日本歌舞伎

Kabuki is a traditional and unique form of dramatic performance in Japan. It came into being at the 17th Century -- Izu Dynasty. It developed into a genre of drama in 1600， and it has been preserved for nearly 400 years together with Nogaku and Kyogen. With the popularity among the local people， it was listed as an important Intangible Cultural Heritage in domestic Japan， and was also listed as an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 2005. At the very beginning， there were both actors and actress， but actresses’ performance was banned after. This restriction has been preserved till now， so all the people performing Kabuki are male actors. The actors who specifically perform as female roles are called onnagata. They all come from a pretty classic professional family. Among them， there are two leading roles are categorized as ““aragoto” （hard style） and “wagoto” （soft style）. The feature of Kabuki is that all the performers are males.

歌舞伎是日本傳統(tǒng)而獨(dú)有的戲劇表演形式，形成于17世紀(jì)的伊豆王朝時(shí)期。1600年發(fā)展為一個(gè)成熟的劇種，近400年來(lái)與能樂、狂言一起保留至今。在城市居民中相當(dāng)流行。在日本國(guó)內(nèi)被列為重要無(wú)形文化遺產(chǎn)，也在2005年被聯(lián)合國(guó)教科文組織列為非物質(zhì)文化遺產(chǎn)。起初，男女演員都有，但后來(lái)禁止了女演員的表演。這一限制保留至今，所以現(xiàn)在所有的歌舞伎表演者都是男演員。專門扮演女性角色的男演員叫做昂那咖塔（onnagata），他們來(lái)自一個(gè)頗具典范的專業(yè)世家。其中兩個(gè)主角的類型是\"aragoto\"（硬風(fēng)格）和\"wagoto\"（軟風(fēng)格）。歌舞伎的特征是演員清一色為男性。

There are mainly two types of themes in Kabuki： the first one depicts the world of nobles and samurais； the second one presents the lives of ordinary people. The important features of Kabuki include： sophisticated settings， complicated stage gears， magnificent garments and make-ups for the actors， and unique music， etc. Actors’ spoken parts have simple rhymes and tones and are with Japanese traditional musical instruments. For instance， “mie” is a personal characteristic of the role presented through a specific gesture by the actor； “kesho” is a special costume and makeup， which enables people who are not familiar with this art form and recognize easily it is the Kabuki performance. The stage is equipped with many facilities， such as the revolving stage and trapdoor through which the actors and enter or exit from the stage. Another special point of the stage for Kabuki is that there is a footbridge reaching out to the audience.

After 1868， Japan was influenced by Western culture， so the Kabuki actors endeavored to improve their reputations among the celebrities and adjust the traditional style to suit the modern people’s taste. Today， Kabuki has become the most popular and widely-accepted form of traditional theater performance in Japan， and famous actors of Kabuki appears a lot in TV programs and movies.

Japanese Kabuki has been to China， Australia， Canada， U.S.， Egypt and many other countries to perform. Although foreign people can hardly understand its high-level stylization and stage language， the gestures， actions， and expressions in the eyes for a dramatic effect， and its putting on airs， playing tricks， and exaggerated entrance， as well as fast costume-changing and magical transition are all joys brought by the Kabuki.

歌舞伎的主題大致有兩類：一是描寫貴族和武士的世界，二是表現(xiàn)民眾生活。現(xiàn)代歌舞伎的重要特點(diǎn)包括：布景精致、舞臺(tái)機(jī)關(guān)復(fù)雜，演員服裝與妝容華麗，以及獨(dú)特的音樂等等。演員說(shuō)白具有簡(jiǎn)單的韻腔并伴之以日本的傳統(tǒng)樂器。比如“密（mie）”，即演員用一個(gè)特殊的姿勢(shì)塑造人物的性格特征；“卡叟（Kesho）”即特殊的扮相，它使那些不熟悉這項(xiàng)藝術(shù)的人很容易辨認(rèn)出這就是歌舞伎表演。舞臺(tái)配有許多設(shè)施，如旋轉(zhuǎn)舞臺(tái)和活板門，通過(guò)它，演員可以出場(chǎng)或入場(chǎng)。歌舞伎舞臺(tái)的特殊之處是有一個(gè)伸出去的人行橋，它一直通到觀眾席中。

1868年后，日本受到西方文化影響，歌舞伎演員們努力提高其在上層社會(huì)的聲譽(yù)，以使傳統(tǒng)風(fēng)格適應(yīng)現(xiàn)代人的口味。今天，歌舞伎成了日本最廣泛流行的傳統(tǒng)戲劇表演形式，歌舞伎的名角經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)在電視或電影中。

日本歌舞伎曾多次到中國(guó)、澳大利亞、加拿大、美國(guó)、埃及等國(guó)演出。外國(guó)人雖然大多聽不懂它的高度風(fēng)格化的舞臺(tái)語(yǔ)言，但它強(qiáng)調(diào)戲曲效果的姿勢(shì)、動(dòng)作、眼神以及它的擺架子、玩特技和夸張的出場(chǎng)、快速的換裝、神奇的轉(zhuǎn)變，都成為欣賞歌舞伎表演的樂趣所在。