After the No there is another class of per formance called Kyogen, or short In ancient times the Dengaku and Sarugaku contained much of the comical element, but during the•Ashikaga era, when the Yokyoku and No reached the height of prosperity and was at the same time greatly influenced by Buddhism, they became transformed into trag edy, or at least became very serious in their nature. They lacked comic effects. The Kyo gen arose to supply this want, and it became a general practice after a No performance for a Kyogen to follow, for the sake of change. No and Kyogen actors played on the same stage, but as a profession the Kyogen actors were and are considered to-day to be inferior. In the Kyogen, unlike the No, the words are spoken, though pronounced and uttered in the style of the Ashikaga era. As the chief object of the Kyogen is comedy, they have little of the poet ical element. But as comedy they are excellent. The Yokyoku and Kyogen plays have always been printed, so that they may be read by the people who are not professional or amateur actors. There was still another kind of dance, or rather play, called the Kowaka, which pre vailed side by side with the No. In this the words (text) were called Mainohon, many of which still remain. The Mainohon, like the Yokyoku, exercised much influence on the de velopment of the theatre of later days, but these texts are very similar to those of the Yokyoku, and therefore we may spare any detailed ac count of them here.
The modern theatrical performance origi nated toward the end of the Ashikaga era, and soon acquired the name of Kabuki. Since then the name Kabuki has come to signify theatrical performance acted by human actors in contrast to the Avatsuri Shibai, that is, the marionette theatre. The Kabuki is said to have originated in the dancing and singing per formed among other shows on a rude stage at the river side of Shijo in Kioto by a woman named Kuni, a native of Iztuno. Into this sing ing and dancing, ideas of older performances, namely, the No or Kyogen, were introduced, and before long they assumed the style of the modern stage performance. On account of the origin of the Kabuki, the social position of this class has always been held in very low esteem, by no means comparable with that of the No actors. Kabuki actors have been gener ally known by the name of Kawaramono (Riverside people), but contrary, to the No, which has made no change or improvement since the Ashikaga era, the Kabuki has under gone many changes and improvements from time to time until it has attained its present prosperity.
As to the Kabuki performances, in the early stage of development women were the chief actors, resulting in the term Onna Kabuki. But boys were also employed and a little later on, even grown-up men. A peculiarity in those days was that women played male characters and men the female. Women Kabuki became extremely popular. Many stages, rude as they were, were established everywhere, but the acting produced much evil effect on the morals of the people and it was finally forbidden by law. Next flourished for a time the so-called Wakashu (boy) Kabuki. This again produced social evil and was forbidden by law. Thence forth the performers were mainly grown-up men, as we see them on the modern stage, who acted the female characters. As time went on, however, women performers came into ex istence again, but they formed cdmpanies of their own sex only, and the male characters were played among themselves. The number of actresses is now very small comparatively.
In the early days of the Kabuki, the per formances were short and simple, plays consist ing of several acts having come into existence only by gradual development.
In the beginning there were no professional playwrights. Plays were chiefly written by actors or some one who took an interest in the matter, and further, plays were even devised by the actors impromptu and not written at all. Later on the stage began to have professional playwrights attached to each theatre. Unlike the drama in Europe, these plays were never printed for public circulation, but used only for acting at the time, and were often written more to suit the performers than for literary excellence. And again when an old play was acted it was often subjected to alteration for similar purposes; in other words, the dramatic persona are often reduced or added to to suit the number or ability of the actors. And there fore the texts of the Kabuki have not much literary merit. Though it may look somewhat strange, it is in the plays of the marionette theatres that we must seek the equivalent of the European drama. The marionette per formance originated about the same time as the Kabuki. Previously, there had been a par ticular kind of chanted narrative, the Joruri, which name is said to have come into use in a long chanting song consisting of 12 sec tions, and telling of a love stork between Yoshitsune and a maiden named Jorurihime. This was written by a lady and was entitled (Joururihime.) Subsequently many works of a
similar nature were written and the introduc tion of the Samisen (a three-stringed musical instrument) gave much impulse to their de velopment. To the chanting of these songs the marionette performances were added. Various styles of chanting were also introduced. Toward the end of the 17th cen tury there arose two great geniuses, Gidayu Takemoto and Monzaemon Chikamatsu. Take moto had a great natural gift for chanting Joruri, and devised a new style of chanting which became known as Gidayu. Chikamatsu was a playwright of the Kabuki. He hit upon the idea of writing Joruri texts based on the principle of the Kabuki plays. Gidayu Takemoto chanted them to the acting of the marionettes, for which the new theatre known by the name of Takemotoza was estab lished in Osaka. There were then skilful marionette players, and many mechanical im provements were added to the marionettes themselves. By the combined efforts of these two authors and these skilful players the mari onettes soon acquired a very wide popularity. The success of this theatre was followed by the establishment of the Toyotakeza, and many writers of great ability, rivals and followers, appeared in succession, such as Kaion Ki, Izumo Takeda, Ippo Nishizawa and Sosuke Namiki. Chikamatsu himself wrote nearly 100 pieces, and his rivals and followers wrote a large number. It is almost a matter of wonder that so many writers of ability made their ap pearance one after another nearly at the same time. It is also a fact that nearly all the ablest writers were drawn to the side of the mari onette theatre, leaving the Kabuki writers far in the background. This state of things now came to exercise great influence upon the Kabuki theatres, and perforce they soon began to adapt the marionette plays for their own stage. The text of the Gidayu is written in a manner somewhat similar to the ordinary works of fiction, containing much descriptive matter as well as dialogues. The point in which the Gidayu differs from the ordinary novels or romances lies in the fact that the general con struction of the Gidayu is made to fit the stage and consequently a lengthy description or dialogue is avoided, the whole story being di vided into a certain number of acts of nearly the same length. Besides, as the whole is to be chanted, the phrases are suitably written, for which purpose certain metrical devices are ap plied. These plays are divided into two great classes; one, Jidaimono (historical) and the other, Sewamono (social). The chanting of the Gidayu text is also widely practised inde pendently of marionette performances and is very popular among the people at large, From this fact these texts are printed and widely circulated. Their great popularity encouraged writers to exert their utmost ability. Scru pulous attention was paid to minor things. At the marionette performance the chanters sit in one corner of the stage while the marionettes are worked by the players in harmony with the chanting.
Like the ordinary plays, action and dialogue in the Gidayu exaggerate, being too direct and strong. We must, however, make allowance for this from the very nature of the play, because the marionettes are mere puppets and the realistic effect on the stage must come from the chanting. If action and dialogue were as common as those of the ordinary actors they would be insufficient to produce the desired effect on the spectators. For specimens of the Gidayu text we may refer to the English trans lation of the Chushingura ("Magazine of Loyal Retainers))) and the Asagao-Nikki ("Morning Glory Diary))), both by Victor Dickens. We may also take notice of one other thing. In these plays the proverbial saying encouraging what is good and chastising what is bad is always aimed at, and they are not so full of love stories as Western plays. In them mere representation of realism is not the main ob ject. The best plays were written in the 18th century during the Tokugawa era.
Although in all fields of literature much progress has been made since the Restoration of the Imperial authority 40 years ago, the production during this time of the Gidayu may be said to be almost nil. On the other hand several Kabuki plays were written by eminent scholars and some of them are of much value, as for example the Kasuganotsubone, written by Mr. G. Fulcnchi. Generally speaking, how ever, playwriting is still in a transitory stage and it cannot be said as yet to have made a brilliant addition to Japanese literature.
The following are some of the Officinal Japanese books of reference: Moritaro Hayashi, 'History of Japanese Litera ture' ; S. Fujioka, 'Complete History of the National Literature' (of the Heian Era) ; Y. Haga, 'Ten Lectures on the National Litera ture' ; K. Konakamura, 'Brief History of Sing ing, Dancing and Music' ; Toshiro Ihara, 'His tory of the Japanese Stage' ; S. Mikami and K. Takatsu, 'History of Japanese Literature.'