Big Blog 2: Kabuki Theater

Kabuki is a term you may have heard before in some form of media, or you might have heard of Kabuki masks. What you might not realize is that Kabuki is a form of traditional Japanese theater. Kabuki theater is one of the three major forms of classical theater in Japan. It traces back to the Edo Period of Japan (1603-1868), during the Genroku era where Japan was culturally isolated by the shogun. Art forms like Kabuki were created during this time as entertainment for the people who couldn’t find it elsewhere. As you will see, Kabuki is characteristically Japanese and expressive in nature because of this isolation. 

Kabuki is all about showmanship and tends to be a very exaggerated art form. Everything including the costumes, make-up, wigs, movements, performance, music are all very stylistic and exaggerated. This exaggeration is necessary to convey the message of the play because they use an older form of Japanese which is hard to understand. This is similar to European theatre like Shakespeare being hard for us to understand because of the older version of English being used. The stages themselves are also complex, having revolving platforms and trapdoors for special effects. There is also a footbridge, known as a “hanamichi”, that leads through the audience, that the actors can walk across when their entering or exiting for an effect. Interestingly enough, Kabuki started with mostly female casts. Later, a restriction was placed that prevented them from participating in Kabuki. To this day, all of the members of Kabuki theater are male and there are specific male actors who specialize in female roles. Another unique aspect of Kabuki theater is the fact that they usually only show a part of a larger story. Therefore, it helps to know a little about the story being told beforehand. All of these elements are enhanced by the sections of traditional instruments being played to create the ambience or control the emotions of the audience.

Before learning about the music in Kabuki theater, you must know a little about the music in Noh theater first. Noh is an older traditional Japanese form of theater that utilizes an instrumental ensemble called hayashi-kata. The instruments used in this ensemble are…

The Taiko: Japanese drums, or membranophones, varying in size and played with sticks. You might have heard or seen this one before, but they are mainly used to control the tempo by keeping a steady beat or create drama by playing with exaggerated dynamics and rhythms. 

The Ōtsuzumi: Hourglass-shaped drums with very tight heads that produce a high and sharp sound. These are hand drums that are played on the left thigh of the musician. Because the heads are so tight, the players usually develop callouses on their hands that they have to treat from time to time. To produce the sound they want from these drums, the heads are made from horsehide and must be kept dry at all times.

The Tsuzumi: Smaller, hourglass-shaped drums that can produce four different sounds. These drums are crafted very meticulously, created with foal skin as the heads and using hemp chords to control the pitch, much like a talking drum. If crafted correctly, these drums can last centuries, and some players still use tsuzumi that were crafted during the Edo Period. These are also hand drums, but they are different because they must be kept moist. Players will breathe on the heads regularly during a performance to keep them moist. The four sounds produced are known as pon, pu, ta, and chi. The pon and pu sounds are produced by keeping the chords slack and hitting the middle of the drumhead. The ta and chi sounds are produced by squeezing the chords and hitting closer to the edge of the heads. These hits sound pretty much how they are spoken. 

Ōtsuzumi on the left and Tsuzumi on the right

The Nohkan: A high-pitched bamboo flute. It is created by burning or smoking bamboo pieces and gluing them together. They then cut out 7 finger holes and an oval embouchure hole that the player blows through. The high pitches and overtones produced create lots of drama and tension in the music. 

Kabuki theater initially used hayashi-kata ensembles, but later added other instruments, predominantly the shamisen. I talked about the shamisen in my last blog if you want to learn more about it, but it is a three-stringed instrument that varies in size and is plucked with a plectrum called a bachi. The shamisen is now very prevalent in Kabuki music and is used in every play. 

Kabuki music can be divided into three different categories: geza, shosa-ongaku, and ki and tsuke.

Geza: This category includes music and sound effects played on stage, behind a black bamboo curtain. It is performed at the beginning and end of an act, during scene changes, when actors enter and exit, and in the middle of their lines. Geza is essentially background music or atmospheric music used to fill in the gaps. It can be further subdivided into three more categories. The first is Uta, which is singing accompanied by a shamisen. The next is aikata, which is just shamisen with no singing. The last is narimono, which is small percussion instruments being played. 

Shosa-ongaku: This is music that is played onstage that accompanies acting and dancing. Included in this category are four music styles known as takemoto, nagauta, tokiwazu, and kiyomoto. Takemoto accompanies acting while the other three accompany dancing. Takemoto is essentially the narration parts of the play, and the actors try to synchronize their lines with the rhythm of the music. Nagauta involves singers, known as utakata, and shamisen players known as shamisenkata. The shamisenkata use thin-neck shamisen in this style to produce delicate melodies. Next, tokiwazu has reciters and shamisenkata that use medium-neck shamisen. This style is slower and more solemn than the others. The last style is kiyomoto. It is similar to tokiwazu, but it has more emotion and is spoken in high pitches. 

Ki and Tsuke: This is striking of two, square oak boards in two different ways. The ki sound is produced by hitting the boards together. The tsuke sound is created by hitting them against a hardwood board. These can either be “signaling sounds” or possibly sound effects for fight scenes. 

Kabuki theater is still popular today and most Japanese people have seen some form of it. It is popular enough to be known in surrounding nations and have some influence in foreign nations like ours. Kabuki masks, which you might have heard of, are masks made to look like the make-up used in Kabuki theater that are sold to audiences or children. Modern Japanese art, like anime, have many elements from Kabuki theater, especially the music, and continue the tradition. If you were to see some aspect of kabuki, it would likely be in some tv show or movie, and now you will be able to tell where kabuki masks come from. 

“Geza: Production and Music in Kabuki: Invitation to Kabuki.” Geza | Production and Music in Kabuki | INVITATION TO KABUKI, https://www2.ntj.jac.go.jp/unesco/kabuki/en/production/music2.html#:~:text=Geza%20is%20performed%20at%20the,and%20create%20on%2Dstage%20atmosphere.

“Kabuki.” Theater, https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2090.html.

“Traditional Japanese Music.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Apr. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Japanese_music#Kabuki.