|
CURRENTS
|
Bunraku puppet plays are one of the most fascinating forms of classical theater in Japan. Elaborately dressed in historically correct costumes of the feudal era, the puppets are about two-thirds life-size. Manipulators standing behind the puppets are dressed in black and concealed up to the waist by a special stage. The puppets' antics are amazingly lifelike. Sometimes three persons manipulate the main character puppet. The plot is recited by a balladeer, accompanied primarily by the music of the samisen.
Kabuki is the drama of the common man, although this was not always the case. Kabuki plays trace their origin to the feudal days of the Tokugawa Shogunate. In 1603, a priestess called Izumo-O-Kuni began to perform strange dances in public in an attempt to raise money for her shrine. Her dances imitated warriors, courtesans and other figures of the day, and soon became flirtatious and downright bawdy. Troupes of wandering geishas began performing Kabuki. The Tokugawa government, outraged by this affront to public decency, banned women from such performances and instituted all-male troupes with young boys playing the parts of women. The young boys were later replaced by older men called onnangata who raised female impersonation to a respected art form. Kabuki is an actor's medium. The plots are often weak melodramas but with artful settings, dazzling effects, and magnificent costumes. Kabuki is the most recognized and enjoyable medium to visitors. It involves audience participation with people calling out loudly to actors and moving about the theater. Ikebana, the art of flower arranging, probably came into prominence as a visual highlight for the tea ceremony. There are over 20 nationally famous styles (schools) of ikebana, each applying its own particular philosophy of arrangement. However, a common concept holds that the arranged flowers should represent ten-chi-jin (heaven-earth-man). The main upward branch represents heaven; branches to the right are man; and the lowest branches on the left are the earth. Attention is also paid to the kind of flower used, where it is placed, and the shape of the vase that holds it. Most arrangements are very simple and not at all like the floral bouquets prevalent in the West. The Japanese Tea Ceremony is a medium for attaining enlightenment and composure by focusing on the transcendental quality of human imperfection in a perfect cosmos. Approaching a religious rite, the ceremony can be quite lengthy. Guests are generally ushered through a rather small door into a tiny anteroom, where the tea ceremony utensils have been arranged with painstaking artistry for visual enjoyment. Guests sit Japanese-style, with legs tucked under the body, on tatami mats. In formal tea ceremonies, a simple dinner of prescribed dishes is served and eaten according to strict rules. The host serves a high grade of powdered, pea-green tea, which has been placed in a lovely bowl and whipped to froth with a tiny bamboo whisk. When offered, the bowl of tea should be taken with the right hand and the palm of the left hand should be placed flat under the bowl. The guest should bow twice in gratitude, once to the tea master and once to the Buddha. Before drinking, the bowl should be turned, using the right hand, to the left so that the most beautiful side of the bowl is turned away. The tea is sipped noisily and then the area where the lips have touched is wiped with the thumb and index finger. A sweet cake is served on a tiny napkin. After the cake is eaten, the napkin is used to further wipe the bowl. The bowl is again rotated to the left so that the guest can admire the beautiful side before placing the bowl back on the table.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Traditional
Arts in Japan