Westernization Of Japanese Theatre Styles

Constantin Stankislavski and Uta Hagan are considered to be two greats in the art of acting. After reading the excerpts from the packet, and the chapters in the book it is really understandable as to why they are so respected in this art. When taking a look into their work there are some similarities about their craft and technique, however there are also some differences, as Utah Hagen branched out as did many others. In this paper, I’ll be taking a look at where these pioneers of their craft share similar methods, and where they differentiate in the use of their technique.

Not only was Oseki’s experience telling of the constructed nature of feminine ideals and gender roles, it also served to highlight the objectification and commodification of women within male-dominated networks of expectations and ideologies. While Higuchi herself was not pushing for any feminist aims explicitly, the end result of eliciting the reader’s critique of the Meiji Japanese society makes The Thirteenth Night a crucial work in reflecting the gender issues then. Higuchi’s use of Classical Japanese in her writing could also be seen as a deliberate attempt to carve out a uniquely-feminine sphere within the male literary sphere and challenge male hegemonic writing practices. As such, the Classical Japanese that Higuchi employs in her writing can be interpreted as a ‘feminine’ language as

In 1603, the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate allowed Japan to stay at peace until 1868 (Theatre histories 203). The return of peace allowed for a new culture to emerge that was the opposite of samurai elegance and control; there was a new form of entertainment called Kabuki. These types of performers reversed gender roles and mocked samurai rulers, which caused the samurai, traders and workers in wealthy towns to disapprove of these performers. Even though they were annoyed at these performances, it “confirmed what they took to be their innate superiority to the rowdy culture of the cities” (203). The success of these performances can be explained by the cultural hierarchy theory. The cultural hierarchy is the idea that cultures create a divide to depict the ethical differences. There is a high-status

Nō drama plays an important role in Japanese literature. It was an important entertainment in the old days. It also was significant in reflecting the Buddhist view of existence.1 Most of the Nō dramas were written according to popular novels or prose works. In this essay, I would like to introduce two Nō dramas, Atsumori and Nonomiya, as well as the respective sources references.

In early eleventh century Japan, circa the year 1021, noblewoman and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu published The Tale of Genji, widely renowned as the world’s first novel. The work is set in Shikibu’s contemporary Heian period of Japan, in which political and social ranks dictated society’s functioning and heavy prejudices were placed on those deemed unsuitable for the affairs of public court life. Women fell under this umbrella of outsiders, meant to live primarily behind screens and closed doors only to be seen by their father and husband. It is believed that Shikibu wrote such a tale of forbidden romance and whimsical court affairs to bring life to her fellow women who shared in such a limited existence. This single piece of literature manages to wholly represent the Heian age of Japanese history, embodying the period’s culture and seamlessly incorporating a broad spectrum of themes of civilization.

In American culture the word, conformity, seems to have a negative connotation, but in countries like Japan, conformity seems to be a way of life. Why are the Japanese so willing to conform? Why are they so willing to be just like everyone else? The following will summarize a short video about Japanese conformity, as well as provide my own analysis of the video, and my own views on Japanese conformity.

In a scene from The Five Rings, an actor with a face white as chalk, his hair arranged in an elaborate Japanese traditional style, stares out at the audience. His eyes are slightly crossed, his teeth bared, his tongue hanging far out of his mouth. He meets the world salivating, spit dripping down his chin and mixing with the white paint, his eyes unblinking. It is almost difficult to take in a person with such extremity, such brutal singularity. This overt challenge to the viewer is part of what makes butoh such a fascinating theatrical form. Arising in Japan in the late 1950’s, butoh thrives on mystery, provocation, and primal energy.

The word Noh is derived from the Sino-Japanese word for “skill” or “talent”, which is exactly what theatre brings to an audience, whether it is a show off of Broadway that everyone knows and loves, or a local high school production of a new play or a world premiere no one has ever heard of. The Noh plays of Japan have been compared to the greatest of Greek tragedies for their meaningful, powerful poetry and splendidness of emotional intensity. The Noh Theatre is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the mid-14th century. “Stemming from the popular entertainments in Nara during the Heian period (794-1185), in conjunction with various ritual offering dances, Noh was created during the latter half of the Kamakura period (1185-1333) and the early part of the Muromachi period 1336-1573” (Introducing the World of Noh). This old tradition of theatre is still relevant and can still be performed today. But what really brings towards the power amongst the Noh Theatre? Is it the costuming and the masks that the performers would often wear? Is it the design of the set and the plot of the story that makes plays so intriguing? Is it the sounds of the musical instruments played on-stage along with a chorus or underlying vocals to back things up? With all of this power from the Noh theatre, there must be a “key” aspect that keeps everything held together without the famous Japanese theatre from falling apart and what makes the theatre feel so real.

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.

Through the source of books and journals on Asian Theatre, it will be visible how the Asian theatre community has developed and blossomed within todays British mainstream theatre. Through deeper research on Asian theatre, I will explore the diverse cultures, traditions, and principals of the Asian theatre and what message does it portray in today’s modern theatre society. Finally, through all the information researched and analysed I’ll be able to articulate the common and uncommon grounds that British and Asian theatre

At the beginning of era of Meiji, 1868-1912, the management of Ezo became the reclamation of Hokkaido due to the Meiji government that is new Japanese government of this era. This included a “nihonka” or “douka”, a transformation of nation-state. As a result of this transformation, Ainu people were forced to be considered Japanese. This management made the identity of Ainu people less important. First of all, Ezo changed its name to Hokkaido in 1869 by the Meiji government because Ezo became a formal territory of the Meiji government. The government made family registers for Ainu people who lived in Hokkaido to adapt Ainu people as Japanese people (Kazushi 22). This nihonka simply led to a cultural imperialism. Cultural imperialism is a concept that is an imposition of a politically or economically dominant society’s culture onto another less dominant society. For example, the Ainu group was known for hunting, fishing, and gathering, but the Meiji government prohibited hunting and fishing most of area in Hokkaido. It made huge impact on the Ainu society because it made Ainu people weaker and sick due to being not able to eat food that they used to eat. They used to live with nature and nature was a part of their lives, but because of those prohibitions by the Meiji government the Ainu’s habitat was getting worse. The Ainu culture was taken away by the Meiji government to become as one nation, Japan. Moreover, most Ainu people were not familiar with farming because they had

Peter Webber directed the movie ‘The Emperor (2012)’ based on the modern Asian history. His interest towards the history of Japan devoted him to make this film. When he heard about the story, he thought it was a good opportunity to go back and examine what happened. Vera and David wrote the script from the movie. The director wanted to show the courage of two great leaders. A lot of research was done by the writers. Peter himself read several history books such as a detective investigation’s of smoked filmed offices, clothes they wore. (1)

A play is a form of literature performed onstage usually by a group of actors, to allow different characters to be portrayed in order to create a storyline with interaction and dialogue. However, one-man plays do certainly exist. These performances often have to make up for a lack of character interaction, by using a complicated set or using multiple costumes. In the one person play, Empire of the Son, the playwright and performer, Tetsuro Shigematsu, creatively uses technology to develop the characters of the father and the son, which are both portrayed by a single actor, and to develop the themes of the play. Using script direction and actual events that occurred in the Shigematsu’s lives, I will argue that the unique use of technology significantly influences and reveals the memories of Akira Shigematsu’s tumultuous relationship with his son Tetsuro – the sole actor in this play; the father’s devastating connection to World War II and finally, the augmentation of the motif of migration during Akira Shigematsu’s life, which is also closely tied to his profession as a radio broadcaster.

The throbbing crowd of Japanese business men all dressed in a suit holding a briefcase in a crowded train station is a common image associated with the culture in Japan. Japan’s culture has promoted a lifestyle where work is prioritized over everything else and consumes the time of most adults. In Response to this stressful work culture, Pop Culture has emerged in Japan as a way of providing various mediums for escapism. For many Japanese adults, the time to create new relationships in the form of romance or friendship has had to be given up due to the high expectations of work. Fred Schumann who wrote Changing Trends in Japan's Employment and Leisure Activities: Implications for Tourism Management, wrote about trends in Japanese leisure activities and wrote: “Today’s consumers in Japan appears to be less materialistic and more experience focused.” (Schumann 2017, 51). With the decline of human connection, the rise of artificial and paid for services has increased. I will be discussing the significance of these leisurely outlets to the Japanese people and why there has been a rise of these outlets in Japan. Affective labour is a term that can be used to describe work and positions that invoke emotions onto its customers. This is a description of the category that all the jobs discussed in this essay fall under. Furthermore, an article written by Scott M. Fuess delves into the work culture and leisure time taken by the Japanese and finds that “Japan is renowned for

In the following essay I will illustrate the story of Kabuki by discussing, the drama and the performance background of Japanese theatre. At first, Kabuki was the theatrical art that developed during the Tokugawa period between 1600 and 1868. However, Kabuki is one of the four great art forms of Japanese theatre and is more accurately considered as the ' 'Traditional stage art of Japan ' ', (Inoura and Kawatake 2006, p. 133). In the early 17th century, the origins of Kabuki were in the songs and dances of a woman named Okuni. Okuni Kabuki was the earliest dramatic amusement that was designed to entertain the ordinary people in Japan. The aesthetic spirit of the dances proved to be too unruly for the government and in 1629 forbid the women of Japan from performing. Older men undertook the roles of the women, developing into an appearance entirely of men entertainment that has passed until today. By the early 18th century, Kabuki became a standard art form that was in a place of a serious, dramatic performance of truly moving situations. However, Kabuki became the people’s theatre and gave a bright commentary on contemporary society, (Inoura and Kawatake 2006, p. 217-222).