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1375
Noh THeatre
Around 1375 Noh theatre began, It's characteristic form was developed by Kiyotsugu Kan'ami and his son Zeami Motokiyo. Zeami wrote 50 of the 250 plays that are still active Noh repertory. Most of the plays in the present Noh repertory were written over 400 years ago. Zen Buddhism is a major influence on Noh's view of the world. Noh dramas are classified into five groups: God plays, Warrior plays, Women plays, Madness plays, and Demon plays. -
Period: 1375 to
Asian Theater 1375-2010
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Period: 1375 to
Asian Theater
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1400
The Shrine in the Fields
The Shrine in the Fields is usually attributed to Zeami. It belongs to the third category (woman play) and is based on episodes from one of the most famous of Japanese novels, The Tale of Genji.
Each Noh play is set in a specific season of the year, named early in the drama, and the mood and imagery of the entire play must be in keeping with that season. In The Shrine in the Fields the time is late autumn, the seventh day of the ninth month. -
Doll Theatre
The doll theatre, Bunraku, in which large puppets represent the characters, came to prominence in the seventeenth century. The major writer of plays for doll theatre was Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724), Japan’s greatest playwright. -
Kabuki
Kabuki, the most popular of the traditional forms, also first appeared in the seventeenth century. More open to change than other forms, it has borrowed many of its plays and conventions from Noh and Bunraku but has adapted them to its own needs. Kabuki uses a great deal of scenery, the settings are not meant to be fully illusionistic. White floor mats are used to represent snow, blue mats to indicate water, and gray mats the ground. -
Okuni
Okuni might have been a temple dancer or even a prostitute. Okuni assembled around her a troupe of wandering female performers who danced and acted. Okuni’s Kabuki was the first dramatic entertainment of any importance that was designed for the tastes of the common people in Japan. The sensuous character of the dances, proved to be too disruptive for the government, which in 1629 banned women from performing. -
Chikamatsu Monzaemon
Chikamatsu Monzaemon, wrote many different kinds of plays but is best known for his five-act history plays and his three-act plays on contemporary life. Admired above all for his plays about the double suicides of lovers, his sensitive characterizations, and beautiful language. -
Ban on Women
The ban on women’s performing Kabuki lasted until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Before this boys and men performed as women in the theatre. -
1900's
Japanese modern drama in the 1900s, consisted of shingeki, Western-style theatre. Which employed naturalistic acting and contemporary themes in contrast to the stylized conventions of kabuki and noh. Hōgetsu Shimamura and Kaoru Osanai were two figures influential in the development of shingeki. -
Peking Opera
The classical Peking opera (ching-hsi) in China is a form of musical theatre in which music is one among several elements rather than a governing factor, as in Western opera. The vocal writing alternates between styles broadly equivalent to recitative and song. Peking opera is the most dominant form of Chinese opera which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It was banned in the 1960's by the communist party. -
Current Kabuki Theatre
Present time, regular performances are held at the National Theatre in Tokyo. Tokyo was also home to the Kabuki Theatre (Kabuki-za), which closed in 2010. An office tower, which includes the theatre was opened on the site in 2013.
