Finals

Noh Theater

• Music and Feet
• Stomping to the beat of the music
• gliding and stomping 
• Fans and Hands
• symbolism 
• expression 
• Masks
• 6 masks:
• Okina (Old man masks)
• JO (Elders mask)
• Onna-men (Women masks)
• Otoko-men (Men masks)
• Kishin (Demons)
• Onryo (Ghosts and spirit) 
• Orgin of the Noh mask
• Muromachi period (1392) 
• Expressions
• 2: Teru and Kumoru
• neutral expression and embody emotion 
• Tamuru 
• Separating actors from the mask - relying on the mask 

Kyogen Theater

• Mask
• traditional comedy theater
• developed alongside Noh
• performed in between them
• Main goal - make them laugh
• typically do not wear masks
• Movements are exaggerated
• nameless characters - expression emotion with actors own emotion
• Exception of demon mask
• Most masks are neutral 
• depend on movements 
• Demon mask
• symbolizes ghosts 
• Use of Body
• 14th century with Noh Theater
• Modern - Nogaku = Noh-Kyogen 
• Comic relief to heaviness of Noh Theater 
• No elaborate costumes 
• large
• must emphasize body movement
• Sometimes stock characters 
• Thought to derive from Chinese entertainment
• Different story lines specific to own stories 
• Exaggeration makes it easier to understand 
• Features may also feature jumping and stomping 
• contrast to sliding 
• Turn purposeful 
• Long speech - walking towards the audience 
• Not necessarily intermissions
• have their own stories as well

Kabuki

• Makeup, Face and Head
• Slightly newer - at least 600 years old
• Certain amount of plays allowed to be watched
• Plays are 5 hour long and often repeated
• Acting Kabuki is family tradition
• Audience is usually veterans
• Actors are the spectators
• Children start at 2-3 years old
• Makeup
• Kesho and Kumadori
• whiter the face = more important he/she is
• Kumadori --> superheros and villians
• veins 
• red = superheros
• blue = villan, ghosts, or spirits
• brown = animals or inhuman beings 
• Kesho --> Normal characters
• only black and white
• Soft spoken --> less definition and less/no lines 
• Dominant --> strong lines
• All female makeup is the same
• no matter how important
• little red on edge of eyes
• lines on eyebrows 
• red lips
• represent feminine beauty
• takes away masculine makeup 
• more lines = more passionate
• makeup is changed in middle of play 
• actors do own makeup 
• Head
• Mie
• works like a close up
• literal = appearance or visible
• one eye will be crossed and one eye out
• powerful glare
• supposed to be scary
• predicted by head roll and music
• snap into place twice 
• Females don't have mie
• similar but called kamuri
• not crossing eyes
• too much power
• Body movements
• Started during Edo Era (1600-1868)
• Merchants having to remain socially inferior due belonging in commoner class
• Fundamental themes about the conflicts between humanity and the feudalistic system 
• Around 300 Kabuki plays
• Terms of origin 3 categories:
• Noh 
• Puppet
• Kyogi 
• Acting in general
• formalized view
• didn't attempt to hide performance aspect
• well aware they were performing
• meant to be esstecially appearing
• more like dancing than acting
• lavish costumes
• The body 
• Onnagata - male character plays female role
• emphasizes and stylizing feminine movements and gestures
• knees and back slightly bent
• fingers are kept together
• tiny steps
• Wagoto
• fluid movement
• similar to Onnagata
• more of a narrow stance than Aragoto
• Aragoto
• broad 
• Mie
• Villain or superhero

Bunraku

• Puppets
• Main stage puppets
• One stage - music and narrator
• narrator also voices the puppets 
• Size
• 76 to 122 cm
• supposed to be 2/3 size of a human
• Relatively bare
• not meant to be very heavy 
• Head 
• has grip stick with control springs
• manipulates movements of the puppet
• 6 controls
• limbs attached with springs
• Changing faces
• one moment as a woman
• the next as a demon 
• Head can also fall off 
• neat tricks 
• Puppeteers
• 3 puppeteers for each puppet being played 
• Omo-zukai - head + right arm
• Aidari-zukai - left arm + props 
• Ashi-zukai - legs + sound effects 
• Based on skill
• had to start at Ashi-zukai --> Aidari-zukai --> Omo-zukai
• train 10 years each and performing
• at least 25 years to be recognized as professional 
• Head is the heaviest 
• Puppeteer without hood = most skilled/recognized 

 Butoh

• Body movment
• encompasses art
• 3 core ideas
• flexibility
• strength
• balance 
• History of Butoh
• trauma 
• trying to express in the most raw and guttural form 
•  first recognized as the "Earth Dance"
• Tatsumi Hijikata 
• purely Japanese
• body can stand on its own
• people are taken aback by the intensity of the raw nature 
• heavily explicit in nature 
• Co-founder of Buto
• Well known Practitioner 
• Also known as Dance of Darkness
• nudity
• white makeup 
• Finding beauty in the grotesque 
• rooted back to the Earth
• The Body
• guttural response
• given stimuli 
• as a result unconventional 
• distortion 
• Kazuo Ono
• Co-founder practitioner 
• Challenges what modern day may perceive beauty 
• Face and Mask
• began as student riots
• social hierarchy was breaking
• Underground performances 
• Makeup
• thick white layer
• transition from normal to whatever is inside 
• white - ghost like 
• depiction of people
• Facial expressions
• constant and gradual morph 
• silent scream 
• trying to say something but nothing comes out
• intense 
• tongue dance
• never conscious of the tongue 
• drooling 
• grotesque beauty 
• twitching muscles