Forum and intensive lectures at Nanjing University

"Kabuki seen through blue eyes" Introduction /
DE VOS, Patrick (Theory of French Performing Arts and Theater, University of Tokyo)

Of course it is impossible to draw a full picture of Kabuki with its history of over 400 years in the few hours of this lecture. Therefore this class will introduce a few important topics in Kabuki that likely will help understanding when watching the Kabuki performance in Xuzhou. I would like to proceed the lecture by watching many visual examples in order to give as much as possible an actual feeling through eyes and ears. I would like to highlight “Kabuki” not only as the rich theatrical space appealing to the senses and creativity it has become, but also as a genre that built the history of an era, and which has kept transforming by depicting history and tapping the deep streams of Edo society. Finally I would like to highlight Kabuki as classical drama which has survived to this point face-to-face with “modernity” (or the West).

1) Kabuki within a period and society called Edo. What did Kabuki show?

2) Era and sewa (commoners’ everyday life). The structure of drama and the formation of the actor’s performance.

3) The performing body, the dancing body. In the case of the onnagata (female role).

4) Space and time of Kabuki. The perceptual device of fiction.

5) Kabuki seen from world theater.

References
＊Gunji Masakatsu, Kabuki yoshiki to ensho, Chikuma gakugei bunko.
＊Hattori Yukio, Tomita Tetsunosuke, Hirosue Tamotsu (ed.), Kabukijiten, Heibonsha
＊Hattori Yukio, Kabuki no kiwado, Iwanami shoten.
＊Hattori Yukio, Kabuki no kozo, Chuko shinsho.
＊Hattori Yukio, Ichikawa Danjuro daidai, Kodansha.
＊Hattori Yukio, E de yomu kabuki no rekishi, Heibonsha.
＊Furuido Hideo, Kabuki nyumon, Iwanami junia shinsho.
＊Furuido Hideo, Buyo techo, Shinshokan.
＊Watanabe Tamotsu, Onnagata no unmei, Iwanami gendai bunko.