PAPER: Living Wood and Still Bodies

Written in December 2014 Wrote this after studying the Bunraku and Kabuki theaters, specifically the relationship of influence each theater form has (or had) on the other, from a historical, aesthetic, and performative context.

Living Wood and Still Bodies: Analyzing the Relationship Between Bunraku and Kabuki

When considering the variety of theatre the world has to offer, few have such spectacular a tradition or are as recognizable as the Kabuki and Bunraku theatres of Japan. While historically the two art forms were highly competitive with one another, scholars have argued for one art form being the more or less direct influence of the other for years. Upon studying the historical factors, visual aesthetics, and movement styles of both forms, however, it becomes apparent that discussion of this topic cannot be as clear cut and dry as some of these scholars make it out to be.

Similarities between Bunraku and Kabuki can easily be drawn today, but when both forms first emerged in the late sixteenth century, they were very different from each other. As James R. Brandon describes in his research, “one was wedded to the word, one to the human figure” (113). The puppet theatre, originally called ningyō jōruri, began as a narrative art that was illustrated by simple and rather crude puppet figures. Kabuki on the other hand focused entirely on the physical presence of the performer in a dance-drama form where actions were mimed to song lyrics and music (Brandon 114).

Figure 1: Nakamura Utaemon VI (1917-2001) performing as an onnagata

Due to several historical developments, however, Bunraku and Kabuki gradually drew closer together to become the tightly related theatrical art forms recognized today. The first of these developments arose from the effect of governmental oppression and interference on the Kabuki theatre. Originally performed by women having been founded by a woman, the Kabuki was highly sensual entertainment that capitalized on the physical beauty of its female performers. This first started to change once the government barred women from the stage in 1628, thus requiring male Kabuki actors to concentrate on cosmetics, costume, and gestures in order to appear as women. This in turn led to female-role specializing actors within the troupe, later to be referred to as onnagata (Ortolani 176).