国際交流基金 The Japan Foundation Performing Arts Network Japan

Overview art 解説


The Birth of Dance Spots
A factor in the emergence of the new generation of young artists was the existence of artistic spaces that discovered and trained new talent for contemporary dance. Initially during the 1980s, aside from Tatsumi Hijikata’s Asbestos Studio, a rehearsal space and performance hall managed by Butoh groups; and Dairakudakan’s Toyotama Garan, the only venue producing dance performances was Jean Jean, a small theater in Tokyo\'s Shibuya area. Subsequently, a number of private companies decided to improve their public images by supporting the arts, so they opened performance halls where contemporary dance was performed, including Spiral Hall and Park Tower Hall.
In the second half of the 1990s, new vacant spaces appeared in the urban buildings aban-doned during the recession and were transformed into artists’ spaces, and the epicenter of the current movement was in the many "dance spots" that were established during that period. Session House put on many unique productions, such as a festival made up of ten-minute short works, or a presentation at which the audience decided the admission price after seeing the performances. The space known as Die Pratze produced the Dance Festival "Dance ga Mitai," in which the featured dancers and program changed daily. ST Spot in Yokohama was administered by volunteers and had a perceptive dancer as its curator. Located in a small municipally supported theater, it became a base of operations for budding dancers, with support for everything from auditions of new dancers to creation of new works. Osaka’s Art Theater dB was administered by a non-profit organization, Dance Box and became a gateway to success, as well as a base for contemporary dancers in the Osaka area. In all these cases, producers knowledgeable about dance were in charge, and they cooperated with one another in training young artists.
In addition, public theaters such as Itami AI Hall, Setagaya Public Theatre, and Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse came to the fore as venues for dance. By producing their own projects and providing continuous financing, they have become a major factor in supporting the dance scene.

Private Support and the Activities of the New Generation of Producers.
Private corporations began supporting the arts as a part of their social contribution programs in the 1990s. Among the companies that actively supported contemporary dance, including creative works of unproven value, were Asahi Breweries , Kirin Brewery Co., Ltd., Toyota Motor Corporation , and the Saison Foundation . Toyota in particular joined with the Setagaya Public Theatre in 2001 to establish the Toyota Choreography Award (chosen by a committee chaired by Ushio Amagatsu) with the objective of discovering the next generation of choreographers. After only two rounds of awards, it has become known as a prize that opens doors for new choreographers.
Another element supporting the vitality of contemporary dance is the activities of a new generation of producers. In contrast to producers in Butoh, who doubled as company leaders and worked with only one company, these producers work independent from dance companies and found their own production companies. They have changed the system in significant ways by receiving private and public support for mounting a variety of productions at festivals and other project.
In addition, non-profit organizations in Japan have just begun to play a groundbreaking role in this area. For example, the Japan Contemporary Dance Network (JCDN) , a non-profit organization founded in 2001, works cooperatively on disseminating information and selling tickets, sending performers out to perform on demand, conducting workshops, and otherwise trying to provide an environment for dance performances and to increase the popularity of dance among the general public. Many artists also participate in the activities of the non-profit organization Artists and Children, which sends dancers to perform in elementary and junior high schools.
With the arrival of this new generation, artists, who once disliked forming interdisciplinary ties, have begun to think seriously about their role in society, which marks a major shift in their consciousness. They also have a strong desire to perform overseas, actively seeking to participate in artistic showcases. In an increasing number of cases, they make their overseas debut before having established a reputation in Japan. We have no way of knowing the extent of the creative potential of the new generation of artists, but we hope that this expanded outlook leads to unprecedented advances in the art of dance. Hogaku in compulsory education and other major changes
Education has gone through changes to be consistent with the times. In 1998, the Ministry of Education (the present Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) revised its curriculum guidelines, making it compulsory to teach about traditional Japanese musical instruments in junior high school music classes starting in 2002. The ministry also included in its primary school guidelines a strong recommendation to use traditional instruments in music classes.
It is now mandatory for college students studying to be music teachers to take courses in traditional Japanese songs and drums. With this "big bang" in music education - 130 years after the previous reformation - teachers and schools that have been studying and teaching Western classical music are making a concerted attempt to change their focus.
The first to react to this shift was the music industry. Leading companies, including Yamaha Corporation, were also eager to develop new instruments. Traditional instruments are very expensive and made from natural materials that are difficult to repair. In addition, these instruments are made by ultra-small-scale enterprises and couldn’t produce the quantity required for schools. The educational changes developed a market for inexpensive, easy-to-manage, mass-produced instruments, and a new range of traditional instruments was created to meet this demand.
In order to reduce costs, drums were made by joining thinned wood together, and the body was coated with plastic, instead of hollowing out a tree trunk and stretching animal skin over the head - a process that costs several million yen. The koto was shortened to two-thirds its original length for easier handling, and manufacturers used high-density plywood for the body instead of expensive paulownia wood. The cheaper production methods were meant to give people easier access to the instruments and to win more advocates of hogaku , including those who have wanted to practice it but had second thoughts because of the cost. Meanwhile, development of instruments had been going on to satisfy the desire of musicians seeking a more sonorous sound. This is represented by the electric shamisen, "Mugen 21," developed in 1990. The emergence of this instrument allowed the shamisen to be played with high-volume drums and synthesizers, and this has further broadened the field for young musicians.
Barriers between music schools erode quickly
Hogaku had for a long time passed on its artistic tradition through ryuha , the branches of schools operated by disciples of the iemoto , the founding family of a school. This system effectively hands down intangible culture in a consistent fashion. At the same time, however, even with the same instrument being used, different schools employ their own method for music notation and there is constraint on playing with the musicians from other schools. Although Japanese classical music may be a single category, there is music that certain schools are prohibited from playing because of iemoto rules. This is a factor blocking the musical development of hogaku .
However, the rise of young musicians has created a spurt of activity that crosses traditional boundaries. There was recently an incident in the shakuhachi world that symbolizes this trend. In the past, a specific shakuhachi honkyoku (solo piece) of Kinkoryu (a particular school) had been passed on at a mendicant Zen temple (Komusodera). This piece was not to be performed by players of other schools, but any shakuhachi player would want to play this piece during the course of their career and there was an unending demand to learn it. Tozanryu (another school) finally succeeded in inviting a Kinkoryu player to hold a workshop.
The trend for people of the younger generation opening live houses dedicated to hogaku , and music competitions featuring traditional instruments and vocals at the National Theater of Japan held uninterruptedly, for instance. As you can see just from these examples, for the past five years the world of hogaku went through a transition that can be described as a period of storm-and-stress. Yet the interest of the media and the public has not reached the real world of classical Japanese music. The growing interest is still in a phase at which people are drawn to novelties like Beatles songs and other rock pieces played with the koto and shakuhachi . Meanwhile, both koto and shakuhachi advocates are falling in number and fewer people are playing. "Classics are the cream," says shakuhachi player Hozan Yamamoto, but there are players emerging who are good in contemporary music but unable to play the classics. The fact is that the new shift is toward a mixture of Japanese and Western music, and current musical expression based on the traditions of hogaku has significant scope to mature.
Lastly, what follows is a brief note on Japanese drums that have also bocome very popular overseas. Their popularity comes from the easy- to-learn technique and the wide age range of the drummers. The towns in some regions are taking the initiative in forming drum groups to revitalize the tradition. These steps have resulted in so many professional and amateur groups being formed that the actual figure is unknown. Since World War II, creative drumming developed from regional entertainment like festivals. This was referred to as "contemporary folk art," although a majority of the performances are fairly standard and there are few professionals who have actually developed the music into something worthy of admiration. Above all, HAYASHI Eitetsu is an outstanding asset and a trailblazer among soloists who pursue artistic quality in music and refined stage direction. Kodo, a school producing many drummers (Hayashi graduated from this school), is notable for drum groups. In the generation following Hayashi, the work of HIDANO Shuichi , ETO Leonard and Tokyo Dagekidan are drawing attention. Appearance of the Fifth Generation and the Latest Trend
The fourth-generation leaders during the 1990s included two who had a significant influence on the following generation. These were Keralino Sandorovich (Japanese playwright and director) of Nylon 100°C, a troupe that adopted a wide range of materials to develop its comedy with a serious side, and MATSUO Suzuki (playwright, director, and actor) of Otona-keikaku company, who was the most highly rated talent since NODA Hideki.
The presently active leaders of the fifth-generation small theater scene include NAGATSUKA Keishi , KIDA Tsuyoshi, MURAKAMI Hiroki , MATSUMURA Takeshi , and CHIBA Masako. Born from the late 1960s to the 1970s, these talented people are often referred to as the \'Matsuo children\' and \'Kera (short for Keralino) children\'. One common factor in this fifth generation is that they have very little of the collective group quality that was a formative element in earlier small theater. Japanese small theater had been characterized by the exploration of distinctive styles within the group activities carried on by the various exclusive ways, and by their expansion of the possibilities of performing arts for the small theater as a whole. On the other hand, however, that collective group quality also meant that almost all of these companies, although with some exceptions, had no choice but to disband in order for their members to progress beyond the amateur level.
The times changed, however, and growing numbers of young companies appeared that did not depend on this kind of collective group quality and that were not differentiated by any major differences in performance style. In recent years, therefore, there have been many activities on the small theater scene that have not been restricted by the troupe framework, such as specially produced performances and ensemble activities by artists who feel compatible with each other.
One trend in the new generation that must be noted is the rise of regional theater. Where the small theater scene had been overwhelmingly concentrated in Tokyo, a shift started to take place from the late 1990s. A series of new playwrights emerged in Osaka and Kyoto and gave a fresh impact on theater scene.
Various background factors from the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s led to this happening. For example, many theaters that opened in the Tokyo metropolitan area organized programs of specially produced performances that highlighted the talented small theater members who were popular among young audiences. Creators and producers of small theater who disbanded their companies also formed production companies that ended up being involved in producing many of the performances of this kind.
Major roles in this were played by the Ogimachi Museum Square (closed in 2003), a theater that served as a base for small theater in Osaka, and the Itami Ai Hall, a public theater established by Itami City in Hyogo Prefecture. Both of these theaters concentrated on supporting young artists, and the OMS Drama Award, established in 1994, encouraged the development of playwrights. Winners of this award include MATSUDA Masataka, SUZUE Toshirェ, IWASAKI Masahiro, and TSUCHIDA Hideo. MATSUDA and SUZUE went on almost immediately to win the Kishida Kunio Drama Award, which is the door to success for Japanese playwrights. The tendency for the regional theatrical scene to be energized was also stimulated by the construction of many public theaters throughout Japan during the 1990s. New talent has already emerged and achieved nationwide recognition, although the link with local regional theater has been maintained as a base for these activities.
Two other new movements in the small theater scene are the great rise in popularity of workshops and the appearance of open auditions in small theater. The workshop boom occurred in large part because new needs emerged that Japanese society had not previously experienced. As a result, for instance, education programs were started at the public theaters constructed throughout Japan, and a movement began to put stage performance skills to use in children\'s education. Small theater directors were provided with a place to use their skills outside the creation of a theatrical performance, and this represents an enormous change that will no doubt influence the theater environment of the future.
Small theater started holding open auditions because the fall in real estate prices due to the collapse of Japan\'s economic bubble resulted in a rapidly growing number of vacant buildings and other such unused facilities in city centers. Many small theaters that rent such spaces can today be found throughout cities, providing bases for amateur theatrical activity. It will be very interesting to see how the small theater movement will reflect these changes in the creative and performing environments ten years from now. Noh Drama
Nohgaku (Noh drama), which was designated a "Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO in 2001, has a history going back 600 years to the 14th century time of ZEAMI Motokiyo, who created some one-third of the Noh plays being performed today. Noh drama is made up of two parts. One is the musical dramatic form of Noh proper, in which the performers sing and dance to the accompaniment of four instruments called the shibyoshi - the flute ( fue ), small drum ( kotsuzumi ), large hand drum ( okawa ), and large floor drum ( taiko ) - and a chorus called the jiutai . The other part is kyogen , a spoken dramatic form that is primarily comic. Noh in particular uses ultimately simplified movements that have had all excess expression pared away in order to dramatically convey its various contents according to the aesthetic of yugen (mysterious profundity). Noh is known as the world\'s supreme performing art in achieving the beauty of yugen .
Since the time of ZEAMI, Noh has had patrons in the ruling class of society. It received particular protection during the Edo Period, when the shogunate government designated Noh as shikigaku , the ceremonial performing art to be used in ritual observances. As the performing art supported by the shogunate government, Noh was maintained at a level unaffected by popularity among the populace, and after the downfall of the warrior society, Noh continued to be sustained by leading figures in government and patrons in the newly powerful industrial conglomerates known as zaibatsu . The need to acquire fans among the common people only arose after World War II, when Noh lost its patrons with the dissolution of the zaibatsu . Noh is presently establishing an economic foundation through education of fans and programs of performance.
This history as a performing art supported by the ruling class of society has left its mark, so many Japanese people still feel that Noh is refined and difficult, and that Noh theaters are only for connoisseurs. Efforts have been made, however, to make Noh more popular, such as the opening of the National Noh Theatre in 1983, and the Yokohama Noh Theater, which is operated by Yokohama Arts Foundation. Large, young audiences have also been attracted to experimental performances, and Noh has become popular enough that tickets can be difficult to obtain. Performances of takigi Noh, which is held outdoors at night by torchlight, grew more numerous in the early 1990s and have become extremely popular.
Despite all this, however, the audiences that make their way to the theaters operated by the various schools of Noh are very limited, and are also increasingly elderly. This situation appears finally to have been recognized as a crisis by the performers, and the extremely confined world of Noh gradually began to display some new departures starting about five years ago. Young Noh masters have formed a group called Kamiasobi that crosses the rigid lines between schools, for example, and four young performers of the Konparu School formed Za Square. These represent the beginnings of a movement to make Noh appealing to youthful sensibilities, and they are attracting growing numbers of fans.
Meanwhile, performances of the comic kyogen in easy-to-understand, colloquial Japanese have been steadily rising in popularity. NOMURA Mansai, for example, has played leading roles in television dramas and movies, and is the artistic director of the Setagaya Public Theatre. The group TOPPA! - made up of six members of the SHIGEYAMA family of the Okura School in Kyoto, including SHIGEYAMA Masakuni, Munehiko, and Ippei - has attained star status among the young.
The kyogen world has a rich array of talent across the generations. NOMURA Man\'nojo has demonstrated his ability as a producer and has been working on reconstruction of the ancient mask play known as gigaku . SHIGEYAMA Sensaku is a living national treasure, born in 1919, who has acquired popularity among young women for an ability to convey the gentleness of human nature with his entire body. There have also been veteran kyogen performers such as SHIGEYAMA Sen\'nojo and Sensaku who have taken on the challenge of new kyogen pieces created by the philosopher UMEHARA Takeshi and produced at the National Noh Theatre. These works deal with such issues as environmental pollution or war by the art of laughter. They have been received very favorably as expressions of the strength of classical performing arts embodied in programs that are new and yet timeless. 2
The key person at the center of these new efforts to revive Kabuki is Kanzaburo Nakamura XVIII. Kanzaburo was born in 1955. His paternal uncle was the first Kichiemon Nakamura and his grandfather on his mother’s side was Kikugoro Onoe VI. Thus, he inherits the blood of two of the most famous Kabuki actors of the late Meiji to early Showa periods (first three decades of the 20th century). His acting ability stood out from the time he began appearing in child roles and later he mastered a wide range of both male and female roles, while also becoming skilled in traditional dance. His ability to captivate an audience has made him one of today’s foremost actors in terms of both popularity and prowess.
While understanding the importance of tradition, Kanzaburo has the ambition and desire not to be content with tradition alone. It is no coincidence that he has created a big new wave in the Kabuki world. By exhibiting strong leadership in starting in 1994 the “Cocoon Kabuki” program at Shibuya’s Bunkamura Theatre Cocoon, a venue as a part of the facilities of the shopping store, Kanzaburo (Kankuro at the time) overturned the preconception that Kabuki could only be performed at specialized theater like the Kabuki-za and The National Theatre, but the theater which is a part of the facilities of the department store. A Kabuki theater has a runway called the hanamichi that extends out through the audience from the side of the stage. There is also a large rotating circular section built into the main stage called the bon that is used for rotating set changes during the play. People updated the idea that Kabuki could be staged successfully in a mid-size 700-seat theater like the Cocoon having no hanamichi or bon .
It is not as if there have never been productions of Kabuki staged in theaters intended for contemporary theater. For example, between the years 1946 and 1950, actors including Utaemon Nakamura VI, Kanzaburo Nakamura XVII and the first Hakuou Matsumoto performed a series of 30 Kabuki plays at the Mitsukoshi Theatre completed in 1927 that came to be called the “Mitsukoshi Kabuki.” More recently, there is the example of a group of young Kabuki actors led by Ennosuke Ichikawa who performed classical Kabuki plays like Ibukiyama no Yamato Takeru at the Parco Theatre in 1988 under the group name 21st Century Kabuki-gumi.” However, these performances had the atmosphere of a study exercise for the young actors at the time.
In beginning the “Cocoon Kabuki” project, Kanzaburo XVIII chose as his partner the director Kazuyoshi Kushida, who at the time was art director at Theater Cocoon. For this project, Kushida made a thorough study of the play Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan by Namboku Tsuruya that was first performed in 1825 and then did a modification of the script to make it a tale of desire and retribution that could be understood by today’s audience.
One of the primary aims of the “Cocoon Kabuki” project was to recreate the atmosphere of the small Kabuki theaters of the Edo Period (1603 - 1867). The stage at the Tokyo Kabuki-za has a front wall length of 32.73 meters and extremely wide stage. Theater Cocoon has a much more compact space that is similar to that of one of the remaining Edo Period Kabiki theaters, the Kanamaru-za (opened 1836) in Kagawa Pref. on the island of Shikoku, and holding Kabuki plays in such a space was in fact an experiment to see what kind of effect would be created. And, in order to try to bring back the festive atmosphere of Edo Kabuki where people went to see plays as entertainment rather than going to theater as an exercise in art appreciation, the modern theater lobby of the Cocoon was lines with pull-kart booths selling foods in Edo style and having actors in Edo period attire and wigs walking around an mingling with the audience in the lobby area before the show.
This “Cocoon Kabuki” project continued with performances Natsu Matsuri Naniwa Kagami, Kamikakete Sango no Taisetsu and Sakura Hime.
And later this experiment in small-theater Edo Kabuki would be continued with the “Heisei Nakamura-za” of 2002. For this project, Kanzaburo constructed a temporary theater on the banks of the Sumida River near where the Nakamura-za once stood in what is now the Asakusa area of Tokyo (Saruwaka in Edo) and used it for performances of classic Kabuki with contemporary interpretations like those performed in the Cocoon Kabuki project.
The play that was chosen for the first performance at this Heisei Nakamura-za project was the same Hokaibo performed in August this year at the Kabuki-za. The proper Kyogen name of this play is actually Sumidagawa Gonichi no Omokage named after the location of the theater and it is a work that reflected the importance Kanzaburo and Kushida placed on the atmosphere of the new temporary theater. This is only a speculation but perhaps the compact Heisei Nakamura-za creates greater sense of intimacy between the audience and the actors than the contemporary theater that separates the audience from the stage with its proscenium arch. The fact that the audience takes off its shoes when entering the theater space also seems to create a reminiscence of the Edo theaters where the audience sat on tatami mat areas.
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The “Heisei Nakamura-za” project went on to and what remains most vividly in the memory is probably the performance of Natsu Matsuri Naniwa Kagami at the New York Lincoln Center Festival in July of 2004. The temporary theater was set up in the small park to the left of the Metropolitan Opera House entrance. The Metropolitan Opera House is a venerable institution where Kanzaburo’s father, Kanzaburo XVII had given the memorable first postwar Kabuki performance in the U.S. years earlier. But instead of using the Metropolitan Opera House’s prestigious stage this time, Kanzaburo chose the primitive atmosphere of the temporary theater for his New York performance. When the curtain is down, the temporary theater is open to the outside at the back of the theater. And there is a climactic scene in which the New York police come rushing into the theater and order everyone to hold their hands up after the protagonist, Denshichi (played by Kanzaburo), who has been forced to kill his father-in-law, runs off stage fleeing from his pursuers. This device immediately links the Edo Period fiction to the realities of the contemporary world of New York.
This staging was the result of the desire not to let the New York audience view Kabuki as one of the traditional arts of the Far East, despite its artistic sophistication. Surely Kanzaburo wanted his Kabuki to be evaluated as contemporary theater on equal footing with not only the other works of the festival but also the plays being shown in the Broadway and off-Broadway theaters.
On July 20th, Kanzaburo’s efforts were answered beautifully when a review of the performance by Ben Brantley appeared in the New York Times comparing the play’s depiction of guilt and awe of the spirit with reference to the novels of Dostoyevsky. This review can also be seen as antithetical to the type of reviews seen in Japan that invariably stress the acting qualities and compare the staging to traditional precedents. Theme of murder and violence destroying people’s lives is an eternal and borderless one that is relevant in contemporary New York just as it was in feudal Edo. This reinterpretation of a classical Kabuki play showed that the unique staging methods of Kabuki and the constant transposition between the stylized and the realistic involved in a Kabuki actor’s acting technique can have an impact on Western theater. Promotion of International Cultural Exchange and the Role of The Japan Foundation
In recent years, both the Agency for Cultural Affairs and The Japan Foundation have been actively involved in international exchange, but it is The Japan Foundation that has assumed the leading role for many years. Ever since it was founded in 1972, it has taken on an exceptionally wide variety of international cultural exchange projects. The foundation has invited artists to Japan and sent Japanese artists overseas; promoted Japanese studies overseas; encouraged wider education of the Japanese language; sponsored performances, exhibitions, and international conferences; presented Japanese culture abroad; and boosted exchange with other Asian countries.
The foundation’s budget for FY2007 was 16.2 billion yen, 2.2 billion yen of which was earmarked for the promotion of cultural exchange. This covers six types of arts exchange programs with artists sent abroad and invited to Japan, international cooperation in cultural and artistic activities, community and youth exchanges, and exchanges in the arts and performing arts. Performing arts exchanges include full and partial funding of performances of Japanese companies abroad, and invitations for overseas artists to perform in Japan, international stage coproductions (both in Japan and overseas), sending performance companies and experts to international arts festivals, and collecting, sorting, and communicating information useful for international exchange in the performing arts.
Viewed over several years, the Agency for Cultural Affairs has a more generous budget for international exchange than The Japan Foundation, but even more important than the funding it provides is its establishment of overseas bases known as Japan Cultural Institutes or Japan Cultural Centers, currently located in 19 cities in 18 countries. These centers function as two-way gateways to artistic and cultural exchange between Japan and the rest of the world. In over 30 years of activity, The Japan Foundation has gained much that could not be obtained with mere financial support, including the expertise and networks cultivated at these overseas offices, providing information and opportunities for dialogue. They have truly been a valuable resource for Japan’s international exchange efforts.
The Japan Foundation became an independent organization in October 2003, undergoing a thorough institutional reorganization and operations restructuring. Now the expectations on them for more targeted actions are higher than ever.
National Policy on Public Organizations and Japan Foundation for Regional Art-Activities Initiative
Local public organizations have played an important role in national policy for the regions. The peak, however, for arts and culture budgets in municipalities was reached in 1993 with a total of 955.5 billion yen, a figure that has been falling ever since. The total for 2007 was 398 billion yen. The background to this situation includes worsening finances and the mergers of towns and cities. Another factor is that localities have finished building the facilities they need and less construction work is going on.
During the 1990s there was a boom in theater and concert hall construction, with nearly 1,000 new facilities built during that decade—a rate of 100 per year. As of March 2006, there were 3,300 public theaters and halls (according to a study by Japan Foundation for Regional Art-Activities). Very few of these facilities, however, are actively involved in organizing their own productions and performances. One of the reasons for this is that they have only limited budgets for doing so. Another reason is that few facilities have specialized or experienced arts administrators in their management. With the recent introduction of the Designated Manager System, cultural facilities are increasingly required to operate more efficiently and continue cutting costs. With a very few exceptions, public theaters and halls are working under ruthless conditions.
In 1994, regional public organizations established the Japan Foundation for Regional Art-Activities initiative with the goal of boosting creativity locally thorough arts and culture enterprises. The foundation provides financial and other support and training programs in order to revitalize the cultural management of local governments.
The foundation’s budget for FY2007 was 2.7 billion yen, and about 45% of that—1.2 billion yen—was used to finance the promotion of creative and cultural arts activities by regional public organizations. It also established training programs for employees of local governments and arts centers. Since its foundation, more than 1,800 people have participated in the short-term intensive training program known as Stage Lab. This program has produced active, capable staff members for theaters and public halls all over Japan.
Other programs include networks allowing several public halls to collaborate on coproductions, performances by regional theater companies at the Tokyo International Arts Festival, outreach programs for contemporary dance and classical music, and other wide-ranging activities contributing to the revitalization of regional cultural facilities. Despite its small budget, the Foundation has provided an important boost to regional cultural facilities throughout Japan in line with the national policy.
Looking at the budget alone, Japan’s national policy for culture appears to be on a downturn. There is, however, more and more interest in international exchange in the performing arts. When arts organizations abroad wish to receive support from the Japanese government or public institutions for promoting exchange with Japan, the principal contact point is The Japan Foundation (overseas office). The foundation can link them to potential counterparts in Japan, while subsidies are available from the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan Foundation for Regional Art-Activities, and others. Understanding this basic structure is an important first step to making good use of that framework. Further effective measures will include developing partnerships with regional art NPOs in order to collect data and create systems to bring projects to fruition, as well as obtaining funding from private corporations and regional public organizations. This we feel is the key to future active exchange between Japan and other countries. Private-Sector Support for the Infrastructure Sustaining Creative Activity in the Performing Arts
The Toyota Choreography Awards were established as a collaborative project of Toyota Motor Corporation and Setagaya Public Theatre for the purpose of discovering and fostering choreographers to lead the next generation. Eight choreographers selected from applicants give performances of their works over a two-day period, and the NEXTAGE Award and two Audience Award winners are chosen from among them. The NEXTAGE winner receives two million yen from Toyota to create a new work of choreography, and the Setagaya Public Theatre provides the use of its stage, Theatre Tram, to present it the following year.
These awards, established in 2002, take place every two years and have made great strides in the discovery and nurturing of new choreographers. Distinguishing this as an attempt to foster creative activity in the performing arts rather than simple funding is the fact that the support is for the choreography, not the performance, and choreographers are awarded a grant and an opportunity to present their new work. Moreover, the awards also represent a new form of Mécénat in that theater directors from other countries are invited to be judges, and the event involves sharing expertise and networks of contemporary dance producers.
Kirin Brewery Co., Ltd. has similarly been active in supporting dance. Kirin Dance Support was established in 2002 for the purpose of encouraging contemporary dance by funding award-winning works and making it possible for them to be performed throughout the country. Grants go to contemporary dance works that have won the Asahi Performing Arts Awards. Active support is also provided for other forms of dance performance, such as the contemporary dance series entitled 21st Century Dance at Setagaya Public Theatre.
Asahi Breweries, Ltd. is another corporation actively supporting the performing arts. The basic policy for this corporation’s Mécénat program is to fund original and innovative artistic activity and to assist up-and-coming artists in the fields of drama and dance, with significant results.
Another recent trend has been for multiple corporations to engage in joint Mécénat activities. One example is the Arts NPO Forum mentioned above, while the Tokyo International Arts Festival has also played an important role in international exchange in the performing arts and is supported by a number of corporations, among them Asahi Breweries, Ltd., Shiseido Co., Ltd., Toyota Motor Corporation, and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic). Private-sector support for the sponsoring NPO has made it possible to conduct the festival on an ongoing basis. Examples of local Mécénat support for live performances include Atelier Kitano, founded by Kitano Construction Corporation and located on the main thoroughfare leading up to Nagano’s Zenkôji Temple. The Piccadilly, a movie theater that had closed in Matsumoto City, was re-opened as Piccadilly Hall by the Shinano-Mainichi Matsumoto Monopoly Co., Ltd. A manufacturer and retailer of fashion accessories Tanzawa Co., Ltd. has been instrumental in reviving the operations of Sakura-za, a small theater in Yamanashi Prefecture for the works of dancer Tanaka Min.
Over the past 20 years, therefore, private-sector support has undergone a dramatic metamorphosis in its active support for the arts, chiefly in its financial support for performances and exhibitions. Corporations consider Mécénat activities as a part of corporate social responsibility, emphasizing local art and culture activities along with creative activity in the performing arts and joint projects with art NPOs. One important element in this change has been the way that Mécénat coordinators have begun to consider how support should be provided and where it should be channeled in order to stimulate development of the arts in Japan, examining these issues in light of past achievements and experience and from a strategic, long-term perspective. No doubt the support provided by private-sector corporations and foundations will come to play an increasingly important role in terms of international exchange in the performing arts. Current Situation and Trends
According to a survey by Japan Foundation for Regional Art-Activities, of the roughly 3,300 public theaters and halls in Japan, 88% are relatively small municipal halls. For the large, prefectural facilities, foundations specializing in the arts are established to operate the venues, although few of them actually hire specialists in performing arts other than technical staff. Smaller municipalities, on the other hand, generally operate venues themselves.
The year 2007 saw many changes in artistic directors: Suzuki Tadashi, the artistic director of the Shizuoka Performing Arts Center and the forerunner in this system, was succeeded by Miyagi Satoshi; Kuriyama Tamiya of the drama division of the New National Theatre, Tokyo, by Uyama Hitoshi; Hirata Oriza of the Fujimi Culture Hall, Kirari Fujimi by Ikuta Yorozu; and Wakasugi Hiroshi of Biwako Hall by Numajiri RyÛsuke. Other organizations that have artistic directors are, namely Sainokuni Saitama Arts Theater ( Ninagawa Yukio ), Setagaya Public Theatre ( Nomura Mansai ), Matsumoto Performing Arts Centre ( Kushida Kazuyoshi ), Hyogo Performing Arts Center (Sado Yutaka), and Niigata City Performing Arts Center ( Kanamori Jô in the dance division). Also, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space has just created a stir with the appointment of Noda Hideki as its first artistic director. The system is, however, not necessarily well established, and the roles and power of an artistic director vary between organizations. Some facilities have appointed producers from the private sector and utilized their connections with artists to establish active creative programs, such as the Kitakyushu Performing Arts Center and Setagaya Public Theatre. A few organizations have an art-company-in-residence, including SPAC at Shizuoka Performing Arts Center, the contemporary dance company Noism at Niigata City Performing Arts Center, and Piccolo Theater Company at the Piccolo Theater, Hyôgo.
Some music halls have agreed franchises with existing orchestras, such as Sumida Triphony Hall and the New Japan Philharmonic; Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra; and Ishikawa Ongakudô and Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa. Others, such as the Mito Chamber Orchestra at Art Tower Mito and the vocal ensemble at Biwako Hall entered into annual contracts with artists to conduct resident artist programs. Opened in 2005, the Hyôgo Performing Arts Center is attracting nationwide attention for founding an academy orchestra of musicians aged 35 and under and active locally as an orchestra. None of these organizations are well established, however, and the question of what operating style should be adopted for public cultural facilities in Japan is still being explored.
Among the latest developments is the introduction of the Designated Manager System. In April 2003, the Local Government Law was revised to relax regulations governing organizations that run public facilities such as cultural centers. Now any designated operators – not only public benefit corporations but also NPOs and private companies – approved by the local assembly can manage public facilities. In some cases a public cultural facility has advertised for candidates and a private company has won the position of designated operator. According to the latest survey conducted in 2007 by Japan Foundation for Regional Art-Activities, there are a total of 4,265 public cultural facilities (concert halls, theaters, museums, etc.) in the country, 65.8% of which are run directly by the local governments, and 34.2% are run by designated operators. Nearly 80% of these designated operators are incorporated foundations, and almost 20% are NPOs and joint-stock companies who would never have been given such an opportunity in the past.
While there are expectations for these private players to bring in new ways of operation, many of them are from different fields of business, such as building management, advertising, and temporary staffing, and there is much concern about how they will fulfill their mission as arts and culture organizations at the heart of community arts and cultural activities. Although many facilities chose to be operated by foundations for arts and cultural promotion established by local governments, most are said to be in the market for new operators. There may be a whole new environment for arts and culture in Japan in three to five years when it is time for these venues to renew their contracts.
Following the enactment of the NPO Law in 1998, there now are many arts NPOs and some of which are the designated operators of public cultural facilities, such as Arts Network Japan which runs Tokyo International Arts Festival. Depending on where these arts NPOs are headed, the Designated Manager System might lead to the creation of an unprecedented environment for arts and culture. In FY 2008, however, it will become easier to establish a foundation or association under drastic reforms planned to public benefit corporations other than NPOs (with a five-year transitional period). Public benefit foundations and associations with preferential tax treatment will also require certification. There is no knowing how the existing cultural promotion foundations will be evaluated or how the private companies running public cultural facilities will be treated in five years’ time.
Local cultural policy has been drastically affected by the major program to merge municipalities with populations under 10,000, and public theaters and halls have been largely reorganized. Culture and theaters in Japan are clearly entering a new era. Private-Sector Promoters Hosting International Productions
Another recent trend is the involvement of private-sector promoters in overseas productions. Kyodo Tokyo, for example, a private-sector promoter known primarily for popular music concerts, has been hosting many overseas entertainment productions for about fifteen years. Since the 1990s, the popular music market in Japan has been centered on J-POP (Japanese popular music), so that performances by major musicians from other countries no longer have the same impact they used to. This promoter sought a replacement, and was quick to introduce Japanese audiences to new, highly creative forms of entertainment that have a strong musical element together with powerful visual appeal.
The Broadway show Blast , which highlights sensational performances by a marching band, was a great success playing to full houses in Japan in 2003. It was also Kyodo Tokyo that invited Stomp , highly acclaimed for its unique performances making dynamic use of common tools and implements as rhythm instruments, and Villa Villa from Argentina. Another private-sector promoter, Hayashi International Promotion, has started engaging in similar activities with its invitation of Riverdance , a combination of Irish dance and Celtic music.
In 1992 Fuji Television Network hosted the Canadian company Cirque du Soleil. Formed in Montreal in 1984, Cirque du Soleil integrates acrobats, music, costumes, and theatrical design in a distinctively dynamic and fantastic stage production. Assisted by Fuji TV’s advertising, the tour of their Fascination show around eight cities in Japan, including Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Sapporo, Yokohama, and Sendai, attracted audiences totaling 710,000. Since then, Cirque de Soleil has staged regular, long-run performances all sponsored by major corporations. In the fall of 2008, a permanent theater, Cirque du Soleil Theater Tokyo, will open in the Tokyo Disney Resort.
From 2000, with private-sector promoters and television networks in on the act, overseas productions have been coming to perform in numbers reminiscent of Japan’s economic “bubble” period. Other factors include lower ticket prices, now costing 10,000 yen on average, and a well-established following among well-traveled women in their late 20s and 30s who have enjoyed productions of this type on trips abroad.
Another major factor is that overseas entertainment has also become fashionable in Korea, primarily among the newly affluent levels of society, so that productions visiting Japan can also be booked for performances in Korea. This sector appears likely to become even more active with high-growth locations in the broader emerging Asian market such as Shanghai and Taiwan.
In March 2008, Akasaka ACT Theater (1,300 seats) will open under the management of a private TV network. Its opening presentations will feature overseas entertainment such as ABBA Gold and Riverdance . This trend looks set to continue. J. F. Oberlin (ôbirin) University began practical artistic education in 2005, assisted by director Hirata Oriza (currently professor at the Center for the Study of Communication-Design of Osaka University). Prunus Hall, which the university built in front of the train station, is operated by both professionals and students. The hall is actively used for performances open to the public and is contributing to local outreach. In 2006, Osaka University of Arts also opened its own theater.
In the United States, university theaters are a part of the local community art scene, but in Japan, universities have traditionally been operated as closed research institutes. With this fact in mind, it is worth noting that this series of experiments is a new effort that is changing the relationship between the universities and their local communities.
Nagata Ken’ichi, Professor of Art at Chiba University, has guided his school in sending students out into the community to do fieldwork while cooperating with local residents in planning, producing, and implementing such activities as The Art Project of Kemigawa Transmission Place, a project using an abandoned building. Increasing numbers of individual professors and their students have been carrying out different projects in the area.
New faculties and graduate schools are being founded in which arts management is treated as a field related to public administration or public policy, whether at the municipal or regional level. Shizuoka University of Art and Culture, founded in 2000 by Shizuoka Prefecture and the city of Hamamatsu, is home to Japan’s first Faculty of Cultural Policy and Management, and it includes the Department of Art Management. The university is being administered with increasing awareness of the need to be “open to the community,” and the fully staged firelight Nô performances that the students plan and produce are open to the public. In addition, Shizuoka Prefecture provides material support for recitals of entrants in the International Opera Competition in Shizuoka. In this and other ways, the projects produced in cooperation with the local government are being used as opportunities for practical learning.
Issues in Arts Management Education
As we have seen, the phrase “arts management education” can denote a variety of courses, and it is clear that the concept of arts management covers a broad area. When this kind of education first began at the university level, most courses were in lecture form, and there was criticism of them as mere education for cultural enrichment. Nowadays, however, courses include practical instruction and exercises. Recently, short-term internships have been introduced as part of these arts management programs.
Communities have begun to demand that universities operate more openly and be increasingly available to them, and many attempts have been made to contribute to the welfare of the region through arts management. These efforts are gradually beginning to bear fruit. On the other hand, the public cultural institutions that were expected to need personnel trained in arts management have not shown much awareness of this specialized occupation. Even though the personnel have received training, they have limited opportunities to make use of their skills. An imbalance between supply and demand has thus become a problem.
Academic associations that support this type of university education and research include the Japan Association for Cultural Economics, founded in 1992, the Japan Museum Management Academy, founded in 1995, and the Japan Association for Arts Management, founded in 1998.One trend in the new generation that must be noted is the rise of regional theater. Inoue Hidenori and Makino Nozomi both started in the 1980s before moving to Tokyo, but the trend became much more pronounced in the late 1990s. Until then the Shôgekijô scene had been overwhelmingly concentrated in Tokyo, but a series of new playwrights emerged in Osaka and Kyoto, and had a fresh impact on the local scene.
Major roles in this were played by the ôgimachi Museum Square (closed in 2003), a theater that served as a base for Shôgekijô in Osaka, and the Itami Ai Hall, a public theater established by Itami City in Hyôgo Prefecture. Both of these theaters concentrated on supporting young artists, and the OMS Drama Award was established in 1994 to encourage the new playwrights. Winners of this award include Matsuda Masataka , Suzue Toshirô , Iwasaki Masahiro , and Tsuchida Hideo . Matsuda and Suzue went on almost immediately to win the Kishida Drama Award, which is a gateway to success for Japanese playwrights. The newly active regional theater relied on the use of many public theaters throughout Japan. Hasegawa Kôji of the Hirosaki Theater Company (Aomori Prefecture) and Tomari Atsushi of Tobu Gekijô in Kitakyushu City are among the new talent based outside of Tokyo who have nevertheless achieved nationwide recognition.
Two other trends in the Shôgekijô scene include a rise in popularity of workshops and the practice of holding open auditions. The workshop boom occurred largely because new needs emerged that Japanese society had not previously experienced. As a result, education programs have started at theaters throughout Japan, and stage performance skills are used in children’s education. Shôgekijô directors have been given an outlet of their skills other than performance, which represents an enormous change that will no doubt influence the future of theater.
Shôgekijô started holding open auditions because the fall in real estate prices due to the collapse of Japan’s economic “bubble” resulted in glut of vacant buildings and other unused facilities in city centers. There are many small companies renting spaces in Japanese cities to providing a base for amateur theatrical activity. It will be very interesting to see how the Shôgekijô movement will reflect these changes ten years down the line.
The Latest Topics
Okada Toshiki and Miura Daisuke , the respective 2004 and 2005 winners of the Kishida Drama Award, made a sensational entrance on the Shôgekijô scene. Following the expanded boundaries of the violence-and-fantasy works of fifth-generation dramatist top-runner Nagatsuka Keishi of Asagaya Spiders, Okada and Miura came onto the scene with “reality” as their keyword. They have been acclaimed for the way they use dramatic expression based on the “physiological sensibilities” of today’s youth. Okada’s company, Chelfitsch, uses a “super-real Japanese” reflecting both the language and gestures of young people, while Miura’s Potudô-ru company has gone to extreme lengths to bring out realistic reactions in its actors by performing sexual acts on stage. The works of these two dramatists are testimonies to the energy of the Shôgekijô movement. Although no dramatist was considered deserving of the Kishida Drama Award in 2006, Motoya Yukiko was commended for her overly self-conscious protagonists who torment others.
In keeping with these writers representative of the younger generation, so-called social-oriented and mass-oriented writers are being inspired to ever greater creativity. Sakate Yoji , director of the theatre company Rinkôgun, has presented works that probe the social problems of socially reclusive youth and activities of the Self-Defense Force with a journalistic touch, including elements of experimental theater from other countries. Nagai Ai has written comedies that portray the changes in post-war values and criticize the lives of the common folk. Chong Wishing , a popular screenwriter, has written about his experiences as a minority, a third-generation Korean born and raised in Japan, in plays that are tough and comical. Aoki Go has used his work to highlight marginalized members of society. There is Nakashima Atsuhiko, who portrays the human warmth of the Shôwa Era (1926–89) that is lost in modern society, and Inoue Hisashi , a Japanese favorite who has written extensively on post-war themes. While each of these dramatists, all of different generations, are all distinctive, the one thing they have in common is their focus on Japanese society.
In other fields, the activities of artistic directors at public theaters are attracting attention. Ninagawa Yukio (Sainokuni Saitama Arts Theater) began an off-shoot theater company for senior citizens called Gold Theater. Kyôgen artist Nomura Mansai (Setagaya Public Theatre) has been working on a “total theater” project combining both traditional and modern stage performances, Kushida Kazuyoshi (Matsumoto Performing Arts Centre) staged two “new Kabuki” works, “Cocoon Kabuki” and “Heisei Nakamuraza” with Kabuki actor Nakamura Kanzaburô. Miyagi Satoshi has taken over from Suzuki Tadashi in the post of artistic director at the Shizuoka Performing Arts Center.
Works by Japanese playwrights are also being translated and produced overseas. Warai no Daigaku, a major work of Mitani Koki, has been translated and adopted into English production as The Last Laugh , and the English version of Noda Hideki’s THE BEE , staged in London and Tokyo, won almost all the major theater awards in Japan in 2007. Matsuda Masataka’s Umi to Higasa (The Sea and the Parasol) was presented in Seoul and Shanghai in Korean and Chinese respectively. Readings of modern Japanese plays are taking place in various countries.

Sources: Pia (from 1972 to 1990), Nihon geki zenshi by Kawatatake Shigetoshi, Teikoku-gekijô kaijô by Mine Takashi, and Nihon no gendai engeki by Senda Akihiko. Private Support and the New Generation of Producers
Private corporations began supporting the arts as a part of their social contribution programs in the 1990s. Among the companies that actively supported contemporary dance, including creative works of unproven value, were Asahi Breweries , Kirin Brewery Co., Ltd., Toyota Motor Corporation , and the Saison Foundation.
Toyota in particular joined the Setagaya Public Theatre in 2001 to establish the Toyota Choreography Awards with the objective of discovering the next generation of choreographers. After only two rounds of awards, it has become known as a prize that opens doors for new choreographers. The grand prizes have been awarded to Jareo Osamu and Terada Misako (2002), Kuroda Ikuyo (2003), Higashino Yôko (2004), Sumiji Maho (2005), and Shirai Tsuyoshi (2006), providing these artists with career breaks. Another gateway to success is the competition for choreographers from all over Asia, that is held during Yokohama Dance Collection R, a comprehensive dance festival organized by Yokohama Arts Foundation and sponsored by Kirin Brewery, that offers performances, showcases, and workshops.
Another element supporting the vitality of contemporary dance is the activities of a new generation of producers. In contrast to producers in Butô who doubled as company leaders and worked with only one company, these producers work independent of dance companies and establish their own production companies. They have changed the system in significant ways by receiving private and public support for mounting a variety of productions at festivals and other projects.
In addition, nonprofit organizations (NPO) have just begun to play a major role in this area. Japan Contemporary Dance Network (JCDN) , which was founded in 2001 by member artists, deserves special mention. In addition to offering information on artists and selling tickets, in 2000 when it was still in preparation to become an NPO, it started “Odori-ni-ikuze!!” (“We’re Gonna Go Dancing!!”), a national-showcase project tour featuring groups of artists (including those from the hosting cities for the purpose of their development). It started out with eight artists/groups from four cities, and increased dramatically in 2007 to 49 artists/groups from 21 cities. The organizations that bid to host the events included not only public and private theaters but also public museums, municipalities, dance NPOs, arts NPOs, community development NPOs, and local theater companies, many of which were not always related to dance. This fact alone shows the spread of contemporary dance in Japan over the last several years.
The greatest movement of the last decade probably is that efforts and progress have been made to create a social environment where dance is accessible to anyone. An NPO Artist’s Studio In A School (ASIAS) sends artists to elementary and junior high schools. The Japan Foundation for Regional Art-Activities sends contemporary dancers to public cultural facilities for performances and outreach programs.
With the arrival of this new era, artists themselves have greatly changed the way they think. Not particularly fond of having interdisciplinary ties, they are now taking their connections to the society. There are some professional dancers specializing in outreach programs for schools. The new relationship between society and contemporary dance has led to searches for new ways of conducting creative activities. There are grassroots activities where dancers stay within a particular community to create a work with the residents. While it is still unclear whether such a new environment will establish itself in Japan, the openness of contemporary dance supposedly will become the symbol of a new era. Nôgaku
Nôgaku (Nô and Kyôgen) has a long history going back at least six hundred years to the time of Zeami (1363–1443), who created around a third of the Nô plays being performed today. Nô drama is made up of two parts. One is the musical dramatic form of Nô proper, in which the performers sing and dance to the accompaniment of four instruments collectively referred to as the shibyôshi —the flute ( fue ), small drum ( kotsuzumi ), large hand drum ( ôkawa ), and large floor drum ( taiko )—and a chorus called the jiutai . The other part is Kyôgen, a spoken dramatic form that is primarily comic. Nô employs extremely stylized movements pared of all excess, with the aim of creating a dramatic expression according to the aesthetic of yûgen (mysterious profundity).
Since Zeami’s time Nô has had patrons in the ruling class of society. It received special protection during the Edo Period, when the Shogunate designated Nô as the ceremonial performing art to be used in ritual observances. As such, Nô was maintained at a level unaffected by popularity among the masses. After the downfall of the warrior society, Nô continued to be sustained by leading figures in government and the newly powerful industrial conglomerates. The need to acquire fans from the wider populace arose only after World War II, and Nô is presently establishing an economic base through education and performance programs.
This history as a performing art supported by the ruling class of society has left its mark, and even now many Japanese people feel that Nô is refined and difficult, for connoisseurs only. Efforts have been made to make Nô more accessible, with facilities such as the National Nô Theatre opened in 1983, and the Yokohama Nô Theater operated by the Yokohama Arts Foundation. Experimental performances have attracted younger audiences, and Nô has become sufficiently popular that tickets can be difficult to obtain. Performances of takigi Nô, held outdoors at night by torchlight, have become more numerous since the early 1990s and are extremely popular.
Nevertheless, audiences at the theaters operated by the various schools(*) of Nô are still small and are also increasingly elderly. Performers finally seem to be recognizing they are facing a crisis and, just before the turn of the millennium, the highly confined world of Nô began to display some new departures. Young Nô masters have formed a group called Kami Asobi that crosses the rigid boundaries between schools, and four young performers of the Konparu School formed Za Square. These represent the beginnings of a movement to make Nô more appealing to youthful sensibilities, and they are attracting growing numbers of fans. In 2006, the Nôgaku genzaikei (Contemporary Nô) shows were started by the highly versatile Kyôgen actor Nomura Mansai , fue flute player Issô Yukihiro , and ôkawa performer Kamei Hirotada , in order to “get out of the Nô rut and take up new challenges.” These have featured guest performances by young shitekata (main role) actors who otherwise seldom get the chance to appear in major works.
Nô values the moment. Actors therefore focus on each moment to create a one-time-only performance along with the musicians, chorus and audience. Nô does not have long-run performances like Kabuki, which makes it necessary for performers to give lessons to amateurs on the side. The younger generation is also trying some new ideas. One of the Kami Asobi members, Kanze Yoshimasa, a shitekata actor of the Kanze school, is giving lectures to groups, as opposed to the usual one-on-one lessons, on the basics of utai chant and shimai dance, subjects that are not easy for beginners to understand. In his home court, the Yarai Nôgakudô theater in Kagurazaka, Tokyo, Kanze gives a periodic lecture called “Know Nô” to help beginners deepen their knowledge, including explanations on the literary references that form the basis of Nô plays, such as classical poetry and prose works such as The Tale of Genji , as well as demonstrations on how to wear Nô costumes and instructions on the chorus. This has helped broaden Nô’s fan base, as has increased interest in Bushidô, or the code of the samurai, and in the Kobudô martial arts following the release of the movie Last Samurai . Nô has also attracted attention from exercise- and fitness-minded people because its sliding walk technique helps tone muscles and strengthen the body, and a mini version of the yoga fad has led to “Nô exercise” classes in community centers.
Meanwhile, performances of the comic Kyôgen in easy-to-understand, colloquial Japanese have been steadily rising in popularity. Nomura Mansai, the Kyôgen actor who is also well known for roles in TV and film and as the artistic director of the Setagaya Public Theatre, as well as the young Kyôgen performers Shigeyama Masakuni, Motohiko, and Ippei of the Kyoto ôkuraryû Shigeyama Family, have been performing in shows that sell out as quickly as they are announced
The Kyôgen world has a rich array of talent across the generations. Nomura Man’nojô, an able producer who worked to revive the ancient mask drama known as gigaku , passed away unexpectedly in his forties in 2004. Shigeyama Sensaku, born in 1919, is a Living National Treasure who is popular among young women for his ability to convey through body movements the gentleness of human nature. There have also been veteran Kyôgen performers such as Shigeyama Sen’nojô and Sensaku who have taken on the challenge of producing and acting in new Kyôgen pieces created by the philosopher Umehara Takeshi and staged at the National Nô Theatre. These works deal with such issues as environmental pollution and war using the art of laughter, and have been acclaimed as new yet timeless expressions of the strength of the classical performing arts. The National Nô Theatre also produces new Nô works, such as its 2006 production based on the popular manga Kurenai Tennyo (The Crimson Goddess), which sold out to young female fans of the original work who had had no interest in Nô up to that time. Since 1984, the theater has been actively nurturing and training wakikata (supporting performers), of whom there are very few, as well as Nô musicians, and Kyôgen performers.
Bunraku
Bunraku is a form of puppet theater originating in Osaka during the Edo Period. Puppets are manipulated according to the jôruri narrative performed by a gidayu narrator, with the accompaniment of a low-pitched futozao shamisen. In Bunraku’s earliest times, the puppet was manipulated by a single puppeteer, but the practice of sannin-zukai , in which a single puppet body is manipulated by three puppeteers, emerged during the 1700s. The omo-zukai (head puppeteer), who manipulates the head and right hand, is the leader, while the hidari-zukai (left puppeteer) manipulates the left hand and the ashi-zukai (foot puppeteer) manipulates the feet. Working in perfect unison, the three puppeteers are able to give the puppet a greater delicacy and richness of expression. One of the attractions of Bunraku is that it portrays a human drama through the harmoniously combined efforts of these puppeteers, the shamisen player, and the narrator who skillfully recites the distinctive parts of all the characters.
Although Bunraku had been highly popular, from around 1955 it started going into decline. In 1963, the national government, Osaka Prefecture, and NHK collaborated to establish the Bunraku Association. Performers became craft artists affiliated with the Bunraku Association, and they hold performances in the small hall of the National Theatre in Tokyo and at the National Bunraku Theatre in Osaka.
A television documentary on two Living National Treasures, the puppeteer YoshidaTamao and the narrator Takemoto Sumitayû, was broadcast in 2001. This program showed the artists engaged in continuing study and training, and stimulated a sudden revival in Bunraku’s popularity, leading to the tickets for Tokyo performances selling out two years in advance.
Bunraku does not have the same family system as Kabuki to pass the art on from generation to generation, so any man with the necessary skill may find a future in it. In fact, 46% of the 88 narrators, shamisen players, and puppeteers have graduated from the traditional performing artist training program started at the National Theatre in 1972 to foster successors in the art. Many of these people came to the program without any previous background in it. Trainees receive two years of basic education, after which they take part in stage performances under a master’s instruction. It is a serious course of training where a puppeteer spends ten years on training for foot control and 20 years for left hand control before becoming the main puppeteer who controls the head, meaning that puppeteers do not attain the top level until they are in their fifties. One of the program’s graduates, the shamisen player Nozawa Kinya, succeeded to the name of Nozawa Kinshi V at the age of 41 in 1998. In 2006 Tsurusawa Enjiro became Tsurusawa Enzan IV, succeeding to his master’s name. Puppeteer Yoshida Minotaro, who literally grew up in the Bunraku backstage, succeeded to his father’s name and became Kiritake Kanjûro III in 2003 when he turned 50.
There are promising signs for the next generation. For example, a group of middle-level and younger performers staged a joint event at the National Theatre that also included gospel singing and other such performances in between the Bunraku shows. There have also been su-jôruri performances of the narration and shamisen accompaniment without puppets. Nevertheless, at the heart of Bunraku are the six Living National Treasures in their 60, 70 and 80s, the oldest being Sumitayu born in 1924, and the youngest Tsurusawa Seiji born in 1945 and designated as a Living National Treasure in 2007. In September 2006, Yoshida Tamao, the best puppeteer of male puppets of his generation, both in technique and popularity, passed away at the age of 87. The loss is enormous as he had enchanted Bunraku fans with many great performances together with the great puppeteer of female puppets, Yoshida Minosuke, in such well-known plays as Sonezaki shinjû (Love Suicides at Sonezaki). As for narrators, four in their 50s have passed away in the last few years, and in 2007 one of the kirikatari narrators (the highest-ranking narrator who recites important and climactic scenes) resigned because of a scandal. A generational shift is therefore inevitable and urgent. It takes many years to train a narrator or puppeteer, and narrators are particularly underrepresented. As one narrator explained, “The next five years are crucial, or Bunraku might disappear.”
In the November 2007 performances in Osaka of Sonezaki shinjû , the National Theatre and Bunraku Association used Yoshida Tamame and Kanjuro, the best pupils of Tamao and Minosuke respectively, both now in their 50s. It was generally perceived by fans as a move to provide a replacement for the Tamao-Minosuke duo. Will the new generation pair be accepted by discerning fans? Will the development of new narrators be a success? Bunraku is certainly facing a new and difficult era. Hôgaku in Compulsory Education
Education has always gone through changes to keep up with the times. In 1998, the Ministry of Education (the present Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) revised its curriculum guidelines, making it compulsory, as of 2002, to teach traditional Japanese musical instruments in junior high school music classes. The ministry also included in its primary school guidelines a strong recommendation to use traditional instruments in music classes.
It is now mandatory for college students studying to be music teachers to take courses in traditional Japanese songs and instruments. With this “big bang” in music education—130 years after the previous reformation—teachers and schools that have been studying and teaching Western classical music are making a concerted attempt to change their focus.
The first to react to this shift was the music industry. Leading companies, including Yamaha Corporation, were all eager to develop new instruments. Traditional instruments are very expensive and made from natural materials that are difficult to repair. In addition, these instruments are made by small-scale enterprises that cannot produce the quantity required for schools. The educational changes developed a market for inexpensive, easy-to-manage, mass-produced instruments, and a new range of traditional instruments was created to meet this demand.
In order to reduce costs, drums were made by joining a hollowed out wood log and coating the body in plastic, instead of hollowing out a tree trunk and stretching animal skin over the head—a process that costs several million yen. The koto was shortened to two-thirds its original length for easier handling, and manufacturers used high-density plywood for the body instead of expensive paulownia wood. The cheaper production methods were meant to give people easier access to the instruments and to win more advocates of Hôgaku, including those who were interested but had second thoughts because of the cost. Meanwhile, there was development of instruments to satisfy the desire of musicians seeking a more sonorous sound. This was represented by the electric shamisen, “Mugen 21,” developed in 1990. The emergence of this instrument allowed the shamisen to be played with high-volume drums and synthesizers, and this has further broadened the field for young musicians.
Fewer Barriers Between Music Schools
Hôgaku had for a long time passed on its artistic tradition through ryûha , the branches of schools operated by disciples of the iemoto , the founding family of a school. This system effectively handed down intangible culture in a consistent fashion. At the same time, however, even with the same instrument being used, different schools employ their own methods for music notation and there are constraints on playing with musicians from other schools. Although Japanese classical music is a single category, there is music that certain schools are prohibited from playing because of iemoto rules. This was a factor blocking the musical development of Hôgaku.
However, the rise of young musicians created a spurt of activity that crossed traditional boundaries. Shortly into the new millennium, there was an incident in the shakuhachi world that symbolized this trend. There was a certain shakuhachi solo piece, or honkyoku , that was only passed down to students of the Kinkoryû school at Komusôdera. Students of other schools were not allowed to play it. It was the sort of piece, however, that any shakuhachi player would want to play during the course of a career. In fact, many of them started to learn shakuhachi playing it, and their fascination with it led to great demand to learn it. A group from another school, Tozanryû, finally succeeded in inviting a Kinkoryû player to hold a workshop to teach the piece.
For a while, musicians of the younger generation were opening live-music houses dedicated to Hôgaku, and music competitions featuring traditional instruments and vocals were held at the National Theatre of Japan. As you can see just from these examples, the 1990s saw a transition in the world of Hôgaku that can be described as a period of storm-and-stress. The situation finally settled down around 2005. The live-music houses have closed and the competitions at the National Theater are no longer held. In the wake of the Hôgaku boom, however, the fence separating Japanese and Western music has been lowered, and both are considered music on equal terms. Yet the interest of the media and the public has not reached the real world of classical Japanese music. The growing interest is still in a phase at which people are drawn to novelties like The Beatles songs and other rock pieces played with the koto and shakuhachi. Meanwhile, both koto and shakuhachi advocates are falling in number and fewer people are playing. “Classics are the cream,” says shakuhachi player Yamamoto Hôzan, but there are players emerging who are good in contemporary music but unable to play the classics. The fact is that the new shift is toward a mixture of Japanese and Western music, and current musical expression based on the traditions of Hôgaku has significant room to mature.
Lastly, a brief note on Japanese drums, wadaiko , which have also become very popular overseas. Their popularity comes from the easy-to-learn technique and the wide age range of the drummers. The towns in some regions are taking the initiative in forming drum groups to revitalize the tradition. These steps have resulted in so many professional and amateur groups being formed that the actual figure is unknown. Since World War II, creative drumming developed from regional entertainment like festivals. This is referred to as “contemporary folk art,” although a majority of the performances are fairly standard and there are few professionals who have actually developed the music into something worthy of admiration. In terms of developing the art of wadaiko, Hayashi Eitetsu is an outstanding asset and a trailblazer among soloists. He pursues both artistic quality and refined stage direction. Kodô, a group of which Hayashi was once a member, is notable as a drum group. Among the generation following Hayashi, the works of Hidano Shûichi , Leonard Etô , and Tokyo Dagekidan are attracting attention. The Schools of Hogaku
There are several types of traditional Japanese music and the word hogaku is used as a general inclusive term for this traditional music. This term is actually considered to be an abbreviation of kinsei hogaku ( hogaku of the modern age), with hogaku being an abbreviation of honpo ongaku (music of our nation). In its broader definition, hogaku includes the ancient gagaku and shomyo music forms and the Noh-Kyogen or Heike biwa music of the middle ages, but in general use the term hogaku refers to traditional Japanese music born during or after the Japan’s Edo Period (17th to mid-19th centuries), including music for shamisen, koto, shakuhachi flute, biwa, etc.
Each of these music traditions has had various patron groups in each era. For example, gagaku was patronized by the imperial court or the shrines and temples, and noh music and Heike biwa music and other biwa and shakuhachi music was patronized by the samurai class (by high society after the Meiji Restoration of 1868), while shamisen music was supported by the common citizens in the Edo period (general public after the Meiji Restoration). It can be said that the diversity in musical expression and taste resulting from the different eras in which the traditions developed and the different social groups supporting them is one of the reasons that several different traditional art forms of music and performance have continued to exist simultaneously in Japan.
The Classification and Development of Shamisen Music
When we speak off shamisen music we are actually speaking about a tradition that is divided into numerous schools . There are also a number of ways that these schools can be classified. Figure 1 shows a classification of shamisen music by where it is performed. In this case, the divisions are made between music that is part of a theater performance (the music for kabuki performances is classified as different from the music for puppet plays), music that is not part of a theater performance (purely for musical enjoyment) and other categories like music played as an accompaniment to work songs. Here, it is important to note that there are many cases of music that began as theater music and eventually came to be performed in non-theatrical scenes as time went by.
Furthermore, shamisen music can be classified as a branch of music sharing the same lineage with a family of musical traditions (including Joruri (dramatic ballads) and Hayari-uta (popular songs) that existed before the shamisen was imported into Japan in the mid-16th century via Ryukyu (today’s Okinawa) from its origins in China [Fig. 2]. Since it is music sharing a common lineage, the melodies tend to be similar. However, as the music evolved over time in accordance with the tastes of the different patronizing groups, slight differences began to emerge. Today, it is these differences, often so slight that only a specialist can identify them, that give the different schools their unique identity.
In Japanese, " schools " of music are referred to with the term ryuha , and further distinction is made between the ryu (schools) as used in figures 1 and 2, and the ha (branches) that exist within each school as smaller groups usually led by famous families of musicians in which a certain style is handed down from generation to generation.
Differences in Repertoire Pieces
In both the shamisen and koto traditions, the schools are so numerous that we sometimes hear stories like those of disappointed students who began studying the koto with the dream of someday being able to play the famous piece Haru no Umi (Spring Sea), only to find out later that the piece was not part of the repertoire of the particular school they were studying under. And, unlike in the Western music tradition, there are often cases where new pieces commissioned by one school from a particular composer, or pieces composed by a musician of a particular lineage, are not allowed to be performed by musicians from other schools.
In other words, even the most famous pieces belong to the repertoire of only one school, and even if there is a piece by the same name in another school’s repertoire it, the music will be different. In the case of the performers themselves, it is also very unusual for a musician to have pieces from two or more schools in his or her repertoire. So, for example, it is very rare to find a performer who can play the Echigo Jishi of the naga-uta (long epic songs) tradition and also play Tsugaru style shamisen.
Differences in Performance Format
Since different types of music have different purposes, they are naturally performed in different ways. In the case of naga-uta , for example, it is a form of music that evolved with the kabuki theater, where its role was either as accompaniment to the kabuki actors’ dance or to provide what might be called background music for the play. Kabuki adopts many elements from the older Noh-kyogen theater tradition of the middle ages. One of these elements is the hayashi instrument ensemble consisting of flute, drum and the large and small hand-held tsuzumi drums. This is why naga-uta is most often performed with a combination of voice [the epic narrative], shamisen and hayashi ensemble. In short, naga-uta evolved as the only music form in which these three parts are performed together on stage, while other shamisen music is only for voice and shamisen . Also, the number of voices and shamisen performing together at once will differ with the different schools.
The shamisen music falling within the theater music tradition is performed with the musicians sitting on a separate platform from the stage where the play is acted out, and this is meant to show that the music and narrative come from a different world than that of the actors on stage. This same style of performance is used when the music is performed separately from the kabuki play. In contrast, the koto music called ji-uta sokyoku music is originally what one could call chamber music, performed in tatami rooms. That is why it is now performed with the musicians sitting directly on the stage floor (or on a slightly raised platform). Hogaku continues to abide by rules of performance format and staging like these that are based in the way the music was originally performed. As a result, these rules by which the music is performed and things like the shapes of the music stands used can tell us today where the origins of the music lie.
Figure1

©So Sugiura

Figure2

©So Sugiura

Understanding the Figures
The solid lines in the chart show music genres that are considered direct descendants of the oldest traditions (to the left) in the genealogy of traditional Japanese music, while the dotted lines show genre rooted more generally in the preceding genre. All the names shown in the chart are of schools that still exist today. It should be noted that the division between " utai (sung)" and " katari (spoken)" traditions is based on a historical perspective and not on the actual contents of the music. As for the joruri genre, it began to divide into many branches in the early Edo period after the introduction of the shamisen and, as a result, includes many schools today. Bunraku
Bunraku is a form of puppet theater that arose in Osaka during the Edo Period. The puppets are manipulated to the recitation of joruri (the narrative) by reciters known as gidayu and the accompaniment of the low-pitched futozao shamisen . At first each puppet was manipulated by a single puppeteer, but the practice of sannin-zukai , in which a single puppet body is manipulated by three puppeteers, emerged during the 1700s. The omo-zukai (head puppeteer), who manipulates the head and right hand, is the leader, while the hidari-zukai (left puppeteer) manipulates the left hand and the ashi-zukai (foot puppeteer) manipulates the feet. Working in perfect unison, the three puppeteers were able to give the puppet a greater delicacy and richness of expression. One of the attractions of bunraku is that it is a human drama unfolded through the harmoniously combined efforts of these puppeteers, the shamisen-kata ( shamisen player), and the tayu narrator, who recites the parts of distinct multiple characters.
Although bunraku had been very popular, the performances began to go continuously into the red from around 1955. In 1963, therefore, the national government, Osaka Prefecture, and NHK provided assistance and the Bunraku Association was established. Performers became craft artists affiliated with the Bunraku Association, and they hold performances at the Small Theatre of the National Theatre of Japan in Tokyo and at the National Bunraku Theatre in Osaka.
A television documentary on two living national treasures, the puppeteer YOSHIDA Tamao and the reciter TAKEMOTO Sumitayu, was broadcasted in 2001. This program, which showed the artists engaged in continuing study and training, brought about a sudden revival of bunraku popularity, and tickets to Tokyo performances have been impossible to obtain in the two years since. The heart of this popularity is the perfected performance art presented by the five living national treasures and other artists of bunraku .
Bunraku does not have the same ie (family) system of kabuki to pass the art on from generation to generation, so any man with the necessary ability can find a future in bunraku . In fact, 44% of the 88 reciter, shamisen player, and puppeteer craft artists are people who have gone through the traditional performing artist training program started at the National Theatre in 1972 to foster successors in bunraku art. Many of these people came to the program without any previous background in bunraku . Trainees receive two years of basic education, after which they take part in stage performances under a master\'s instruction. It is a serious course of training, which is said to finally produce top-level results for foot puppeteers after ten years and left hand puppeteers after twenty years, while reciters are not said to attain that level until they are in their fifties. This training program has been fostering successors in the art, and one of its graduates, NOZAWA Kinya (a shamisen player ), succeeded to the name of NOZAWA Kinshi V at the age of 41 in 1998.
There are promising signs for the next generation. The puppeteer YOSHIDA Minotaro succeeded to the name of KIRITAKE Kanjuro, for example, and a group of middle-level and younger performers staged a joint event at the National Theatre that also included gospel singing and other such performances in between the bunraku . There have also been su-joruri (stand-alone joruri ) performances of the narration and shamisen accompaniment without puppets. In November 2003 bunraku was also designated a "Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO. Still, the loss of three reciters in their fifties over the past several years has left a gap, and the living national treasures who are working to uphold the popularity of bunraku have grown old, YOSHIDA Tamao being 84 and TAKEMOTO Sumitayu 79. Therefore the change to the next generation remains an issue. 4
When this new wave of Kabuki is looked at as a whole, it becomes clear that the point lies in the directing authority given to the director. Traditionally there is no such role as that of a director in Kabuki. The system until now has been one in which the main actor in a Kabuki production is given the position of zagashira (head of a Kabuki troupe) which involved the right to choose from among the several established staging “forms” for each of the plays in the Kabuki repertoire and give instructions to the stage staff concerning the general direction of the production. And actually, this is not really such an unusual format when we consider that fact that the role of “director” as we know it in theater today did not begin to emerge in the West until the late 19th and early 20th century. Prior to that, modern theater functioned under a system in which the main actor in a production assumed the role of “actor manager” and gave directions concerning the staging. Considering the fact that Kabuki as we know it today became established in Japan’s Edo Genroku Years (late 17th, early 18th century), it is hard to criticize the ambiguity concerning the right of directing authority in Kabuki.
Looking back, this is not the first time since the Meiji Restoration (1867) that a series of new plays have been introduced in rapid succession. For example, there is the case of Sadanji Ichikawa II, who was the first Kabuki actor to travel to Europe and see modern Western theater. At the time, he joined forces with the intellectual Kaoru Osanai to form a “Free Theater” in 1909 and stage a production of Henrik Ibsen’s John Gabriel Borkman , which greatly surprised Japanese audiences accustomed to Kabuki. Sadanji went on to enlist the talents of playwrights like Kido Okamoto and Seika Mayama to actively present entirely new repertoire that came to be called “New Kabuki.” Among the representative works of this New Kabuki were Okamoto’s Toribeyama Shinju and Mayama’s Genroku Chusingura .
Artistic genres that have lost the ability to produce new works are destined to decline while clinging to the ideals of keeping the classics alive and preserving tradition. With the exception of a few writers like Nobuo Uno and Yukio Mishima active in the War and postwar years, the works of Okamoto and Mayama’s era are generally believed to be the last new works in the Kabuki repertoire that have been performed over and over since.
In fact there have been some cases of efforts in recent decades to defy the decline of Kabuki. One person who brought strong new directing concepts to the Kabuki world from the outside is Tetsuji Takechi. Takechi succeeded in creating a new style of reinterpreted Kabuki known as “Takechi Kabuki (1949 - 1952). The current representative senior actors of the Kabuki world, including Tomijuro Nakamura V and Ganjiro Nakamura III are actors who came of age performing in Takechi Kabuki.
Furthermore, we must note the important role that has been played by the National Theater which was built in Miyakezaka in Tokyo in 1966. The pamphlet for the first Kabuki production contained an essay about the policies by which Kabuki would be staged at the National Theater. The policies included “respect for the original works,” “presenting productions of full (unabbreviated) Kyogen play” and “reviving old Kyogen works,” etc., and especially noteworthy was the comment about the desire to “present unified productions by eliminating self-centered directing by the actors.” However, there are in fact many difficulties in separating the roles of the director and the zagashira and, according to a comment by Yukio Hattori, by 1971 the National Theater had all but given up on the idea of maintaining a clear directing role.
The actor who has directed the greatest efforts into the renewal of Kabuki in recent years is Ennosuke Ichikawa III. Working together with Shosuke Nakawa, who handles the modification of the script and directing, Ennosuke has been able to revive various Kyogen plays that had been forgotten, and commissioning the philosopher Takeshi Umehara, he has brought a series of new works set in ancient times like Yamato Taeru (1988) to the Kabuki stage. He has also worked actively to promote exchange between Kabuki and Chinese Peking Opera, and the request of the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris he has directed the staging of the Rimsky-Korsakov opera The Golden Cockerel (French title: Le Coq d\'Or ) in 1984. However, these types of works by Ennosuke are typified more by the flavor of a traditional zagashira actor’s direction than by a respect for director’s form outside the Kabuki world.
The new wave we see emerging this year is typified by once again actively introducing new works and new interpretations of the classics and, if such an expression can be allowed, the battle to try to revive Kabuki within the context of contemporary theater.
Still, even in the case of directors such as Yukio Ninagawa, Kazuyoshi Kushida and Hideki Noda who have been so successful in the contemporary theater world, it would have been very difficult to bring out the stage methods that have been developed within the Kabuki traditional and the physical prowess of the actors without the cooperation of Kanzaburo as a zagashira actor.
What should be noted especially about this new wave of Kabuki that emerged between May and August of 2005 is that Kanzaburo’s ongoing efforts to revitalize Kabuki are now being joined by Kikugoro Onoe and his Kikugoro Theater Company, who until now have belonged to mainstream Kabuki. And the fact that Kikugoro’s son and one of the future leaders of the Kabuki world, Kikunosuke, was able to convince Ninagawa to direct at the Kabuki-za even though he had previously state publicly that he would never direct Kabuki, can be considered a very significant development not only for Kabuki but also in the history of Shakespeare theater.
This new wave of Kabuki does not simply represent a changing of generations within the Kabuki world. Its result has been to split the Kabuki world between actors who are so concerned about the future of Kabuki that they are willing to bring in directors from the outside in order to revolutionize it and actors who continue to rely on the conventions of the classical Kabuki tradition.
Also, when we look at Kabuki from the standpoint of the world’s theater traditions, it can be said that we are in a time when Asian though and artistic methods have the potential to be a big stimulus to the Western theater tradition that is now on the verge of extinction. There have been a number of Western theater directors who have actively brought non-Western theatrical idioms into their work, such as Antonin Artaud in the past and Ariane Mnouchkine in the contemporary theater scene. So, it is probably safe to say that the day is not far off when Japanese directors who have been trained in Western style theater can bring to the international theater scene works that apply contemporary interpretations to classical Kabuki or new works they create making use of Kabuki actors with their unique physical presence and acting vocabulary. Before long, we will surely be looking back at productions like the 2001 Noda Version Togitatsu no Utare , the 2004 New York performance of Natsu Matsuri Naniwa Kagami and the 2005 NINAGAWA Twelfth Night as the forerunners of this new movement.
Baby-Q
ALARM !
© Itami AI Hall
*
Kabuki
The origin of the name kabuki is the verb
kabuku
, which means to exhibit strange behavior and appearance. Kabuki is said to have originated in the early Edo Period with an extravagant dance (
kabuki odori
) first performed in Kyoto by a woman named IZUMO no Okuni. Kabuki performance by women was then banned by the authorities as deleterious to public morals, and the
on'nagata
(male performer specializing in female roles) came into being. Kabuki consequently developed as an intensely formalistic drama. When the Shogunate government granted official permission to perform kabuki in Edo in 1714, the only authorized theaters were the Nakamura-za, the Ichimura-za, and the Morita-za, known as the "three theaters of Edo."
*
Shingeki
The
shingeki
(New Drama, or Western-style theater) genre appeared as a reaction against kabuki and
Shinpa
theater and developed through reception of European modern drama. It originated with the Jiyu Gekijo(1909-1919), a theatrical troupe that was formed under the Meiji government movement to improve kabuki and for the purpose of performing translated plays. Initially
shingeki
was performed by kabuki players. Then the Tsukiji Shogekijo was built in 1924 as a permanent theater for the performance of European modern drama, and the theater sought to cultivate actors who could perform realistic drama. This laid the foundation for the
shingeki
of today. Representative troupes include the Haiyu-za (founded in 1944), the Bungakuza (1937), and the Mingei (1950).
*
Shinpa
The
Shinpa
(New School) was a dramatic genre that developed in opposition to kabuki.
Shinpa
originated during the middle of the Meiji Period from a form known as
soshi shibai
(plays by young political activists), which was performed to publicize the democratic thought of the Human Rights Movement. This form gradually began to dramatize contemporary material found in the newspapers, and finally established itself as the
Shinpa
tragedy style toward the beginning of the Taishェ Period with the appearance of the works
Konjiki Yasha and Hototogisu
.
Kabuki
The origin of the name Kabuki is the verb
kabuku
, which means to exhibit strange behavior and appearance. Kabuki is said to have originated in the early Edo Period (1603–1867) with an extravagant dance (
kabuki odori
) first performed in Kyoto by a woman named Izumo no Okuni. Kabuki performance by women was banned by the authorities as deleterious to public morals, and the
(male performer specializing in female roles) came into being. Kabuki consequently developed as an intensely formalistic drama. When the Shogunate government granted official permission to perform Kabuki in Edo in 1714, the only authorized theaters were the Nakamuraza, the Ichimuraza, and the Moritaza, known as the “three theaters of Edo.”
Shinpa
The Shinpa (New School) was a dramatic genre that developed in reaction to Kabuki. Shinpa originated during the middle of the Meiji Period from a form known as
sôshi shibai
(plays by young political activists), which was performed to publicize the democratic thought of the Freedom and People’s Rights Movement. This form began dramatizing contemporary material in the news, and eventually established itself as the Shinpa tragedy style toward the beginning of the Taishô Period (1912–26) with works such as
Konjiki Yasha
and
Hototogisu
.
Shingeki
The Shingeki (New Drama, or Western-style theater) genre appeared as a reaction against Kabuki and Shinpa theater and developed along the lives of European modern drama. It originated with the Jiyû Gekijô (1909-19), a theatrical troupe that was formed under the Meiji government’s drive to improve Kabuki and for the purpose of performing translated plays. Initially Shingeki was performed by Kabuki actors. Then the Tsukiji Shôgekijô theater was built in 1924 as a permanent theater of European modern drama, and the theater sought to cultivate actors who could perform realistic drama. This laid the foundation for the Shingeki today, including the Haiyuza (founded in 1944), the Bungakuza (1937), and the Mingei (1950).
Shôgekijô
Shôgekijô, or “Small Theater,” emerger from the resistance to the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty in the 1960s. Initially companies would rent halls to stage performances, but Jiyû Gekijô, or “free theater,” which was an off-shoot of the movement felt that companies should have and maintain their own theaters as a way of creating new expressions. The first such theater was the Underground Theater Jiyû Gekijô in the basement of a sheet glass maker in Roppongi in Tokyo. Once, the Waseda Shôgekijô company and the Tenjô Sajiki companies got their own theaters, activities were dubbed “the Shôgekijô movement.” The movement has since been divided into three generations. The first generation were the ones who began theaters in the 1960s (
Kara Jûrô
, Suzuki Tadashi,
Ninagawa Yukio
, Terayama Shûji, Satô Makoto, etc.), the second generation of student activists were influenced by the first generation during the 1970s (Tsuka Kôei, Yamazaki Tetsu, etc.), and the third generation originated as student theater companies to spread the culture of youth (
Noda Hideki
and others).
*School (
ryuha
)
Schools are groups that formed in order to protect distinctive artistic styles of intangible performing arts and pass them on to succeeding generations. In Noh, there are different schools for the actors who play the main roles (
shitekata
), for the actors who play supporting roles (
wakikata
) for the
shitekata
, for the musical accompanists (
hayashikata
), and for the actors who perform in
kyogen
(
kyogenkata
). For the
shitekata
, for example, there are the five schools of Kanze, Hosho, Konparu, Kongo, and Kita. For the
kyogenkata
, there are the two schools of Okura and Izumi.
Major Theater Awards in Japan
Yomiuri Theater Awards
These awards honor outstanding stage works and performances irrespective of genre, covering classical theater such as Kabuki and Nô as well as musicals, commercial theater, shingeki, shôgekijô and so forth. Categories include the Grand Prize, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Supporting Staff, the Sugimura Haruko Prize, the Judges’ Prize, and Best Play. Sponsored by Yomiuri Newspapers Group, 2007 was the 15th year of the awards.
Kinokuniya Theater Awards
These awards are sponsored by the Kinokuniya Company of bookstore fame which owns two theaters, the Kinokuniya Hall and the Kinokuniya Southern Theater, in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district. Two prizes are given, for Collective and Personal Achievements. 2007 was the 42nd year of the awards.
Awards Sponsored by the Agency for Cultural Affairs
_Art Encouragement Prizes
Inaugurated in 1950, the Art Encouragement Prize and the Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists are awarded by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to individuals for outstanding and groundbreaking achievements in the ten fields of theater, film, music, dance, literature, art, broadcasting, popular entertainment, advancement for the arts, and criticism.
_Original Stage Work Prize
Since 1978 this prize has been awarded to outstanding original works for the stage in all genres in order to foster the production of creative stage works. Currently, in the field of music there are two categories, one covering orchestral, choral, and opera, and the other covering traditional Japanese music, while in the field of theater, there is one category of contemporary drama.
_National Arts Festival Awards
2007 saw the 62nd year of these awards, which are presented to participating works and performances in the categories of drama, music, dance and entertainment, and to three further categories of television, radio, and recording. In each category, outstanding works and performances are awarded a Grand Prize, Excellence Award, and New Artist Award, among others.
Kishida Drama Award
This award commemorating the playwright Kishida Kunio (1890–1954) is given to up-and-coming playwrights. Acknowledged as a gateway to success, it is often dubbed the Akutagawa Prize of the theater world. It was established in 1955 as the Shingeki Drama Award, which became the Shingeki Kishida Drama Award in 1961 and then the Kishida Drama Award in 1979. January 2008 saw the 52nd award, which is sponsored by the Hakusuisha publishing company.
Tsuruya Nanboku Drama Award
This prize is awarded to the best new Japanese play staged during the year. Sponsored by the Kôbun Scheherazade Foundation, 2008 was its eleventh year.
Japan Playwrights Association’s Outstanding New Playwright Award
Aimed at discovering new talent to be the driving force of the theater in the future, this award is given for an outstanding drama by a new playwright. It is open to aspiring playwrights throughout Japan, and works are subjected to two stages in the selection process before being put before the final judging panel. Each year, all finalists are included in a Best New Playwrights Collection published by Bronze Shinsha publishers. Established in 1995, the award is sponsored by the Japan Playwrights Association.
Teatro New Playwrights Award
Anyone may send in an entry to this drama award, which aims to discover talented new playwrights. Sponsored by Teatro Magazine, published by the Chamomile publishing company, it entered its 17th year in 2006.
OMS Drama Award
A drama award started in 1994 as part of the celebrations commemorating the tenth anniversary of the theater ôgimachi Museum Square (OMS, which opened in 1985 and closed in 2003). It is open to all playwrights resident or mainly active in the Kansai region, which includes the cities of Kyoto and Osaka, and the prefectures of Shiga, Hyôgô, Nara, and Wakayama, and is awarded for a work written and staged during the previous year. Sponsored by Osaka Gas.
Yuasa Yoshiko Translation Prize
This prize was established in 1994 to commemorate the work of the Russian literature scholar Yuasa Yoshiko (1896–1990), and is awarded to the theater company and translator/scriptwriter for an outstanding translation and performance of a foreign drama. Prizewinners also receive the Yuasa Yoshiko Memorial Theater Translation Scholarship.
Nissay Backstage Awards
These awards honor outstanding achievements in the performing arts and promotion of culture in the categories of stage sets, sound, lighting, costume, and so forth. 2007 saw the 13th year of the award, with 34 people commended. In addition to prize money, the award provides an annuity for life. It is sponsored by the Nissay Culture Foundation.
Lighting Designers and Engineers Association of Japan Awards
A rare occasion for the work of lighting designers and engineers to be honored. Awards are given in the categories of theater and television, and include the Grand Prize (awarded in conjunction with the Encouragement Prize of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology), as well as awards for Excellence, Best New Talent, Encouragement, Endeavors, and Skills, among others. The awards do not just cover plays and TV programs, but also reward development of techniques, improvements to equipment, lighting design in venues, and so forth. Sponsored by the Lighting Designers and Engineers Association of Japan.
Itô Kisaku Awards
These awards are named after the first president of the sponsoring Japan Association of Theater Designers and Technicians. In addition to the Grand Prize given to the Play with the Best Design (set, costume, and make-up), there is an Award for Best New Talent, an Encouragement Award, and a Special Award.
*School (ryûha)
Schools are groups that formed in order to protect distinctive artistic styles of intangible performing arts and pass them on to succeeding generations. In Nô, there are different schools for the actors who play the main roles (
shitekata
), supporting roles (
wakikata
), musical accompaniment (
hayashikata
), and for Kyôgen (
kyôgenkata
). For the
shitekata
, for example, there are five schools: Kanze, Hôshô, Konparu, Kongô, and Kita. For the
kyôgenkata
, there are two schools, ôkura and Izumi.