Dec 17, 2022
Kabuki, noh, and bunraku are the 3 major forms of Japanese theatre. Kabuki originates all the way back to the Edo period, where it was only produced my woman and commoners. Later in the Edo period, the Tokugawa Shogunate forbid woman from participating (much like what happened with Shakespearean acting in Europe,) and to this day the traditional theatre act is preformed by men, who’s woman roles are called onngata. What’s interesting here is that this form of theatre utilized old forms of Japanese that even locals can have difficulty understanding at times! But most all shows are based off of some historical context, myth, or political drama.