The most traditional forms of Japanese performing arts including kabuki, noh (theater), bunraku and dance are still being performed in Japan in much the same way as they have been for hundreds of years..

Kabuki

Kabuki is a form of traditional Japanese theatre which was developed and enjoyed by the middle and lower classes. The earliest evidence of kabuki dates back to 1603 when O-Kuni, a female servant at the Izumo Taisha Shrine in Kyoto arranged for a troupe of performers to put on a show in order to raise money for the repair of the shrine.

Early kabuki featured both male and female performers who were often times geisha. During the Tokugawa period some of these performances became so immodest that female performers were banned from the stage and male actors took on the female roles (onna-gata). With the emergence of a strong merchant class in the Edo period, popular culture thrived and kabuki became more sophisticated and stylized. The kabuki traditions established during the Edo period continue to this day.

Popular themes for kabuki plays include historical events, love relationships and moral conflict and are somewhat reminiscent of operatic themes in the West. Actors dress in elaborate costumes and their make-up is designed to accentuate the particular character being portrayed. Sometimes masks are used. Kabuki plays are accompanied by traditional Japanese music featuring the shamisen (three-stringed lute-like instrument), Japanese flutes and drums. Actors speak in a slow monotonous tone using old-fashioned phraseology making it difficult for people today to understand. The delivery is dramatized by exaggerated physical gestures and body movement. Kabuki theatres are equipped with rotating stages enabling rapid set changes and trap doors through which actors can quickly appear and disappear. Another unusual feature of the kabuki stage is a walkway (hanamichi or "flower-walk") which extends out into the audience.

There are several popular kabuki theatres in Japan today including the Kabuki-Za, Meiji-Za, Kokuriju Gekiji and Shimbashi Embujo in Tokyo; the Shin Kabuki-Za in Osaka and the Minami-Za in Kyoto.

Noh Theatre (noh)

Noh is the oldest form of theater in Japan and first began as a mimed performance. It remained a relatively undeveloped art form until it became popular with the samurai class during the fourteenth century. Right up through the Edo period, Noh was enjoyed almost exclusively by the ruling and upper classes unlike kabuki which was popular with the common people.

Noh is essentially an abstract form of theatre which utilizes highly stylized dance and vocal delivery accompanied by traditional Japanese instruments and singing. Actors dress in elaborate costumes and wear masks. The stage set is sparse which heightens the dramatic effect of the overall performance.

Bunraku (the art of puppet theater)

Bunraku is the oldest of the three classic forms of Japanese theatre (kabuki, noh, bunraku) having been performed for nearly a thousand years. During the 17th century it developed into the form which is enjoyed today. The puppets are one-third life size, stringless marionettes which are animated by handlers - one supports the puppet and works the head and right hand, another the left hand, and the third works the feet on male puppets and the skirt on female puppets. Because the puppets are colorfully attired and the handlers shrouded in black, the handlers all but disappear as the audience's attention is drawn to the marvelously animated figures.

The puppet heads are made of wood and represent a variety of characters such as young unmarried women, men of great strength, the young and old and expertly crafted to portray a wide range of human emotions. The National Bunraku Theatre of Osaka has about 400 heads of about 40 types with some 40-50 appearing in each play. Puppet heads are meticulously cared for and most are useable for 100-150 years. The oldest head at the theater was made in 1850.

The puppets perform dramatic works in the form of special chants (jouri) to the accompaniment of the traditional stringed instrument - the shamisen. The 'tayu' is both the narrator and the voice of all the parts including men, women and children.

Often referred to as the Shakespeare of Japan, Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724) wrote plays for both Bunraku and Kabuki theatre which were very popular with middle class audiences of the time and are still widely performed today.

Bunraku was once one of Japan's most popular forms of public entertainment. However over the past two decades, its audiences have been gradually dwindling in the face of competition from movies, T.V. and video games.

In an effort to reverse this trend, in April of 2001, Kazuko Yoshioka and several other Bunraku enthusiasts founded the Osaka based Bunraku Oendan (Bunraku booster club). Osaka is home to the nation's most prestigious Bunraku theater - the National Bunraku Theatre of Osaka (Bunraku-za) which has more than 6,000 loyal patrons. Kazuko and her club members have been promoting Bunraku at the theatre by hosting free seminars and lectures as well as by circulating flyers throughout the community.

A big boon to the art came last November when UNESCO designated Bunraku as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage. In order to celebrate this designation and increase the appreciation of Bunraku worldwide, this past April, the National Bunraku Theatre launched a yearlong program in which 30 non-Japanese would be given free tickets to 5 performances at the theatre. These efforts seem to be working as audiences, including both Japanese and foreign nationals, have been returning to the theater to enjoy this exquisite art form.

Japanese Dance (nihon buyoh)

Nihon buyoh is classical Japanese dance in which the dancer wears a kimono selected for the particular performance and often times uses such props as the sensu (folding fan) and tenugui (a length of cotton cloth). These props are used symbolically and can represent a variety of inanimate objects (mirror, letter, umbrella, sliding door, flower, etc.) or to express emotion or feeling.

Odori is very similar to nihon buyoh in that it is lively and colorful and is the type of dance most typically associated with kabuki; while mai is much more static and is performed in noh theater. Geisha are trained to become proficient in these various dance forms, however nihon buyoh and odori tend to be the most popular.

Japanese folk dancing is the type of dance performed at festivals and parades and most Japanese people learn at least one or two routines. With thousands of street festivals occurring throughout Japan during the course of a year, most Japanese at one time or another participate in one of these dances.