Japanese Kabuki : The Golden Age

Ukiyo-e is the name given to one of the most important art forms in all of Japan. Arriving as a new form of art in the 1700's these prints served as a record of daily life and pleasures in a newly wealthy Japanese society. The Japanese themselves had long regarded pleasure as transient because of their Buddhist heratige, because of this the word Ukiyo-e actually means "pictures of the floating world". These prints were truly art which reflected the whims of the masses. They record popular styles of dress, new hairstyles etc. They also record the popular Kabuki theater actors, the most beautiful geisha's (or prostitutes), and later even landscapes. Within the realm of Ukiyo-e there are many masters, but there is one master,

Wood block art was aimed at the prosperous merchant class with images of beautiful women, historic events, kabuki actors, sumo wrestlers, folk tales, landscapes and beautiful flowers, and erotica.

"A Philosophy of Theater « " East of Mina. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2011.

During the 19th century, theater adopted a realistic viewpoint by romanticism but also a rise in modern nationalism to give people a sense of belonging in a community or culture (Carlson 2014: 21). In the 20th century, realism in theater was challenged and plays were now easier to attend due to the improvements of communication and the ability to reach other areas of the world by travel (Carlson 2014: 23-24). Theater is another addition to the world of art that is continuously evolving and adapting to the world and cultures influencing its

The genre of ukiyo-e, or pictures of the floating world, were meant to " tease the viewer by evocations of beauty, sensuality, and poetic mood which betraying little or no deeply felt individual emotion." This tradition represents a self-centered culture in the lower classes, and occasionally the samurai class compared to the more stable virtuous world ruled by the shogun. Robert Singer believes that this self-centered, entertainment fixed culture began from ancient agricultural rituals, where performers would put on costumes to exorcise demons and bring good luck into a society. These interactions allowed the community to create stronger ties to each other. Singer also states that bordellos "were not merely places for men to purchase sexual satisfaction, though that was undeniably their raison d'etre, but they became centers of sophisticated cultural life in their own right." An individual could go to the red light district and discuss poetry while drinking tea in these brothels, while someone played a shamisen in the background. This screens also served as a means of escaping life through the representation of female beauty. A woman must be shown young, have small feet, flawless features, and she should be "elegant in movement and in dress, her bearing possessed both dignity and gentleness in the arts required of women, and was ignorant of nothing." While Saikaku's description relates some of the more superficial values from the floating world genre, this statement of idealized beauty demonstrates a need in society for these types of images. It represents a necessity in society to create this art form, so one can withdrawal from daily

Introduction The art form of theatre can be traced far back several centuries, with its origin not properly identified. We can find many different styles of it in civilizations from the Ancient Greeks, Ancient Romans, Ancient Chinese and more. It has developed through many styles in order to become what we see on stage today. As new technologies began to emerge in the late 20th century, lights, sound and visualization became increasingly important to theatre.

In the documentary, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, there are many examples of a strong social influence among the Japanese people. In Japanese culture, every individual pushes the other to strive for perfection in their field of work. Japanese elders are highly respected and looked upon for guidance or as roles models. These social influences are what cause the ancient Japanese culture to still flourish through the people of Japan today. Social influences motivate Jiro to strive for perfection and to be a master sushi chef.

The Tokugawa Period (also known as the Edo period) lasted from 1603 to 1867 and was the final period of traditional Japan. It was known as a time of peace (even though the country was permanently at war), political stability, and economic growth under the Shogunate. Like Medieval Europe the Tokugawa Period had a feudal system and was once dismissed as a feudal dark ages but is now known as a shine in the popular imagination as a golden age. The population during the Tokugawa Period was about 1 million and more than 10% of this lived in the

Japanese culture with traditional Noh theatre, Shakespearean plays with Elizabethan theatre, grasping the different components of mythology in Greek tragedy, and seeing the swordfights and lively atmosphere of the Chinese Kabuki theatre. Any one of these cultures or eras could be brought to the stage in a magnificent way with the simple act of a gifted play writer. Globalization through theatre helps us be less ethnocentric and more appreciative of traditions and customs around the world. The selection process of actors is key to how the lines and overall presence of the culture is felt by the audience as well as the empathy the writer used in trying to understand the life of a character in a culture vastly different than their own. Overall, play writers should try to expand the cultures and demographic of people they choose to write about for the sake of not only spreading globalization but also expanding their own writing

During the Tokugawa era Noh continued to be an aristocratic art form supported by the shogun, the feudal aristocrats or daimyo, as well as several wealthy and more sophisticated commoners. While kabuki and joruri, popular to the middle class, focused on new and experimental entertainment, Noh strived to preserve its established high standards and historic authenticity and remained mostly unchanged throughout the era. To capture the essence of performances given by great masters, every detail in movements and positions is reproduced by others, generally resulting in an increasingly slow, ceremonial tempo.

Post-war Japanese society is a world where High and Low art is blurred together by otaku, such as anime, and social class. However, Takashi Murakami straddles the line. Murakami spills a mix of Nihanga and Otaku into the canvases, plastic toys, handbags, shoes, etc; endorsing his own theory/style named “Superflat”. Using strategical subject matter such as popular Japanese comic figures combined with ukiyo-e(traditional Japanese block prints), and addressing these contrasting qualities to outside cultures; Murakami intensifies what Pop Art accomplished, art versus material. On other feelings, one could argue that “Superflat” isn’t a unique, Japan-identified style, that “Superflat” is a humiliation to the Contemporary Art world because of its commercialism. Lastly, that is a continuation of the already well developed Pop Art. On the supporting side, Murakami’s “Superflat” is a high-energy, cross-culture style that serves as a new way to represent the high and low of art that is considerably unique to Japan. To support this, Murakami’s past and present artwork will have to be established chronologically to illustrate how the timeline affects his work.

Japan is an unique oriental country in many aspects, especially in politics and economy, both western practices and traditional nationalism are coexisted in this country. The period 1890-1940 was just followed the Meiji restoration, and was typical in the history of Japan, at that time, Japan was on the way from a feudal country to a capitalistic country, called modernization. Many western practices were being more and more adopted, however, at the same time, traditional rules still had strong influences in Japan. Under this background, this report will discuss the Japanese cultural factors during 1890-1940 that influenced the disclosure

They are the ritualization in Japanese culture, women’s implicit expression of love, women’s hierarchy in 18th Japan, and how the landscape of Japan influences the prosperity of Geisha culture.

To what extent does stage design impact, influence, and enhance a traditional Kabuki theatre performance, more specifically, in the eighteenth century play Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura (Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees) written by Takeda Izumo II, Namiki Senryû I, and Miyoshi Shôraku?

In Kabuki theatre, everything that is seen on the stage is the result of a meaningful inner dynamic which completes the performance by the coordination of the actors with all the various components of the mise-en-scène and then by the traditions of all the various elements being assembled into an organic whole (Kawatake 1990, 247).