David Shapshak
Kabuki theatre, one of Japan’s most ancient and revered art forms, comes to South Africa for the first time this weekend.
Renowned Kabuki actor Satojiro Wakayagi will perform the famed kagamijishi dance (the lion of new year’s banquet) at Sandton’s Theatre on the Square on Sunday night.
Kabuki is quintessentially Japanese. A highly-stylised art form with deeply symbolic gestures and predetermined choreography that requires years of training to master. It is a magnificent blend of play-acting, dance and music, combining traditional Japanese movement forms, instruments and theatre. The beautifully ornate and detailed costumes the actors wear, as well as the make-up and masks, are an art form of their own, incorporating another Japanese discipline in the creation of elaborate silk kimonos costing small fortunes.
The highly codified art form is deeply ritualised and has strong ancestral links. Actors take up the craft of their fathers and grandfathers, a hereditary role which they perfect. At key moments during the performance the audience will extol the actor to deliver his best and to honour his family.
It is rare that Kabuki is performed outside of Japan, and this is the first time it will be demonstrated in Africa. The lion dance tells the story of a young girl attendant at a new year’s banquet in the ladies quarters of Japan’s famous Edo Castle (on the site of today’s Tokyo), who is possessed by a lion’s spirit when she picks up a hand puppet of a lion while performing a graceful dance. Sunday’s play will be the second act, when she appears as the lion and performs a spectacular dance. The piece was first performed in 1893, giving a sense of its history, and the unchanging nature of what has become Japan’s traditional drama.
Kabuki was originally a type of dance, known as Kabuki Odori, which was performed in the then-capital Kyoto at the beginning of the Edo Period – from the early 17th century to mid-19th century – Japan’s most well-known period of history, when a powerful warlord faction, known as shoguns, wrested power from the emperor.
Kabuki, which means “frolicking”, developed as a reaction to the aristocratic No, Japan’s oldest theatre form. It was originally only performed by women; but in 1629 this was thought to be scandalous and actresses were forbidden, as were boy actors. The male onnagata (female impersonators) who took over have become famous for impersonating the other sex, and the roles developed in complexity.
Kabuki is characterised by highly stylised actions and movements, which are unalterable and not open to interpretation by particular actors. Like the more well- known Japanese martial arts, each dance is performed exactly as it has been since it was first choreographed. Known as kata (forms), each movement must be precisely completed. The speech is also stylised, as are the positions on the stage, which signify varying importance for the character who stands in that position. The plays often incorporated the prevailing morality of the time, with many Buddhist and Confucian notions weaved in.
The average Kabuki performances is five hours, but often only famous sequences, such as the lion’s dance, are performed. Like much of Japanese culture, Kabuki is enigmatic to a Western audience. But its sheer spectacle makes it appealing viewing.
The show is being hosted by the Japanese embassy as part of a cultural awareness campaign, which will run until November, and see a host of cultural events being performed in the country. These include a Sumo exhibition next weekend, a film festival in October and a drum concert in November.
Wakayagi is accompanied to South Africa by director Koji Katayama and Naoko Iizuka, who does make-up and costumes. The profits of Sunday’s performance are being donated to charities for under-privileged communities. Tickets are available through Computicket or the theatre.