The Arts

Kamishibai, an art of Japanese storytelling, was told on the streets of Japan from 1920-1950. A man would come to a town or neighborhood on his bicycle, which had a small theater on wheels attached to it. The man would have two hard wooden sticks that he would hit together as a sign to the children that he was in town. The storyteller showed large pictures through the stage to tell his story.
The storyteller would tell two to three stories, but stop telling the story at exciting parts. He wanted the kids to come back and see him the next time he was in town. When television was invented in 1953, the children stayed inside to watch their TVs. The storyteller then went into schools, libraries, and culture centers to tell his stories.

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Tea Ceremony

The tea ceremony, like many other rituals in Japan, did not originate in Japan. The tea ceremony originated in China. Some Chinese monks, who were like many Buddhists, introduced the ceremony to the Japanese. The first tea ceremony was in honor of Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism. After nine years of meditation, he became drowsy, and he was so angry that he ripped out his eyelashes. Legend tells that where his eyelashes landed, the first tea plants grew.

The lord and the samurai would take a cup of tea and share it. The lord, of course, took the first sip and passed it around to the other samurai.

When drinking the tea, there are four basic principles you are practicing. They are wa (harmony), kei (respect), sei (purity), and jaku (tranquility).

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Drama

Bunraku is a form of puppet theater in Japan. Each puppet has three puppeteers who stand behind a wall with the puppet’s feet hanging over. The omazukai is the person who controls the puppet’s right arm, right hand, and the puppet’s expressions. The hidrizukai is the person who controls the left hand and arm. He is also in control of any props that the puppet is holding. The ashizukai is the person who controls the puppet’s legs. The puppeteers wear black kimono and hoods (the omazukai doesn’t wear a hood). The puppets consist of many parts, the rashira or head, the kataita or shoulders, the do or torso area, and the te-ashi or legs and arms. Cords are used to make the puppets move. Female puppets don’t have feet, they ‘glide’ across the floor.

Kabuki is a traditional form of theater in Japan. Izumo-no-Okuni and her group in Kyoto, Japan first performed it in the 17th century. A Kabuki stage has tons of neat functions. It has a trap door called a seri. It also has a revolving stage used to change scenes. It even has a special place for the musicians that pull them back behind the stage when they are done playing. Certain characters can be found just by looking at their face paint. People with red face paint are heroes and people with black face paint are villains or bad guys. Kabuki has all women parts. Many men called “onnagota” play women parts.

Noh is the oldest form of theater in Japan. It is a masked play. It was, at its earliest times, performed for the Samurai warriors. There are five types of Noh plays. All five types were traditionally held on one occasion. Today only one play is held at a time. The first type of play is “kami” or god play that is about stories of the Shinto shrine. The "shara mono" or fighting play is about warriors. The “kazura mono” and the “kyojo mono” both have a woman as the main character, but in the “kyojo mono” the main character goes insane. The “gendai mono” is about present and realistic events. The “kiri” is about devils and supernatural beasts. There are four instruments that play music for Noh plays. They are the “nokhan” or flute, the “kotsuzumi” or small hand drum, the “otsuzumi” or large hand drum, and the “taiko” or large drum.

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Poetry

Poetry has been in Japan since about 700a.d. The first book with poetry in Japan was the Kojiki, written in 712a.d. The very first form of Japanese poetry is the tanka. The tanka had 31 syllables and was arranged into five lines. The first and third lines have five syllables in tanka. The second, fourth, and fifth lines have seven syllables each. Tanka was the only form of poetry up until the 16^th century. In the 16^th century a poet named Bagho invented Haiku.

Haiku was a type of poetry with three lines. In Haiku the first line has five syllables, the second line has seven syllables, and the third line has five syllables. Then Haiku developed into Renga. Renga was the same as tanka, except that one poet would write the first three lines and a second poet would type the last two lines.

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Learning Activities

Listen to the Kamishibai Storyteller

Take a quiz on Drama

Write poetry