TraditionalJapanese theatre is among the oldest theatre traditions in the world. Traditional theatre includesNoh, a spiritual drama, and its comic accompanimentkyōgen;kabuki, a dance and music theatrical tradition;bunraku, puppetry; andyose, a spoken drama.
Modern Japanese theatre includesshingeki (experimental Western-style theatre),shinpa (new school theatre) andshōgekijō (little theatre). In addition, there are many classical western plays and musical adaptations of popular television shows and movies that are produced in Japan.
Noh andkyōgen theatre traditions are among the oldest continuous theatre traditions in the world. The earliest existingkyōgen scripts date from the 15th century. Noh was a spiritual drama, combining symbolism fromBuddhism andShinto and focusing on tales with mythic significance.Kyōgen, its comic partner, served as a link between the theological themes of the Noh play with the pedestrian world by use of theatrical farce and slapstick. Noh theatre was generally performed for the elite aristocratic class, but there were occasions where Noh was also performed for common audiences. Noh andkyōgen plays were performed together in series of nine, alternating between the two styles, with shortkyōgen plays acting as interludes between the lengthy Noh.
Both men and women were allowed to performkyōgen until 1430.[citation needed]
Kabuki combines music, drama, and dance, often using period-accurate costumes and intense choreography. Types of kabuki play includejidaimono (historical plays) andsewamono ("contemporary" plays), as well asshosagoto ('dance-drama') plays primarily focused around set dance pieces. Styles of kabuki performance includearagoto ('rough style'),wagoto ('soft style') andonnagoto ('female style').
Kabuki developed out of opposition to the staid traditions of Noh theatre, a form of entertainment primarily restricted to the upper classes. Traditionally,Izumo no Okuni is considered to have performed the first kabuki play on the dried-up banks of theKamo River inKyoto in 1603. Like Noh, however, over time, kabuki developed heavily into a set art form, with importance given to preserving the integrity of certain plays, down to using the same costume designs used several centuries ago.
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Bunraku began in the 16th century. Puppets andbunraku were used in Japanese theatre as early as the Noh plays.Medieval records prove the use of puppets in Noh plays too. The puppets were 3–4 feet (0.91–1.22 m)-tall, and the dolls were manipulated by puppeteers in full view of the audience. The puppeteers controlling the legs and hands of the puppets are dressed entirely in black, while the head puppeteer in contrast wears a colourful costume. Music and chanting is a popular convention ofbunraku, and theshamisen player is usually considered to be the leader of the production. Theshamisen player also has the shortest hair.
Yose was a popular form of spoken theatre in theEdo period. The term is the shortened form ofHito yose seki (人寄せ席, roughly "where people sit together"). Towards the end of the Edo period, there were several hundred theatres, about one per district (町,chō). The entrance fee, the "wooden door penny" (木戸銭,Kido-zeni) was small.
A number of variants existed:
Japanese modern drama in the early 20th century consisted ofshingeki (experimental Western-style theatre), which employed naturalistic acting and contemporary themes in contrast to the stylized conventions of kabuki and Noh.Hōgetsu Shimamura andKaoru Osanai were two figures influential in the development ofshingeki.
In the post-war period, there was a phenomenal growth in creative new dramatic works, which introduced fresh aesthetic concepts that revolutionized the orthodox modern theatre. Challenging the realistic, psychological drama focused on "tragic historical progress" of the Western-derivedshingeki, young playwrights broke with such accepted tenets as conventional stage space, placing their action in tents, streets, and open areas located all over Tokyo. Plots became increasingly complex, with play-within-a-play sequences, moving rapidly back and forth in time, and intermingling reality with fantasy. Dramatic structure was fragmented, with the focus on the performer, who often used a variety of masks to reflect different personae.
Playwrights returned to common stage devices perfected in Noh and kabuki to project their ideas, such as employing a narrator, who could also use English for international audiences. Major playwrights in the 1980s wereKara Juro,Shimizu Kunio, andBetsuyaku Minoru, all closely connected to specificcompanies. In contrast, the fiercely independentMurai Shimako who won awards throughout the world for her numerous works focusing on theHiroshima bombing, performed plays with only one or two actresses. In the 1980s, Japanesestagecraft evolved into a more refined into a more sophisticated and complex format than earlier postwar experiments but lacked their bold critical spirit. In this time period, women began to run their own theater companies such asKishida Rio,Kisaragi Koharu,Nagai Ai, andWatanabe Eriko.[1][2]
Tadashi Suzuki developed a unique method of performer training which integratedavant-garde concepts with classical Noh and kabuki techniques, an approach that became a major creative force in Japanese and international theatre in the 1980s. Another highly original east–west fusion occurred in the inspired productionNastasya, adapted fromDostoevsky'sThe Idiot, in whichBando Tamasaburo, a famed kabukionnagata (female impersonator), played the roles of both the prince and his fiancée.
Shinpa is a modern form of theatre. It earned the name"shinpa" (literally meaning "new school") to contrast it from"kyūha" ("old school" or kabuki) due its more contemporary and realistic stories.[3] With the success of the Seibidan troupe, however,shinpa theater ended up with a form that was closer to kabuki than to the latershingeki because of its continued use ofonnagata and off-stage music.[3] As a theatrical form, it was most successful in the early 1900s as the works of novelists such asKyōka Izumi,Kōyō Ozaki, andRoka Tokutomi were adapted for the stage.[3] With the introduction of cinema in Japan,shinpa became one of the first film genres in opposition again tokyūha films, as many films were based onshinpa plays.[4]
The 1980s also encouraged the creation of theshōgekijō, literally "little theatre". This usually meant amateur theatrical troupes making plays designed to be seen by anyone and everyone — not necessarily as meaningful in nature as they were simply entertaining. Some of the more philosophical playwrights and directors of that time areNoda Hideki andShōji Kōkami.
Popularshōgekijō theatrical troupes include Nylon 100, Gekidan Shinkansen,Tokyo Sunshine Boys, and Halaholo Shangrila.
Recently, new generation ofshōgekijō artists who are labelled as the "Generation of the Lost Decade" or the "Generation of 2000s" have emerged. Principal artists among this generation are:Toshiki Okada, Shiro Maeda, Kuro Tanino, Daisuke Miura, Tomohiro Maekawa and so on.[5][6]
Many classics of the western canon fromAncient Greek theatre,William Shakespeare, Fyodor Dostoevsky toSamuel Beckett are performed in Tokyo today. A large number of performances, perhaps as many as 3,000, are given each year, making Tokyo one of the world's leading theatrical centers.
The opening of the replica of theGlobe Theatre was celebrated by importing an entire British company to perform all of Shakespeare's historical plays, while other Tokyo theatres produced other Shakespearean plays including various new interpretations ofHamlet andKing Lear. The Globe Theatre, located inShin-Ōkubo in Tokyo, now belongs mostly toJohnny's Entertainment and the promotion ofpop idols in the acting field.
Yukio Ninagawa is an internationally known Japanese director and playwright who often turns to elements of Shakespeare for inspiration. In 1995 he performed the "Shakespeare Tenpo 12Nen", an interpretation of the wildly popular British theatreShakespeare Condensed: all of Shakespeare's plays in two hours. Famous actors such asNatsuki Mari andKarawa Toshiaki were involved.
Western-style musical theatre first came to Japan in 1911, with the opening of the Imperial Theatre, the first Western-style theatre in Japan. The theatre was demolished and rebuilt, with the second iteration opening in 1966.[7] It is run byToho. Major productions staged in the theatre include translated productions ofLes Miserables (a West End replica) andElisabeth (an original staging), two of Toho's biggest hits, as well as original musicals such asLady Bess,Spy x Family, andSHIROH, a 2004 collaboration withGekidan Shinkansen. In 2025, the theatre is being demolished, with a rebuilding set to open in 2030.[8]
In 1953, theShiki Theatre Company formed. The company produces both Broadway replicas and original plays and musicals.[9]
Death Note, originally produced byHoripro and composed byFrank Wildhorn, has been one of the biggest successes for Japanese musicals internationally, largely due to the fame of its source material, a popular manga series. It has had several runs in South Korea. In 2024, it had its first English-language production in London.[10][11]
Umeda Arts Theatre, the Musicals of Japan Origin project,[12]Meijiza, and other companies have also produced original musicals in Japan.
Japan has also seen productions of musicals from South Korea, France, Austria, and other places around the world that have not had English-language productions.Elisabeth is the most famous of these. Others includeMozart!,Frankenstein (Lee and Wang),[13]Smoke,[14]Fan Letter,[15]Mozart L'Opera Rock, and1789: Les Amants de la Bastille.
Outside of traditional theatrical entertainment, theatrical revues began to be recognized as popular entertainment in Japan during the early 1900s. Originating in the West, the light theatrical entertainment offered by theatrical revues inspired the creation of famed Japanese revue companies such as theTakarazuka Revue, founded byIchizō Kobayashi in 1914, with a failed swimming pool in Takarazuka turned into a theatre.[16][17]
Following the rise of Western and European culture influencing Japanese social, political, and economic culture, Japan's entertainment culture was additionally influenced. Within the popular entertainment of the Takarazuka Revue Company, its repertoire consisted of Euro-Western performance and musical styles alongside traditional Japanese performance elements. This would consist of Western and European stories (such asThe Rose of Versailles), Western musical arrangements (such asCHICAGO), as well as the inclusion of traditional Japanese stories and music.[17]
2.5D musicals are stage adaptations of anime, manga, and video game series. While stage adaptations of anime and manga have existed since the 1970s, they gained popularity around the 2000s throughMusical: The Prince of Tennis. Modern 2.5D musicals useprojection mapping for backgrounds and special effects.
Notable modern productions included:Hunter x Hunter,Pretty Guardians Sailor Moon,Death Note: the Musical andYour Lie in April.
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