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| A powerful and emotional pose struck by an actor, who then freezes for a moment, is a distinctive element of Kabuki performance. Mie means 'appearance' or 'visible' in Japanese, and one of the primary purposes of this convention is to draw attention to a particularly important or powerful portion of the performance |
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A runway that passes from the rear of the theater to stage right at the level of the spectators' heads. Its is used for climactic scenes-spectacular entries, exits, processions, and battles; and for scenes when intimacy and emtional rappaport with the audience are desired. Often equipped with a trapdoor permitting the sudden appearence of ghosts or supernatural beings from below.
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| Male actors who impersonate women in Kabuki. The modern all-male kabuki was originally known as yarō kabuki (man kabuki) to distinguish it from earlier forms. In the early 17th century, shortly after the emergence of the genre, many kabuki theaters had an all-female cast (onna kabuki), with women playing men's roles as necessary. |
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| In Japanese literature and music a type of chanted recitative that came to be used as a script in bunraku puppet drama. Themes of loyalty, vengeance, filial piety, love, and religious miracles were included; dialogue and descriptive commentary took an increasingly large role. |
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Long-necked fretless Japanese lute. The instrument used to accompany kabuki has a thin neck, facilitating the agile and virtuosic requirements of that genre. The instrument used to accompany puppet plays and folk songs has a longer and thicker neck to match the more robust music of those genres. |
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| Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724) |
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Love Suicides at Sonezaki
Japanese playwright, widely regarded as among the greatest dramatists of that country. He is credited with more than 100 plays, most of which were joruri dramas (puppet plays). First author of these that gave puppeteer the chence to display skill and also were well written (of considerable literary merit.) |
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Japanese dancer who is credited as being the founder of the Kabuki art form.It is possible that she was a temple dancer or even a prostitute. She formed a troupe of female dancers who in 1603 gave a highly popular performance of dances and light sketches on a makeshift stage set up in the dry bed of the Kamo River in Kyoto |
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(1603-1868) The last feudal Japanese military gov't. The heaads of gov't were shoguns (generals), all members of Tokugawa clan. Gov't banned women's kabuki in 1629, thought that the sensulaity of dances had a deleterious effect on public morality. Then banned young boys in 1652.
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