Of all the elements that have shaped Kabuki theatre over the years, I find it rather amusing that censorship has to be one of the most prominent. Kabuki itself began as a sort of sweet, gentle political satire. It was soon banned as the female actors learned the trick of lowering necklines, shortening skirts, and eventually removing clothing altogether in some scenes to attract male audience members. Kabuki turned from something very precise and beautiful to something lewd. The response was to outlaw female players, turning kabuki in the direction it has taken, into a complex form of dance theatre. Next, the effect of the rigid social customs of the Edo period on the topics of the plays was huge. It is difficult to find a kabuki piece in which there is nothing sexual- indeed, the main characters have a tendency to be courtesans and geisha. The people came to the theatre to forget about their strict lives and fastidious customs. So though structured, kabuki was still an outlet for human joys and desires, adding to the rich, decadent feeling of the art. It is important to see, of course, that any and all breaking of rules in these plays is met by strict divine intervention and punishment, even when the parties themselves are helpless. Lovers who are not fated to be together flee life and its retribution in famous double suicide plays. Women unfaithful to their husbands come to untimely ends. My Sakurahime has terrible thing after terrible thing happen to her when she unwittingly sleeps with the man who murdered her parents, and the priest Seigen steps on his path to destruction when through fear he betrays the love and trust of the young Shigarimaku. And yet, the audience takes an honest joy in watching these forbidden actions taking place. They gasp, shout, cry and watch with fascination the characters that break their laws, as though for a brief moment they can toy with the idea….. and then go home to security at the end of the show as the curtain closes. As such, I'm not sure I’ll ever really be able to entirely appreciate kabuki for the shock it is. I suppose it’s much the same as my sentiments during reading a Doll’s House for English. It was rather boring reading the play the first time and wondering why on earth anyone would care about macaroons, much in the same way it was- I’ll admit, a bit more exciting to read of the princess Sakurahime killing Gonsaku. And then you take a step back, glance over it, and realize that no one had ever pointed out the problems with family life in the way that Ibsen did with Nora and Helmer. And that a polite, beautiful, Japanese princess had just picked up a sword and hurled herself bodily at the man who ruined her life with a scream of fury. With a little perspective, literature is infinitely more fascinating.
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Censorship of Kabuki
Of all the elements that have shaped Kabuki theatre over the years, I find it rather amusing that censorship has to be one of the most prominent.
Kabuki itself began as a sort of sweet, gentle political satire. It was soon banned as the female actors learned the trick of lowering necklines, shortening skirts, and eventually removing clothing altogether in some scenes to attract male audience members. Kabuki turned from something very precise and beautiful to something lewd. The response was to outlaw female players, turning kabuki in the direction it has taken, into a complex form of dance theatre.
Next, the effect of the rigid social customs of the Edo period on the topics of the plays was huge. It is difficult to find a kabuki piece in which there is nothing sexual- indeed, the main characters have a tendency to be courtesans and geisha. The people came to the theatre to forget about their strict lives and fastidious customs. So though structured, kabuki was still an outlet for human joys and desires, adding to the rich, decadent feeling of the art.
It is important to see, of course, that any and all breaking of rules in these plays is met by strict divine intervention and punishment, even when the parties themselves are helpless. Lovers who are not fated to be together flee life and its retribution in famous double suicide plays. Women unfaithful to their husbands come to untimely ends. My Sakurahime has terrible thing after terrible thing happen to her when she unwittingly sleeps with the man who murdered her parents, and the priest Seigen steps on his path to destruction when through fear he betrays the love and trust of the young Shigarimaku.
And yet, the audience takes an honest joy in watching these forbidden actions taking place. They gasp, shout, cry and watch with fascination the characters that break their laws, as though for a brief moment they can toy with the idea….. and then go home to security at the end of the show as the curtain closes.
As such, I'm not sure I’ll ever really be able to entirely appreciate kabuki for the shock it is. I suppose it’s much the same as my sentiments during reading a Doll’s House for English. It was rather boring reading the play the first time and wondering why on earth anyone would care about macaroons, much in the same way it was- I’ll admit, a bit more exciting to read of the princess Sakurahime killing Gonsaku. And then you take a step back, glance over it, and realize that no one had ever pointed out the problems with family life in the way that Ibsen did with Nora and Helmer. And that a polite, beautiful, Japanese princess had just picked up a sword and hurled herself bodily at the man who ruined her life with a scream of fury.
With a little perspective, literature is infinitely more fascinating.