Kabuki

Today, I went with the 1st and 2nd grade junior high students from my school to see a kabuki performance. This was the view from my seat on the 2nd floor of the National Theatre of Japan in Tokyo before the performance began, and as you can see it was full of students from all around the Kanto area (the large plain stretching out from Tokyo) of Japan. This was my first time to see this style of performance, and lucky for me it was all paid for by the school.

When you think of kabuki, for those who have heard of it before, you may picture the elaborate make-up and sets that depict ancient samurai battles. Those performances are numerous, however there are also the more general story-telling performances that draw people to the live theatre. Today's performance was light on the make-up and heavy on story telling.

According to the description given, this play (Sakanaya Sogoro) was first performed in 1883 but the story is a famous and much older legend. There were no elaborate costumes or samurai battles, just a simple story of sorrow, revenge and one's conduct under the influence of alcohol in a strict hierarchical society. It was easy to understand and enjoyable - I liked it.

However, I would like to share with you some of the informative and fascinating descriptions of kabuki that were given in the English narration. Yes, you can now get an earphone with English explanations of the structure of the theatre, theme, genre, and characters of the play, as well as translations along the way. These earphones aren't only for the foreign visitors. In fact, most of the audience were wearing an earphone to have the old language/expressions translated into more modern and understandable language. Think of it as having an earphone at a Shakespearean play at the Globe Theatre.

Kabuki began around the time of Tokugawa Ieyasu, in 1603 (Wikipedia entry). It is not to be confused with noh dramas (masks), bunraku (puppets), or other performances like rakugo (comic story-telling). There are a number of things that stand out in a kabuki performance - constant music (particularly shamisen), elaborate costumes and make-up, and eye-catching body language. The specific eye movements, feet-stomping, head and hand movements all convey meaning and would obviously take many hours of practice to master. It is easy to notice that perfection when it is performed in front of you, as opposed to the amateur interpretations we all do afterwards. Another stand out fact is that all of the actors are male, even the female roles. Strangely though, you forget this fact mid-way through the performance.

According to the description of kabuki performances that I heard on the earphone during the interval, a kabuki performance focuses more on the presentational, as opposed to a western theatre performance that focuses on representational. What does that mean? Well, a western style theatre performance tries to mirror reality and the actors are pretending to exist in that situation. On the other hand, kabuki does not try to mirror reality, instead the actors know they are acting in a theatre. That probably doesn't sound clear enough, after all kabuki stories are set in a specific time and place aren't they? Well, to try and make it more understandable, think of Les Miserables or Romeo and Juliet. Those performances make you feel as if you are there in Paris or Verona and you are feeling the semantics of the words expressed and deeply invested in the tragedy unfolding. On the other hand, kabuki makes you focus on the actors themselves; the make up, the costumes, the movements and the sets. Even though the story is important, there is less emphasis placed on the language and more on everything on the stage that assists the actor. I loved the term used by the narrator, that everything on stage serves as vehicles for the actors, or "access keys". Since its ancient beginnings, people primarily have come to kabuki to see the actor act out the story more than the story itself.

I get it now. It took a few minutes to get used to the over the top acting, but after a while you are captivated by the crisp uniqueness and beauty of the production. It wasn't that expensive either - around $15 for cheap seats with an extra fee for earphone hire. I think I will go back again privately with the family one day and enjoy a more difficult play set in more ancient times. These are notoriously more complex to understand and elaborate in their set design and costumes. I recommend it to visitors to Tokyo as well, if you have the chance.