John Michael Gian
What is Kabuki?
• Kabuki- meaning “off balance”
or “unconventional”
• Ka for music, bu for dance, and
ki for skill
• Okuni drew inspiration from Buddhist dances
with contemporary forms
• Plays that once lasted a full day, but today
only last about 5 hours.
• Includes themes of feuds,
revenge, adventure, and romance
Kabuki Stage
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
• 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.
The three main categories of the kabuki
play are:
• jidai-mono- historical, or pre-Sengoku
period stories
• sewa-mono- domestic, or post-Sengoku
stories and
• shosagoto - dance pieces
Jidaimono, or history plays, were set within the
context of major events in Japanese history. Strict
censorship laws during the Edo period prohibited
the representation of contemporary events and
particularly prohibited criticising the shogunate or
casting it in a bad light, although enforcement
varied greatly over the years.
Sewamono focused primarily upon commoners
(townspeople and peasants). It is generally related
to themes of family drama and romance.
Actors are separated into two
main categories:
• Onna-gata - female roles
and;
• Aragoto - male roles.
Most main characters in Kabuki plays are
aragoto, because of its super-stylized
masculine, heroic style.
Onna-gata Role(left) Aragoto Role (right)
Kabuki "Hero" character
Make-up is also one of the most iconic
parts of Kabuki. Actors apply their own make-
up by painting their faces and necks white,
then adding stylized lines in red, black, or
blue. The colors and lines that are used tell
you what kind of character is being
performed.
• Red and blue are usually aragoto roles, onna-
gata playing young women have very little
paint
Kabuki make-up, provides
an element of style easily
recognizable even by those
unfamiliar with the art form.
Rice powder is used to
create the white oshiroi base
for the characteristic stage
make-up, and kumadori
enhances or exaggerates
facial lines to produce
dramatic animal or
supernatural character.
• The color of the kumadori is an
expression of the character's nature:
• red lines are used to indicate
passion, heroism, righteousness, and
other positive traits;
• pink, for youthful joy;
• light blue, for an even temper;
• pale green, for peacefulness
• blue or black, for villainy, jealousy,
and other negative traits;
• green, for the supernatural; and
• purple, for nobility
Kabuki props are often quite interesting.
Flowing water is usually represented by
fluttering roles of linen; and creatures
like insects and foxes. Props often have
symbolic meanings. Fans are used to
symbolize wind, a sword, a tobacco
pipe, waves or food.
Costumes are swung from sticks
or manipulated by helpers who come
on stage dressed in black hooded
robes so they are invisible to the
audience. The female characters
generally wear an elaborate kimono
and obi.
Costume changing is considered
as an art. There are special teams
that take care of complete and
partial costume changes and are
done as part of the performances.
1. A platform that raises the performers
from below the stage in Japan’s
Kabuki.
a. Hanamichi c. Mawaro butal
b. Kogakudo d. Suppon
2. It is a Japanese terminology which
means male roles.
a. Aragoto b. Suppon
b. Onna-gata d. Hanamichi
3. It is the Japanese traditional drama.
a. Kabuki c. Nang
b. Peking opera d. Wayang Kulit
4. In Kabuki theater art, fan as props
symbolizes
. c. rain
a.
b. Bird
insects d. wind
5.The female characters in Kabuki
wear an elaborate.
a. Balinese costumes
b. Kimono and obi
c. Saya and Barong Tagalog
d. Xingtou
