Nia Porter4/25/15I have never been much of a theater buff, but from time to time I like to sit down and enjoy a nice show. Up until now I havent gone to any other type of theater shows except for American ones. I havent had the pleasure of going to see a Japanese theater production. The only type of theater I had heard of from Japan was the Kabuki theaters, but there are actually 4 main types of Japanese theater. These are the Kabuki, Bunraku, Noh, and Kyogen. The Noh Theater, also called Nogaku was started in the 14th century. Noh actors are all men and they play both gender roles. The characters all wear masks. The subject matter of most Noh performances are historical stories. It is common for the performances to last an entire day (Japanese Theater) with 5 plays during each showing. During the intermission of Noh performances there is Kyogen, which is slapstick comedy. Kyogen performances dont have their actors wear masks. Both Noh and Kyogen have had their difficulties throughout the year to keep its popularity, especially after World War II. Noh and Kyogen were able to pick up popularity and gain fame internationally.Bunraku is the 400 year old puppet theater of Japan. It was first created in the Edo period by storytellers and puppeteers. The art form of Bunraku was based off of Japanese street performers during the Heian Period. They used a box around their neck as the stage and manipulated two hand puppets. The first Bunraku was set up in 1684 by Takemoto Gidayu. In the 17th and 18th century during the height of Bunraku popularity a lot of performances received patronage of the shogun and other military leaders (Hall). Bunraku has more than just the role of puppeteer. The three main roles you need in Bunraku are puppetry, Joruri and music by a three stringed Shamisen. Within the puppeteers there are additional parts. One of them is the main puppeteer or the omozukai, who control the head and the right arm. The other two are lower ranked puppeteers or apprentices who control the left arm and the legs. The Hidarizukai controls the left hand and the Ahikuzi creates movements of the dolls legs and feet. He will even stamp his own feet for sound effects. In order to become the Omozukai puppeteers need to train for 10 years with controlling the feet and then 10 more years controlling the left side of the puppet. Bunraku performers say it takes at least 25 years to attain the status of Omozukai. The Omozukai wears different clothes from the other puppeteers. He wears a white silk robe and the others wear black suits. Bunraku also includes another role, the Joruri performer who narrates and sings the story. The Joruri needs to be able to control great tonal range versatility and change his voice drastically. The Joruris posture and clothing are also very important. On stage he sits on heels with his toes curled under while being supported by a small wooden stool. Sitting this way allows for his abdomen to be free so he can breathe better. The last performer is the Shamisen player who plays Shamisen. This player helps to set the tone and atmosphere of the performance. Usually when you think of puppets you think of small wooden people attached to a string for the puppeteer to control similar to the look of a European sized puppet. The Bunraku puppets are anything but small which is why it takes 3 people just to control one. The size of a puppet depends on the puppets gender or age but they usually end up being around two to four feet tall. The puppet body consists of wooden head, a shoulder board with loofahs attached at either end to create defined shoulders, a trunk, arms and legs. The puppet heads are called Kashira and are carved from special wood called Hinoki. This wood is soaked in a stream for 3 months and stored for 5 years before it is carved. The puppet heads are cared for by the Kashira Tanto (master of puppet heads) who repairs and repaints the heads in preparation for performances. Separate from the puppet heads are the puppets wigs called Kazura. They are made from mostly human hair but they will add yak hair for more volume. The wig masters are called Tokoyama and they create the keppatsu (hairstyle) for each character. The Bunraku stage consists of the musicians stage called the Yuka, the puppet stage, Honbutai and the Funazoku. The Yuka is position on the right side of the stage with a revolving platfor, the tayu. The tayu is used to bring the musician on and off stage. The Honbutai is made of three railings, tsuri. There is the yatai, the set, the kakiwari which is the painted backdrop, and the Funazoku. Funazoku is the pit which is one step lower than the rest of the stage which is where the puppeteers stand and move around with the puppets. Bunraku play themes usually center around social obligation and human emotions. One of the famous Bunraku plays is Chushingura: The treasury of loyal Retainers where they portray the 47 Ronin as different kana. During the time of the Bunraku plays there was also Kabuki. Bunraku developed a competitive and cooperative relationship with Kabuki. The Kabuki performed many Bunraku works and started to imitate the movement of the Bunraku puppets. The Bunraku while competing with Kabuki started creating puppets where their eyes moved for a more realist feel and to help display more emotion. Bunraki started losing popularity in the late 18th century due to the increase in western culture. After World War II is popularity started to increase and they are now doing performance tour in Tokyo and Osaka. Kabuki Theater is one of the better known theaters and is known worldwide. Kabuki was developed during the peaceful years of the Edo period. It is said to have originated from dances and light theater performed in Kyoto and evolved out of Noh stage. Kabuki had themes of larger than life heroes and ordinary people trying to reconcile personal desire with social obligation. What some people may not know is that the first performers of Kabuki were women. An important side business of the Kabuki troupes was prostitution. This was later banned in 1629 and women were no longer legally to appear on stage. Wakashu Kabuki then became popular which was a young mens kabuki. This introduced a role in Kabuki known as Onnagata which were female impersonators or men that played female roles. This was also banned a few years later because of the public moral effects of male prostitution. Kabuki once again transitioned into a theater of mature male performers. To prevent them from following what the former Kabuki groups habits, the government required that the actors follow more Kyogen theater ways. Kabuki also has many different forms that it is performed in. There is Jidai-mono (historical plays) that is often about samurai classes. They use magnificent clothing and large wigs similar to those found in Noh Theater. One well-known trademark of Kabuki is the extravagant makeup style called Kumadori (Kabuki) that is used in this genre of play. There is also Sewa-mon (domestic plays) that tends to be more realistic than the historical plays. These plays reported on events that happened recently like a scandal, murder or suicide. A different type of play under this category is Kizewa-mono (bare domestic play) which portrayed the lower classes and used violence as a shock value to draw in more people. The last type of play in Kabuki is Shosagoto (dance pieces). These pieces usually served as a showcase for the talents of the top Onnagata (Kabuki). For Onnagata dance pieces, particular attention is paid to the beauty of the costume (Kabuki). These dances were also the basis for the dances used in Geisha performances. (Japanese Theater)Actors in Kabuki also belonged with an acting family who had their own unique styles to plays and roles. Some famous families are Ichikawa Danjuro XII. An actor who inherits the Ichikawa Danjuro name must not only master his predecessors approach to a role but also add his own individual nuances (Kabuki).As I mentioned earlier in this paper Kabuki actors began to imitate the movements of the Bunraku puppets because Kabuki was eclipsed in popularity by them. Kabuki fell into more trouble when the Tokugawa fell. It took the social structure which was the basis for the merchant culture, of which the Kabuki Theater was a part (Kabuki). Kabuki was able to recover. It was a little after this that people tried to introduce western culture into Kabuki but failed. Today Kabuki is a vigorous an integral part of the entertainment industry of Japan (Kabuki). Famous celebrities that show up in movies and plays are also star actors of Kabuki. Kabukiza is Japans main Kabuki Theater and it became tangible cultural property in 2002.I only mention four types of Japanese theater at the beginning but there are other types of that came into fruition in the 20th century. One of them being Shingeki, which is based off of western style drama. It started in about 1906 from people performing amateur performances of things like Shakespeare plays (Williams). A theater in Tokyo opened and the company only did plays by western dramatist. During WWII Shingeki was repressed by the government but got a large boom in popularity during the American occupation. This type of theater is still popular in modern Japanese theaters (Brisbane, Chaturvedi and Majumdar).Works CitedBrisbane, Katherine, et al. The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre: Volume 5: Asia/Pacific. Routledg, 2001.Hall, Zellerbach. BunrakuThe National Puppet Theater of Japan. Brekeley, 15 October 2007.Japanese Theater. n.d. .Kabuki. n.d.What is the Bunraku Theater? n.d. .Williams, Simon. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Stage Actors and Acting. 2015.