NARUKAMI

Let´s start with the basics, Kabuki is one of the two most well known japenese theatre traditions the other one being Noh theatre.There are four traditional forms of japanese theatre however Kabuki is probably the most well known and easy to recognize of all.
It has passed through several complications since it´s start in 1603. During 26 years Kabuki was performed only by women, Okuni, however Kabuki women were not allowed to perform because most of them were prostitues and after the plays many left with the spectators. Afterwards young men came to stage but happened the same thing, it was discovered many served as prostitues as well so then young men were not allowed to perform neither, so adults where now the only allowed to perform.
Kabuki is a very criticized tradition because of its past and many times because of the plays themselves, even though many show the importance of the bushido(the code of honour) in samurai´s or even the traditions in japanese culture, other plays often depict situations with high dose of violence and sexual inuendo.
An example conventions in KABUKI is the iconic play NARUKAMI. I read NARUKAMI as part of my research task because we had to use a play and im grateful i did. In it we are able to analyze different social conventions in this form of theatre, not only the themes but also because the staging of the play and some acting conventions such as the mie.
In my case i read a version with elements from the third and first versions of the play and truly enjoyed it. At the start we are introduced to two monks which defy the laws and drink and eat instead of praying while their master is meditating. After a brief discussion the two go and try to accuse each other to the master priest, NARUKAMI.
These two are Hakuun and Kokuun, two apprentices who act as a duo, sometimes one starts a sentence nad is the other who finishes it, and many times they both act the same and do the same actions in the same moments. From the start these two create a huge contrast with NARUKAMI and with TAEMA a woman who enters the stage after both apprentices go and dsicuss with NARUKAMI.
Taema enters and tells how sad and tragic the situation is throughout the country, since there is no raining in the entire nation. Therefore she asks for permission to wash her clothes in the waterfall where NARUKAMI was meditating. As she does so, she starts telling the story of her former husband and how tragic it was when he died. Narukami notices takes notice of how friendly she´s acting and becomes suspicious because he´s responsible of the drought throughout the nation and the empire might have sent an spy.
Narukami then tells taema he thinks she´s an spy sent from the empire and she must leave, Taema feels offended and in order to prove she´s not an spy she´ll commit suicide and drown herself in the waterfall. As she´s about to enter the waterfall NARUKAMI stops her and tells her there´s another way to clear her name, to become a priest. She accepts and hakuun and kokuun go to the base of the mountain to search for the tools needed to shave her head.
As she realizes she must shave her head she starts crying and feeling melancholic, then Narukami tells her he can give her a massage and as he does so he accidentaly starts groping her and touching her breasts.
IT might sound silly and even unreasonable for a man to grope a woman by accident however, Narukami was raised as a monk and had to refuse to every human instinct to become enlightened. Therefore as he touched Taema´s breast he couldn´t stop until Taema asked him to do so. As he did he relized what he had done and asks for forgiveness however after a brief argument we realize Taema is seducing him and tells him she will INDEED become her lover. As a celebration Taema offers him sake and with the first cup NARUKAMI is already drunk and starts telling the secrets of how he wa able to capture the DRAGON GOD who resides inside the cave behind the waterfall where he meditates. In addition he explains the dragon god would enter the ocean and because of the splash huge amounts of the ocean water would start falling from the sky. ALSO he reveals that by cutting a rope hanging above them the dragon god would be released and afterwards falls into sleep.

Taema leaves the sake in the gorund and reveals, as she apporaches to cut the rope, she was INDEED an spy sent by the empire. She then releases the dragon god and the rain comes back, as she leaves hakuun and kokuun arrive and waken their master, he realizes what has happened and swears that he´ll seek revenge and follow TAEMA until the end of time. A transformation occurs and hakuun and kokuun help their master to become a god-like figure, to truly become NARU(Thunder)KAMI(god). He then does a mie and leaves the stage chasing after TAEMA.

This play was truly enjoyable, at times it was dramatic, energetic and in other moments it was hilarious. One important aspect were the annotations given at the end of each page explaining the significance of movements perforemd by the actors. A moment which i truly remember is how the Onnigata who is performing TAEMA´s must act when serving NARUKAMI´S cup of sake. The importance of this tradition (a female serving sake to a man)is explained with such detail that it is truly amazing. The description was such that it explained how the hands had to be positioned, and even at what height.
Something i have to highlight is the amount of stage directions in this play. Perhaps my version of NARUKAMI has more than any other has because it´s included in a research textbook. But it was indeed interesting because of the amount of detail that was included after each sequence, and after going through other plays i realized many also had that amount of stage directions. Also i must add that it is logical for a KABUKI play to have this amount of stage directions since many actions have to be choreographed and many times and actor msut strike a mie(pose which define their character).
These directions were truly astonishing and completely different from the ones in other theatrical traditions we´ve studied. The music was explained and at times it said that a certain instrument had to be played a certain amount of time before the curtain opened, in addition it was also interesting how the use of the stage was used and how the hanamichi, the walkway in between the audience, was used when NARUKAMI started chasing and searching for TAEMA as he left the stage.

In conclusion NARUKAMI is a play which i feel happy to use as base for my research since its an excelent example of KABUKI as a form of theatre. It has many conventions employed in this kind of theatre and shows why this tradition has been criticized(Narukami´s, a priest gropes a woman and wants to have sex with her) and altered throughout time in order to prevail and remain present in the world.

As part of my task i must ask a question at the end of this entry. Therefore after reading the play i ask myself two questions, how well does a play with stage directions from hundreds of years ago adapts itself to the public nowadays? and What where the main reasons for the changes(the first version narukami was a monk, in the third he was a hermit, as I stated my version is mix between the two) between the versions of NARUKAMI?