preview

The Four Pillars Of The Japanese Theater

Decent Essays
Japanese theater has four main pillars of the classical theater consisting of, Kabuki, Noh, Kyogen, and Bunraku Puppet Theater. They all have deep roots, the longest of them being Noh, dating back to 1363, after the Prince Shotoku converted to Buddhism, and Kan’ami and Zeami refined the court arts and created Noh (Mitchell 239). Following Noh came Bunraku, emerging during 1603-1867 (Mitchell 240). Bunraku was very popular until Kabuki came out, in the late 18th century, and overcame the many accusations against the art (Mitchell 242). The interesting thing about Japanese theater is that its focus is strongly on tradition, and being so it is passed down from the elder people of the generation to the younger so that they can keep the theater…show more content…
In the mid 1800’s Kabuki Theater tried to make a revival, and they did, yet it was not as strong as it once was because they tried to incorporate a multitude of Western culture into the theater (Japan Fact Sheet). Once they found a happy medium between the traditional culture and the modern culture with writers such as Okamoto Kido and Mishima Yukio, who were not previously involved in Kabuki, Kabuki began to grow in popularity again (Japan Fact Sheet). Kabuki today closely resembles the a close family of actors in the hierarchy, the staging of past plays (Japan Fact Sheet). Kabuki has a strong alliance with the famous celebrities, and they are often found on the stage (Japan Fact Sheet). Noh Theater is known as characteristically simple (Introducing the world of Noh). There are no sets or props on the stage, and to keep it simple the Noh stages have no curtains to separate the audience from the actors (Introducing the world of Noh). This has stayed the same throughout most of the history of Noh (What is Noh?). In noh, there is also a sense of unity throughout, all of the Actors and ensemble are always on the stage together, they function as one, all the actions that they perform on stage are simple (What is Noh?). A main aspect of Noh is the masks that the actors use. They are called “Hannia” they are an extension of the actor and become the face that the audience sees (Noh Masks). Noh theater was founded
Get Access