Customs of the Meiji Period and Kabuki's War Drama

Abstract

As a result of Japan's push toward modernization in the second half of the 19th century, kabuki could remain aloof from new cultural elements no longer. Alongside characters donning the traditional kimono and topknot, newcomers in Western dress and short hair (zangiri: literally, “cropped hair,” referencing Western-style haircuts as opposed to the topknot) began to appear on the stage of kabuki. We can find them, for example, waiting for a steam engine to arrive, consulting their wristwatches under the glow of gas lights. Performers such as Onoe Kikugorô V and Nakamura Ganjirô I, remembered today as consummate actors of the canon of classic kabuki, performed wholeheartedly in this theatrical crossroads of tradition and modernity.
A representative fûzokugeki (a drama of manners) with a predilection for realism was the kabuki war drama. Out of traditional kabuki production was engendered a curious entity representing the battles fought by a modern Japan. Displaying a coexistence of classic masterpieces and such hybrid new plays, the kabuki of this time rewards careful reconsideration of its inherent possibilities as an art.