A Kabuki Reader

History and Performance

Samuel L. Leiter

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9781317478034
• Topic: Historia
• Subtopic: Historia asiática

Unique in any Western language, this is an invaluable resource for the study of one of the world's great theatrical forms. It includes essays by established experts on Kabuki as well as younger scholars now entering the field, and provides a comprehensive survey of the history of Kabuki; how it is written, produced, staged, and performed; and its place in world theater. Compiled by the editor of the influential Asian Theater Journal, the book covers four essential areas - history, performance, theaters, and plays - and includes a translation of one Kabuki play as an illustration of Kabuki techniques.

Part 1

Kabuki History

1

The Performing Arts of Sixteenth-Century Japan: A Prelude to Kabuki

Andrew T. Tsubaki

The 100 years beginning from the Onin wars of 1467 and ending with Oda Nobunaga’s succession to power in 1568 were characterized by social and political uncertainties so vast that the period is called “the age of the country at war.” Despite this strife, the energy of the people for maintaining the various performing arts remained high. With the temporary peace enjoyed during the reign of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the populace seized the opportunity to formulate their own unique contribution to the performing arts. This art form, initiated by the shrine dancer Okuni, was a prelude to the kabuki theatre of later days.

The emergence of Okuni and her kabuki odori was no mere accident. From a historical perspective, we can now see diverse forces contributing to the process by which such an art form was molded, forces that were operating in the late Muromachi and Momoyama eras. This study will present a survey of the major forms that contributed to the formulation of kabuki forms such as nō, kyōgen, ningō jōruri (puppet theatre, called also by its popular name bunraku), and certain kinds of folk theatre activities.

The Japanese performing arts of the sixteenth century were at a low point, as if in a valley surrounded by the two gigantic, surveyed peaks of the established theatre, the fifteenth-century nō drama and the seventeenth-century kabuki. The seeming inactivity of the performing arts in the sixteenth century, however, takes on new significance when carefully examined in the context of their contribution to the emergence of kabuki.

By the process called “gekokujō“—that is, the tendency of the lower class to displace the higher (typical of the samurai during “the age of the country at war”) the newly emerging kabuki and the ningyō jōruri would replace the nō and the kyōgen, forms that were somewhat more refined in their style and appeal. In other words, the dynamic power that created kabuki was in the hands of amateurs, or common people, while the true professionals, the performers of the nō and the kyōgen, began to retreat behind the curtain of refinement.

The man who contributed most to the refinement of nō was Zeami Motokiyo (1364–1444), the second head of the Kanze School. His emphasis on yugen (the beauty of gentle gracefulness) helped to raise the level of sophistication of the art to a great height. This tendency toward sophistication was in a sense motivated by Zeami’s desire to cater to the interests of the shogun Yoshimitsu, who, as military governor of the Ashikaga family, was a great patron of the arts.

The main thrust of Zeami’s creativity centered on the tragic heroine of noble birth, whose refined appearance was most suitable to enrich his performance with yūgen of the highest quality. This emphasis on yūgen resulted in a greater reliance on buka (dance and chant) than on monomane (mimicry). The latter term is used to indicate the representation of realistic movement, clearly defined conflict, and a carefully delineated characterization.

Zeami’s strong inclination toward yūgen was not new. Inuō, an older contemporary performer, was known to have been extremely skilled in plays that revealed yūgen. Kannami, Zeami’s father, also adopted the quality in his performance. But it was Zeami who refined the technique to its highest level in his performances of nō.

The well-placed emphasis on buka and yūgen was further observed by such masters as Onnami (1398–1467), the third head of the Kanze School and Zeami’s nephew, and Komparu Zenchiku (1405-ca. 1470), Zeami’s son-in-law. After Onnami, however, there was a series of rapid changes in the headship due to early deaths of successive heads. Masamori, the fourth head, died in 1470 at the age of forty-one. He was followed by Yūken (d. 1500), who inherited the position at an age just under twenty. Dōken (d. 1522) also succeeded at an early age, as did Sōsetsu, who became the head at the age of thirteen. Sōsetsu matured into a meijin (a great master) and was patronized by Tokugawa Ieyasu, initiating the long association of the Kanze with the Tokugawa shogunate. Ieyasu was the first shogun of the Tokugawa family, which reigned over feudal Japan for more than 260 years until the modernization of Japan forced its downfall in 1868.

During this critical period for the Kanze School, Kojirō Nobumitsu (1435–1516), the seventh son of Onnami, guided the two youthful heads as their regent and teacher. Nobumitsu’s son Yajirō Nagatoshi (1488–1541) also functioned as teacher to Sōsetsu and contributed greatly to the preservation of the tradition. Even more important than Nobumitsu and Nagatoshi’s contributions to the Kanze School is their contribution to the art of playwriting. They expanded the scope of the nō play and intensified its dramatic impact. Without their contributions, nō would have remained a purely lyrical and highly elaborate storytelling art form. Their plays were an indication of the sensitivity to conflict and characterization, two elements of drama much prized in Western aesthetics. In their work there emerges the geki nō (dramatic piece)the earliest prototype of the kabuki.

There are fifteen plays by Nobumitsu still in the repertoire of genkō-kyoku (240 plays currently producible). Among them, the following are intensely dramatic and very popular even today: Ataka (The barrier at Ataka), Funa Benkei (Benkei in the boat), and Momijigari (The maple-viewing). Nine of the fifteen plays by Nobumitsu are of the geki nō variety. Only three of Nagatoshi’s works remain in the repertoire and they are hardly ever performed today. Three others are cited as his works but are no longer performed. Two of these six fall into the category of the geki nō.

Geki nō are relatively more theatrical than earlier works. They have a high level of conflict, rich characterization, and a strong narrative quality. This contrasts with mugen nō (dreamy, impressionistic nō), with its otherworldly quality, where ghosts appear and where elegant dances and subdued chants reinforce the rich lyrical moods.

Nobumitsu’s interest in the geki nō may be attributed to the following reasons: nō plays that emphasized buka and yūgen had quite possibly reached the peak of their development by this time. Kannami had written several plays that emphasized the realistic element of monomane with significant success. (Nobumitsu was to carry that form forward in such richly dramatic pieces as Ataka and Funa Benkei). Then, too, because of its character development and conflict-oriented situations, geki nō tends to be exciting and glamorous. Audiences may have begun to tire of yūgen. [See Kominz’s essay, chapter 2. Ed]

Other more complex factors may have contributed to the evolution of the geki nō. Both Nobumitsu and Nagatoshi were obliged to provide interesting plays as vehicles for the young heads of their schools. Yet, in doing so, they had to deemphasize the shite (principal) roles performed by their comparatively inexperienced masters. Hence, the rise of the geki nō form witnessed a heightening of the importance of the waki (secondary) roles. Just as classical Greek drama gained in dramatic strength and complexity by the development of the deuteragonist, the nō gained significantly from the new emphasis of the waki role.

“Imaginatively weaving life into operatic dance drama,”¹ Nobumitsu successfully introduced a new form of the nō theatre. Since then, there have been no significant changes in the genre.

Research materials available on the early aspects of kyōgen are extremely limited. An early form of kyōgen primarily concerned itself with celebrating various festive occasions by means of dance and chant.² It seems reasonable to assume that during the time of Shirō Jirō and his successor Uji Yataro Masanobu a form of kyōgen appeared that revealed a more complex story line, a greater amount of conflict, and an increased taste for satire. Although we cannot be certain precisely when the shift occurred, we may safely assume that it took place sometime between the beginning of the sixteenth century and its midpoint.³ The transformation of kyōgen may very well have paralleled that of nō by increasing the number of characters, developing dialogue among them, adding representational movement to enhance reality, and, in general, attempting to escape from the powerful grip of the buka-oriented style.

Through the writings of Zeami and others, we learn that as early as the mid-fourteenth century kyōgen plays were performed on the same program with nō plays. The Tadasu-gawara Kanjin-Sarugaku (Subscription performance at Tadasu dry-riverbed) of 1464, listing some twenty kyōgen plays by title, is our earliest record. Due to its spontaneous commedia-like nature, kyōgen resisted formalization until the mid-sixteenth century. Sometime during the Tenmon period (1532–1554), a Buddhist priest, Shōjō-shōnin of the temple known as Ishiyama Honganji, noted in his diary several titles of kyōgen plays he had seen.⁴ There also exists a collection of synopses of over 100 kyōgen plays known as Tenshō-bon. This collection is dated “On an Auspicious Day of July in the Sixth Year of Tensho,”⁵ that is to say, 1578.

But the first solid record of kyōgen scripts does not appear until 1642, when an eight-volume anthology of kyōgen plays entitled Kyōgen nō Hon (A book of kyōgen) was compiled by Okura Toraakira (d. 1662), the thirteenth head of the Okura School. The anthology contains over two hundred plays, mostly in full versions, with a note that the plays, hitherto transmitted orally for many generations, were presented here for the first time in written form. Toraakira also left a treatise called Waranbe-gusa (A book for the youngsters), completed in 1651. This work transmits a secret tradition compiled for posterity. It contains many important materials relating to the history, art, theory, and critici...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Illustrations
• Preface
• Introduction
• Part 1. Kabuki History
• Part 2. Kabuki Performance
• Part 3. Surveying the Field
• Selected Bibliography
• About the Editor and Contributors
• Index