Overview of Japanese Theater

              
           Japanese theater has a long, rich history.  There are four main types of traditional theater in Japan.  These are noh, kyogen, kabuki, and bunraku.  Each of these forms of theater performance is very distinct and unique from the another.

           The golden periods of theater of Japan are the 14th and 18th century. during this period, the two forms of theater, aristocratic and popular were in practice in Japan. Some of the famous dramas of the 21st century Japan are: Long Vacation, Perfect Love, PU-PU-PU, Sleeping Forest, Wakamono no Subete, Oni no sumika, and Under the Same Roof. Japanese dramas form a great source of entertainment for the people of Japan.

           Japanese dramas can be categorized into three parts, television drama, radio drama, and audio drama. Drama in Japanese televisions is mostly soaps which are held every day and the story ranges from detectives to horror, from romance to comedies.

Artists

            Actors were first considered as social outcasts and theater managers were known as “kawara kijiki” (riverbed beggars). Actors frequently wore large umbrella reed hats (amigasa) to hide their faces outside of the districts.

Geisha are female entertainers who perform various arts, like dancing, playing classical music, or performing poetry.  In the eighteenth century, courtesans began using their singing, dancing, and acting skills to entertain clients (usually men) and and became known as geisha.  However, the first geisha were actually men that entertained men waiting to see the courtesans.  Today's geisha start studying dance and music at a very early age and are expected to continue training throughout their lives.  A geisha's life is not easy and some continue working into their nineties. 

The dance they perform has origins in Kabuki Theater.  Similar to tai chi, it is much disciplined.  Gestures are used to subtly tell stories through the dance.  The shamisen is the main instrument that is used to play the traditional music that accompanies the performances.  Although these dances are the most well-known activities that geisha perform, many do a variety of other things, such as painting, composing music, and writing poetry.  In 1928, there were eighty thousand geisha in Japan.  Today, there are only around one thousand.  Many attribute this to the smaller business accounts that have resulted from the economic downturn of the 1990s and the increased fear of scandal that is more common in today's society.  It can cost around eight hundred USD per person to have dinner in the company of a geisha.