabuki theaters in which we have Kabukiza, Shinbashi Enbujo, as well as National Theater. Kabukiza is known to be the oldest one which was established in the 1900s. Below are the details of all three theaters for you:

歌舞伎座 (Kabukiza)
·         Address: 4-12-15, Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo (see map)
·        Website: kabuki-za.co.jp

新橋演舞場 (Shinbashi Enbujo)
·         Address: 6-18-2, Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo (see map)
·        Website: shinbashi-enbujo.co.jp

国立劇場 (Kokuritsu Gekijo)
·         Address: 4-1, Hayabusa-Cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo (see map)
·        Website: ntj.jac.go.jp

Conclusion
So these have been the 7 interesting things which you probably do not know about Kabuki Theater and its high popularity. We are sure that after reading out the details you will be more excited to visit this art performance once. Are you ready for it?

Also read: Importance of Noh Theatre


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ancient Japanese Mythical Creatures

Futakuchi-onna Futakuchi-onna show up as customary lady, in spite of the fact that they have a disguised mouth on the rear of their heads. The  futakuchi-onna  utilizes her hair, which go about as arms, to get close by food and feed her subsequent mouth. In most folkloric stories, the futakuchi-onna was the spouse of a  misanthrope  who once in a while provided her with food. In the long run, the spouse grew a second mouth that requested food, spitting obscenities and shouting in any case, accordingly changing into a futakuchi-onna. Tanuki  Beginning the rundown off solid are the tanuki , or raccoon hounds. Tanuki are genuine creatures local to Japan that look, as their name would recommend, similar to a combination of a raccoon and a pooch. Be that as it may, the folkloric variant of tanukis, heat danuki, are substantially more fiendish and amazing. On the off chance that you have ever been or go to Japan, you have or will without a doubt stumble into scul...
Read more

Why Japanese Anime Characters are So Famous?

The year of 2016 was the time when the anime industry of Japan was revolutionized so much and hence builds a record of around $17.7 billion revenue growth.   This revenue growth was acquired in just the 7 months of the consecutive efforts in the industry .   At the level of the domestic box office, the growth of the anime features was around 14% and the overall overseas sales revenue was boosted at the range of third in comparison with the last years. Now the main question which probably hit so many minds is why the anime characters have been so much popular in Japan !   Let’s explore it! High Popularity of Japanese Animes characters Manga and anime are considered to be the two main elements of Japanese culture. It would not be wrong to make them call out as their main core heart.   This is the main reason that with every single generation the course of their popularity becomes so much high.   Besides, in the last few years, the comic writing of Japan ...
Read more

Noh - An Ancient Japanese Traditional Art

Image
We will introduce one of the Japanese traditional performing arts. Which is called Noh. Together with Kabuki, Noh is a unique, world‐class Japanese form of drama, whose most remarkable characteristic is that a protagonist performs wearing a mask, which is called "a Noh mask". Noh has a 650 year tradition, and it has been named as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. First of all, we'll briefly introduce the history of Noh. Then, we'll introduce the performing stage,the roles of the characters, and the musical instruments used. [The history of Noh] Noh is a traditional performing art of Japan. Its original source came from China long ago in the sixth or seventh century, and mixed with traditional ancient Japanese arts. Then it mixed with other kinds of dance and songs over the years, finally evolving into today's Noh with its plots and matching dances. Noh's very existence had been in imminent danger in its long history. But thanks to the people who ...
Read more