Summary of Japan, Kabuki, and Bunraku: Crash Course Theater #23

00:00:00 - 00:10:00

This video discusses the Kabuki and Bunraku theater styles of Japan, which are more emotionally-driven and action-based than the Noh theater style. The video tells the story of Tokubei and Ohatsu's suicide from Bunraku, which is particularly poignant, and shows the difference between the two styles. The video also mentions that Kabuki and Bunraku are still being performed today, and that Kathakali, a Southeast Asian dance drama, is coming up next.

• 00:00:00 Kabuki is a form of Japanese theatre that uses a curtain. Kabuki developed during the Tokugawa Shogunate, a military government that ruled from 1603 to 1868. After a series of disastrous civil wars, the government finally achieved peace and prosperity, while practicing a strict isolationism that allowed native arts to flourish. But, all that repression needed an outlet, and so Kabuki began with a female dancer from the Izumo Grand Shrine named Okuni who began to perform publically on a makeshift stage in a dry riverbed in Kyoto. Her programs got really popular, and eventually Okuni began mixing dance with little playlets and occasional cross-dressing to create lengthier shows. Courtesans began adopting her style and making increasingly elaborate performances set to the music of the shamisen, a three-stringed lute-like instrument. These performances included dances, jokes, and a lot of sexy costumes with scenes set in bath houses, because, you know, courtesans. This style was eventually called the Onna Kabuki, or Women's Kabuki. An alternate name was prostitutes singing and dancing. Even though this was supposed to be a theatre for the emergent middle class, and samurai were supposed to be above this kind of thing
• 00:05:00 In the 18th century, Kabuki and Bunraku were the most popular forms of Japanese theatre. Kabuki was a literary form, while Bunraku was focused on puppets with moving eyes and eyebrows. Both forms had innovative stages and used elevator traps. The most famous Bunraku playwright was Chikamatsu Monzaemon.
• 00:10:00 In this video, Crash Course discusses Japan's Kabuki and Bunraku theater styles, which are more emotionally-driven and action-based than Noh theater. Tokubei and Ohatsu's suicide story from Bunraku is particularly poignant, and shows the difference between the two styles. Crash Course also mentions that Kabuki and Bunraku are still being performed today, and that Kathakali, a Southeast Asian dance drama, is coming up next.