Art comes in many forms, and often or not, it comes through entertainment. Today, we'll be exploring the performative art of "Kabuki" and its cultural significance, especially for gender and gender roles.
Originating in Kyoto, Japan, Kabuki dates back to the Edo period during the beginning of the 17th century, particularly when a shrine maiden and dancer named Izumo no Okuni performed dances that parodied Buddhist prayers. It's known for its emphasis on makeup, expressive facial expressions, and dance. It was popular among townsfolk and gained particular popularity with the Samurai.
Kabuki often focused on imitating or referencing historical events, but also had a deep fondness for plays that focused on forbidden love. These plays were broken into three categories: Jidai-Mono, which focused on historical plays, Sewa-Mono, which were contemporary, domestic plays, and Shosagota, which was simply Kabuki dance.
The Love Suicides at Amijima
The Courtesan Umegawa and Chubei of the Courier Firm
The Love Suicides at Amijimais one of my favorite examples of their focus on forbidden love. Made by the famed playwright by the name of Chikamatsu Monzaemon. While originally starting out in puppet theatre, it got its own Kabuki performance, being the story of two lovers who make a suicide pact or "love suicide." Another famous work of his is The Courier for Hell, another forbidden love story ending in the two lovers' deaths.
The Courtesan Koharu: Frontispiece for a Novelette based upon the Chikumatsu Performance "The Love Suicides at Amijima"
Most notably, the Love Suicides at Amijima is based on a real event that took place before the formation of the play, and is the main inspiration for its creation. The Love Suicides at Amijima is definitely an interesting tale, and it takes an interesting look at gender roles-- with the main character, Jihei, examined for his role as a man and his relationships, and Koharu, a lower-class woman and prostitute, who is often demeaned for this fact. One of the most acclaimed scenes of the play can be seen here, which highlights the amazing performance of Jihei's committed suicide.
These are just two examples of plays with these themes, but I find them incredibly interesting. Something about the focus on love is endearing, and while it's difficult to find full clips of the performances, I really enjoy them from the shots I've found.
While the original Love Suicides at Amijima focuses on puppet actors, I love the amount of expression and feeling that's still exuded. Even with the use of puppets, its themes and acting still make it a serious story. This shot in particular is a favorite of mine.
The Broken Dish
The Broken Dish or Bancho Sarayashiki is a ghost tale, but also takes the form of another kabuki play.
The story is about Aoyama Harima, a direct retainer of the shogun. He deals with commoners, but the exact conflict revolves around his love interest, Okiku, the maid of his household. She doubts his love and decides to break a family dish to test him, and his anger he kills her and throws her body down a well.
I find the story incredibly interesting, being a modern retelling of an old ghost story, but instead focusing on a psychological delve into the two characters. Something I'm fond of are the poetic verses-- especially in Harima's big speech in the second scene. How he quotes that there is "only one love in my entire life."
Out of all the scenes, I could find the most notable one to me is the scene of Okiku's body held over a well. It's extremely striking as it is disheartening to me. It focuses on a more still, quiet composition, not indulging in much of the dance and performance that kabuki is known for, and instead focuses on the solemn feeling of the scene. I feel like it captures that well, and it would be amazing to see live.
Two Lions
Out of all the plays so far, this one has to be by far my favorite visually, and is a breath of fresh air from the dark love stories. Two Lions or Renjishiis the story of two lions. The father lion pushes his son over a ravine, hoping he can climb back up. It's tied to a mythos of lions kicking their children off cliffs to see them power through and climb back up, and the play has a theme of parental love.
The costume design is impeccable, focusing on big, bright colors. Their "manes" are extravagant, and their robes match this feeling. The video below is an amazing example of this.
I feel like Two Lions pulls out the most extravagant and flashy parts of Kabuki, primarily focusing on the performance aspect. I especially love the way the characters move and how dynamic they are in those movements. My favorite part is how expressive they are, playing their characters and roles to an exaggerated T.
The Role of Women and Gender Roles in Kabuki
Kabuki is fascinating. Not just for its exaggerated performance, makeup, and costume, but also for the cultural significance it has.
Kabuki started out as a female-only form of art, all roles primarily done by women and women alone. This stayed for a while until men were added, but women were actually banned from Kabuki due to the abundance of prostitutes and "corrupting morals". Thus, onna-kabuki, which was "women's Kabuki," was banned in favor of wakashu-kabuki, or men's Kabuki, choosing to focus on men only.
The brought an interesting prospect of male crossdressers and men having to play the roles of females alongside the roles of men, and young men were banned for similar reasons of "corrupting morals", and an age limit was put on kabuki, being only played by older men who weren't allowed to play a remotely attractive woman until all bans were lifted around the 19th century.
The discussion of gender and how kabuki is an example of that lack of conformity is interesting, especially when the government tried so hard to make it "conform" in the name of moral panic. It's a key historical staple to Japanese performance culture, and definitely one of my favored topics.
Kabuki is still popular to this day, being its own formalized performative art. While there's definitely still a tradition of all-male actors, we're seeing a resurgence of female actors and all-female bands and a more loosened attitude about the art. It's gorgeous, dramatic, and ultimately it's fascinating.
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