Kabuki Buyo (Kabuki Dance)

Abstract

The word ‘buyo’, meaning dance, began to be used in the late 19th century in Japan. It is the combination of the words, ‘bu’ and ‘yo’. ‘Bu’ or ‘mai’ is a dance of circular and static movements and ‘yo’ or ‘odori’ a dance of jumping and dynamic movements. There is another element in Japanese dance, ‘furi’ or ‘furigoto’, that is, a dance of both aspects of ‘mai’ and ‘odori’ but also of imitative movements.

‘Furi’, or the verb form ‘furu’, means ‘quake’, ‘shake’ or ‘vibrate’, which originally implied the vital lives of gods present in physical things in nature. ‘Furi’ was closely related with shaman movements; a shaman imitates movements of a god he or she was possessed by.

‘Mai’ and ‘odori’ also suggest the relationship with shamanism; one may assume that two aspects of ‘furi’ was devided into ‘mai’ and ‘odori’. The present writer accordingly classifies and analyzes various aspects of kabuki buyo, especially ‘henge buyo’ (dance of transfiguration).