A Night at Hakata-za – Two Foreigner's Experiences Posted: 07/23/2008

On the June 19, two foreign Fukuoka residents attended kabuki at Hakata-za and watched three acts of classic kabuki. The three acts, Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami, Dattan, and Benten Musume Meono Shiranami, gave the two foreigners a variety of styles to experience. Below, Nargiza (Uzbekistan) and August (United States) share their experiences.

Kabuki – The Art of Song and Dance
by Nargiza Alikulova, Uzbekistan

You may have heard a lot of different opinions about Kabuki. Some people like to see kabuki once a year; some people don’t understand it… Nevertheless, if you came to Japan, if you are interested in the cultural and historical aspects of the country it is necessary to familiarize yourself with this type of dramatic art.
First of all, you have to prepare yourself for watching Kabuki. If you have some preliminary information about coming performance don’t refuse to study it. Usually, Kabuki consists of 3 acts with a duration of about one hour each. Also, you can not eat, drink or use your cell phone during performance, so be ready to escape from reality to relax and enjoy Kabuki.

If you are not a master of ancient Japanese dialects, it is very useful to use the free headsets, usually offered at the entrance, which narrate the play in modern Japanese. Also, reading the pamphlet with plot description (which was in English) before each act or scene really helped me enjoy Kabuki.

Certainly, you have the choice to see only one act (which is cheaper), or you can see the full performance. Also, if you buy a ticket on the day of the performance (Hitomakumi-ken tickets) you can save up to 75%!
But my personal advice would be to go and see all three acts. Why? Because, if you see only one act you can not get a true impression of this type of Japanese art. All acts differ from each other. Not only with the performing of different periods of Japan history, but also with the rhythm, dynamics, as well as the nature of performance. During my visit I had opportunity to see three different historical periods, as well as different plots and ways of performance. Going further and further you start to get involved more deeply and become more excited. The first act covered the Heian period (9-10 century), reflecting family relationships, loyalty to master and love drama. The second act depicted the fire ritual dance, taken from the water ceremony. A very bright and lively performance about Buddhist monks. The last act was taken from famous kabuki pieces, written by great Kabuki playwright about Tokugawa period Kawatake Mokuami and talked about two thieves.

In Western theater we are accustomed to seeing the mood of a given character by observing his/her actions, but in Kabuki all the characters' moods are already expressed using colorful make up. You can easily distinguish them before they start to talk. All movements resemble dance, even in fighting scenes. Women's voices are more like slow singing rather than talking.

My interesting observation was that women’s faces and characters don’t differ from each other very much, compared to men’s faces, in which characters are very evident. This is also one of explanations of gender relations in Japanese history.

Also I would like to emphasize the scene decoration. Highly colorful, different and quickly changing, they draw our attention. Artists appear not from the right or the left side of the stage. There is a special route for entrance– hana michi- which goes through the auditorium. If you are lucky and can reserve a place nearby, you can be closer and feel like a direct participant of Kabuki.

Kabuki is accompanied by live singing. On the stage side you can see two people, who are playing traditional instruments, performing different types of singing. I was impressed by their skilled way of rapidly changing the timber of their voice from mellow to harsh, from low to high.

Before going to Kabuki I didn’t know that it is performed only by male artists. I was interested. Why? From the internet I easily found the answer, which surprised me. Founded at the beginning of 17th century during Tokugawa era by woman, this art became highly popular. But because of the bad behavior of the actresses and negative influence on social mood, Tokugawa government issued a strict act, prohibiting women from participating in the performance. Female Kabuki was replaced by male Kabuki. Though during the Meiji era many prohibitions were removed, women couldn’t achieve as high a level of performance as men. Due to the long period of accumulation of experience in Kabuki, men could achieve great height in the art form, and this tradition is remaining today as well. Worth seeing, don't you think?

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A Night at Hakata-za
by August Mcinnis, USA

I am by no means a theater buff. Yet, I leapt at the opportunity to see the Grand Kabuki at Hakata-za two weeks ago. Kabuki, the name of the ancient theater alone had long conjured up exotic images in my mind. There were the deceptively simple-looking stages, efficiently evoking the seasons and the times without sacrificing aesthetics, and the music played on traditional instruments that came as if from nowhere, mesmerizing and beguiling. There were the stagehands, known as kuroko, dressed in black from head to toe and dashing in and out of scenes like nameless, but busy souls in the shadows of limbo. And, finally, there were the actors in their elaborate and vividly colored costumes, posing with contorted, brilliantly painted faces.

How could I have ever said "no"?

I met my date for the evening, a lovely Uzbek by the name of Nargiza, and together we ascended the steps of Hakata-za. The lobby was bustling with activity. Stalls selling bento made with local delicacies, competed with others that sold souvenirs of all kinds, from pickled vegetables to plastic figurines of famous kabuki characters. As we shopped about, Nargiza mentioned that she had just turned thirty. Oh really, I said, when is your birthday? The eleventh, she replied. In all my forty-two years on this planet crowded with people, I had never come across another person who shared the same birth date. And, there Nargiza was: as beautiful as I was goofy. Grace balanced by awkwardness and separated by a complete cycle of the twelve-year Chinese calendar, having both been born in the Year of the Horse. So you might be able to add serendipity to the appeal of kabuki as well.

The first act was about to start, so we went inside and found our seats. The edge of the second floor balcony seats was lit with lanterns. A warm red glow bathed the theater. Before long the curtain opened revealing a bucolic scene, an ox-drawn cart pausing in the road. During the next two hours we were treated to a two-act play featuring a tryst between lovers, highly stylized sword fights and chases, still more fights, and, finally, ending on a somber note: the ritual disembowelment of a samurai showing remorse for the trouble he has caused his master, the famous Sawara Michigan who had been banished to Dazaifu.

After a short intermission, during which we enjoyed bento and drinks, we we returned to our seats for the second play, a dance piece about a Buddhist monk haunted by the memory of a past lover. The act began slowly: monks carried massive torches to the Tojin temple in preparation for the annual fire festival. The whole theater was darkened, lit only by the torches and a backdrop that evoked the tranquil scenery of Nara at dusk. The sound of monks chanting sutras added to the ethereal mood.

Rather than provide a thorough synopsis of this engrossing dance piece, I'd just like to add that it finished on a such a surprising note, with a couple dozen monks dancing in unison under an amazingly beautiful shower of sparks from above, that I sat in silence, overwhelmed by art. The final play was what is known as a sewamono, a play that, unlike the jidaimono of the first play dealing predominately with the samurai class, revolved around commoners. In this particularly play, a beautiful woman accompanied by her samurai companion enters a kimono shop. As the two are browsing the textiles, the shopkeeper notices the woman shoplifting. A guard is called in to handle the matter, but what unfolds is beyond everyone's expectation.

The elegant woman is revealed, by the by, to actually be a man. And no ordinary man at that! He is a brusque, pipe-smoking, tattooed thief!

But therein lies the appeal of kabuki, and indeed Japanese culture in general. Little is what it seems to be. One layer pealed away exposes another often contradictory layer, and the deeper you delve into the language, the culture and the mind of the Japanese, the more you discover you have to learn. After the final act ended, I bid my farewell to Nargiza and headed home. Crossing the Naka River, my thoughts returned to the powerful images I had seen that evening--Sakuramaru's tragic seppuku, the monks dancing under the flames, the transformation of the sublime beauty, Benten Musume, into a boorish thief--and I realized I was hooked. Kabuki had its hold on me and I would definitely be back for more. If not this year, then next, when the Grand Kabuki returned to Hakata-za.

*1 Jidaimono - A period play set in an era previous to the Edo Period, portraying the lives of warriors and aristocrats.
*2 Sewamono - A contemporary play depicting the lives of ordinary people during the Edo Period.