Magazine

Japanese Theater

At the turn of the twenty-first century, Japanese theater was the recipient of several accolades. In 2001, Noh, and its comic counterpart Kyogen, were placed on that year's UNESCO Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. These were followed in 2003 by Ningyo Johuri puppet theater (also known as "Bunraku"). The final Japanese form of theater performance - still awaiting a similar recognition - is Kabuki. More than once Japanese theater has influenced European stages and with its precise stylizations, storytelling, stage apparatus and acting techniques it is one of the most highly developed forms of theater in the world.

The history of Japanese theater reaches back to the period between the fifth and tenth centuries A.D., when musical influences and dance styles began to make their way into Japan from China via the Korean peninsula. In the oldest known Japanese chronicle Kojiki (712 A.D.), we can find a colorful description of the lascivious dance performed by the goddess Ama no Uzume no Mikoto. The ritual Gigaku dance, which is still performed today, follows in the tradition of this mythological dance. The dramatic Gigaku dance, originally from India, was created in the seventh century. Gigaku dancers wear masks completely covering their heads. This was followed by the development of the hypnotic court music known as Gagaku, which accompanied the majestic Bugaku dance.

The first blossoming of Japanese drama took place during the fourteenth century, when the epic-lyrical Noh theater developed alongside its joking, comic counterpart Kyogen. Among the most famous performers of the ostentatiously beautiful Noh theater were Kan'ami (1333-1384) and his son Zeami (1363?-1443?), who was amongst other things the author of many theoretical treatises including Fushikaden (Book of the Flower), a work that today continues to influence those involved with theater around the world. Noh was also favored by the ruling Shogunate. In fact Joshimitsu, the third Shogun, fell in love with a young Zeami - thus assuring Noh of a glorious future. Noh was the exclusive domain of the ruling classes until the middle of the nineteenth century and it has remained virtually unchanged for all of its six-hundred-year history. The actors dressed in beautiful robes or "Shozoku" are in sharp contrast with the simple square stage, which lacks both a curtain separating it from the audience and sets. The actors and musicians arrive on stage via the Bridge of Dreams or "Hashigakari" from backstage. This bridge is a de facto link between the worlds of the living and the dead as Noh plays are mostly confrontations between reality and the materialized dreams of the unreal world. The actors move in a characteristic walk along precisely defined curves and each gesture carries with it meaning. The primary actor or Shite wears a wooden mask. The majority of the anonymously-written Kyogen comedies are timeless interludes that continue to entertain audiences today.

Two forms of folk theater developed simultaneously during the seventeenth century: the Ningyo Joruri puppet theater (later known as Bunraka) and Kabuki. These two forms complemented each other and at the same time competed for audiences. In contrast with Noh, these were the domain of the townsfolk. Ningyo Joruri developed from the combining of puppets with the musical accompaniment of the shamisen, a plucked three-string instrument. The duo that ensured the everlasting fame of Bunraku was the narrator Takemoto Gidayu (1651-1714) and the playwright Chikamatsu Monezaemon (1653-1724). Puppet theaters have undergone a continuous process of development and improvement, resulting today in puppets performing on stage today that are controlled by three puppeteers. The main puppeteer is responsible for the head and right hand, the second the left hand and the third the legs. The resulting teamwork is so perfect that we have the feeling that it is the puppet controlling the puppeteers behind it. The acting by the puppets is accompanied by the Gidayu or narrator, who speaks for all the characters, and a Shamisen player. The repertoire of this genre is mostly plays set in towns that present a confrontation between "giri" or social and moral obligations and "ninjo" or human emotions, which are often repressed.

During its peak in popularity, folk theater was full of innovation - some plays were literally written overnight. The founder of Kabuki was a woman named Okuni. The "Okuni Kabuki" or Kabuki with female actors, which established the form, was a thorn in the side of the Shogunate. The social hierarchy - based on a ranking: 1) samurai, 2) peasants, 3) craftsmen and 4) traders and merchants - completely ignored the existence of folk theater actors. In 1629, women in Kabuki were replaced by young boys, who were in turn replaced by men who had passed through the coming-of-age ceremony. This latter tradition has remained and today Kabuki actors are still exclusively men. During the course of its history, Kabuki - which translates as the art of singing and dancing - has developed into one of the ingenious dramatic art forms in the world. Carnality is stressed in the suppression of the face through the use of masks. This carnality is in turn stylized into traditional conventions known as "Kata."

Women's roles are played by men known as "Onnagata," who in their expensive costumes appear to be more feminine than women. Kabuki uses a particularly striking form of makeup, which in itself conveys meaning to the audience. Kabuki actors as a rule always apply their own makeup. In some ways, Kabuki can be compared to our own Baroque theater - everything is possible and the audience must never feel bored. Some Kabuki plays were original and others were borrowed from Bunraku puppet theater. As there are no directors in Kabuki, everything is in the hands of the lead actor and the acting art is passed from father to son. Kabuki experienced its greatest innovation in the first half of the nineteenth century, when plays with ghostly themes became quite popular, especially during the summer months. In the theater itself, there is a footbridge or "hanamichi" that leads through the audience. This space serves an important element of the stage. Around the theater, spirits will be seen to float in space, real water and theatrical blood will flow. The world of the Kabuki has always been one unto itself and has had an important influence on events in society. For example, women would dress in accordance with the latest fashions as determined by the actors playing women. Actors were the subjects of many Ukiyoe woodblock prints that would enthrall Europeans. Even today, Kabuki theaters continue to enjoy great popularity.

Japanese theater has also been quite influential in Europe. The actor Kawakami Otojiro with his wife Sada Yacco was the first to perform in Europe. In February 1902, they appeared in Prague and Brno. Ota Hanako danced in Prague in 1908 and again in 1914. Both of these women captured their audiences with their exotic performances. Some newspapers even compared Sada Yacco to the French actress Sarah Bernhardt. However, neither Yacco nor Hanako were professional actresses - they were in fact originally geisha performers; the dancing they performed was quite different from that of the famed Kabuki. Europe nevertheless fell in love with Japanese theater. The German-born director Max Reinhardt used the rotating stage that had been invented fo Kabuki in the eighteenth century, beating modern film to the punch. This technology had been noted by the Russian director Sergei Eisenstein, when in 1928, Moscow hosted a Kabuki theater for the first on the European continent.

In 1911, the Japanese plays Terakoya and Asagao were translated into Czech. Asagao, which is a romantic play about an unhappy young woman, greatly appealed to Jiří Frejka, one of the leading representatives of Czech avant-garde theater. Frejka presented the play successfully at the Modern Studio in 1929 in cooperation with E. F. Burian's Voiceband. Frejka used the rhythmic declamation of the Voiceband as the narrator of events and the actors were masked. Asagao has been performed in a number of Czech adaptations and today is most often seen in puppet theaters. Kabuki theater was last seen in the Czech Republic in 1994. Let's hope that we will soon see Japanese theater here once again.

Petr Holý

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