The Four Pillars Of The Japanese Theater

The Samurai’s Tale by Erik Christian Haugaard is about a boy named Taro, the protagonist in the story. The major characters in the story are Taro, Yoshitoki, Lord Takeda Katsuyori, Lord Akiyama Nobutomo, and Togan. The setting of the story is in Japan, in around the 16th century. In the beginning of the story he was presented as a gift by the great Lord Takeda Shingen to Lord Akiyama after his parents had been killed. By using his wits and suppressing his fierce pride, Taro slowly escalates the ranks of his lord’s household until he achieves his greatest goal—becoming a samurai like his father and Lord Akiyama, whom he has come to admire. The life of a samurai is not so easy, Taro finds himself sacrificing opportunities of love and friendship

Creativity of this production is the reason for the success. Their expertise in the field proves that they were qualified for this wonderful production. The theater environment of this play was thrust structure, which allows them to innovation stunning method to display all of scenes.

During the post classical period, 650 C.E to 1450 C.E, Japanese leaders were confronted with several issues that threatened political order in Japan. The problems that arose during that time included a lack of respect for Buddhism, for example, monks were not taking their vows seriously. Another problem included the division between classes in the social structure, one instance was when the lady-in-waiting in the temple showed disdain for the peasants in a lower class than her. Ultimately, one last problem was the lack of overall respect for the government. Samurais were not being properly trained and the Daimyo were fighting among themselves simply for power. The issues that presented themselves during this time period can be solved in many ways. Buddhism, a unified religion, reestablishing Confucian values and relationships, and properly training the Samurai are just

Zeami Motokiyo was a Japanese actor, playwright, and theorist of the Noh theatre. Today, he is widely acclaimed as one of the most innovative thinkers in the history of the stage. According to Shelley Fenno Quinn and her book Developing Zeami, Noh theatre is “an art form that depicts the life of the emotions in a synthesis of dramatic, musical, and choreographed elements” (1). While known for his acting and plays, Zeami is also known for his use of images in nature as a continuous metaphor. For example, the hana or flower is both an aesthetic principle and the soul of the actor of the character or play. It is also beyond that, a spiritual quest. This metaphor is used to evoke a sense of the spiritual and special qualities found in Noh theatre. According to Quinn’s book, “an actor who possesses the flower is one who has cultivated both the sensibility and the technical virility to read his audience to adjust his performance accordingly” (3). While the flower is used to symbolize the soul which every actor should take on, it also important to realize the physical and psychological cross-bordering. In Noh theatre, the physical and psychological cross-bordering is important and allows the audience’s emotional involvement. Although Zeami mainly focused on the actor and the flower, I believe the flower can also relate to the audience. Through this aesthetic movement, the audience can also be perceived as a flower.

the practice by which powerful nations or social orders hope to create and keep up control or effect over weaker nations or society. By the 1800 's, the Western powers had central focuses in this technique. They drove the world in creative advances, giving them a quality while vanquishing distinctive countries. The European Imperialists made tries to vanquish China and Japan. In this methodology, they succeeded by affecting Japan immensely. In any case, they were not as productive with China.

The theatre has been a part of entertainment since ancient Greece, around 4th century BC or thereabouts. The theatre grew out of festivals in honor of the god Dionysus. Aeschylus created the first play in her honor. The first Greek plays were all tragedies but eventually comedy made its way and these plays were performed at festivals all over Greece. Through the centuries theater played the main role of entertainment from noble and royalty to the common person in any city or village, and as we move into the twenties

Players in Los Angeles the most. The theater has introduced to the world over one hundred interesting plays and musicals that talk about the Asian American stories. From the early days of development, Asian American actors were very interested in playing roles of well-known characters in the history such as Shakespeare in traditional way, but Asian American writers couldn’t create a suitable program that worked best for actors in expressing the truly Asian American culture until the 1970s. As the result, nowadays plays and musicals produced by East West Players Company are all written in an Asian sense. The one thing that I like about the theater is that they work not only in favor of any specific Asian culture, not only about Chinese, Vietnamese

Kon'nichiwa! I’m Japan! You probably know me for my aesthetic cherry blossoms and splendid anime, but let me tell you, things weren’t always as kawaii as they seemed. For a loooong time, I was isolated from other countries by my own shoguns and daimyos, my militaristic dictators and their warrior landlords respectively. We got along fine at first, but my common people were becoming increasingly unhappy with their little political power and heavy taxes. Then, on a fateful day in July of 1853, I met… the West.

On December 7, 1941 the Japanese Navy bombed and ultimately destroyed the United States Naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This sneak attack by the Japanese bombers drug the United States into WWII. The attack caused panic and hysteria throughout the United States, because this was the first attack against Americans, and on their own soil. Following the attack, about 1,500 Japanese suspects were gathered by American security to be arrested. Pressure from anti-Japanese media propaganda, local patriotic groups, and politicians requested for removal of all Japanese Americans. On February 19, 1942, then President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, giving authorization to the military to designate “military areas” where “any or all persons may be excluded”. Any being from Japanese heritage was put in an internment camp in western inland United States. When being evacuated, humans of Japanese heritage lost all property and possessions to

Having learnt all this, applications to realism can be made. One interpretation of the structure of Kabuki plays is to have a change in posture and physical behavior throughout the performance, showing progression in the character through their body, and after the character has endured all the trials of the story, the actor demonstrates the character’s ultimate control over themselves and their surroundings. The postures in Kabuki relate to the postures people utilize to reflect who they are. For realistic actors to exploit this, they must focus on forcing every idle moment of rest add just as much characterization and depth to the character as one of extreme action. Ideally, the actor must give each moment a crucial purpose, and the

Yuzan Daidoji, Oscar Ratti, and Thomas Cleary. The Code of the Samurai. Boston: Tuttle, 1999. 10-44.

Theatre today as in ancient Greek times is a popular form of entertainment. Today’s theatres share many similarities with the Greek predecessors however they are also very different. There are in fact many differences for example; layout, special effects, seating arrangement, the importance of drama and religion, setting, location and architectural features.

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?

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

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).