Scene

5 The amazing Kabuki stage!

Oh, I can hear music.

Now let’s go to our seats.

Where is it from?

What’s that runway?

Over there. There is aplace to play music on
the left of the stage.

That’s the Hanamichi .
The Hanamichi is used as a road, orother kind of spaces. Actors makeentrances and exits there.
The actors are right infront of you.
This makes the audience
feel close to the actors.
Interesting!

There are singers, shamisens, flutes,
handdrums and drums and so on.
Column2

In Kabuki, music
expresses nature, thesituation and thepersonality of thecharacters.

The drama becomes
more exciting withmusic.

I have seen that curtain somewhere.
That’s the Joshikimaku , thecurtain for Kabuki. Thoseare the colors of Kabuki.

Now the curtain is opening.

7

There are many waysof enjoying Kabuki.
I’m excited!

ま わ廻り舞台

Look! The stage is moving!
What’s happening?
This is the Mawari-butai or“revolving stage.”
The stage floor rotates, and it canchange one scene to anotherquickly.

It was invented in Japan 260
years ago.
That’s amazing! The inventor ofthe revolving stage must havebeen genius.

Now the play is starting.

86 The tale of Tadanobu the Fox

一Story
800 years ago, there was a battle
between two military clans, the Genji andthe Heishi and it was won by the Genji.

三SceneYoshitsune’s lover, Shizuka Gozen tries to follow him.
Yoshitsune says, “This is a dangerous journey andI can’t take you with me. I’ll give you the Hatsune
drum to remind you of me.”The retired emperor Go-Shirakawa
was happy and rewarded thegeneral Minamoto no Yoshitsune
the treasured Hatsune no tsuzumi
hand drum.

四二

Yoshitsune’s retainer Sato
Tadanobu appears mysteriously
and Yoshitsune orders Tadanobu
to protect Shizuka.

Shizuka hears that Yoshitsune
has taken refuge on Mt. Yoshino.
三A tsuzumi is a percussion instrument that you hit.
一

So the gift is a hidden order for Yoshitsune to attack his brotherYoritomo.

Shizuka travels
to Mt. Yoshinowith Tadanobu.

Yoshitsune realizes the hidden order, but
can’t refuse the imperial gift. He says he will
accept the drum, but he will never hit it.

However, Yoritomo suspects thatYoshitsune is plotting against him.
Because of Yoritomo’s suspicions,
Yoshitsune decides to escape from Kyoto.

9四Column3

In Kabuki, all female roles areplayed by male actors.

おんながたShizuka is playedby a man.

These actors are called Onnagata .

10五八

Yoshitsune hides in the mansion of Kawatsura Hogen on
Mt. Yoshino.

When Shizuka questions this Tadanobu hereveals his true identity.

Tadanobu arrives.

This Tadanobu is actuallya magical fox who isdrawn to the Hatsune
drum.

Yoshitsune asks “How is Shizuka?”
But Tadanobu says, “I don’t know.”

九

Yoshitsune is furious and says,“You betrayed me!”

六Then there is an announcement that Shizuka and another
Tadanobu have arrived together.
五Yoshitsune and Shizuka arepleased to be reunited.

The false Tadanobu isactually the child of thedrum.

The fox Tadanobu cries
and disappears.

七11

八十But str angely, the Tadanobu that
accompanied Shizuka has disappeared.

Shizuka says that Tadanobu
always appeared when she
played the Hatsune drum.
Shizuka plays the drum, and thenTadanobu appears.

The Hatsune drum wasmade from the skins of hisparents.

九

Shizuka tries to get him backby playing the drum.
六But the drum will not make asound because the fox’s parents
are so sad to see him go.

12

十一

Scene

Yoshitsune and Shizuka are
moved by the love of parentsand child.

7 Thank you, Kurogo-chan!
Thank you. We enjoyed it very much.

The fox appears again.
The Mie poses were cool!

Yoshitsune gives the drum to the fox.

十二

The princess was so beautiful!
Kabuki has stayed aroundfor so long because it has
something to entertain
everybody.

十一The fox Tadanobu isoverjoyed and with his
supernatural powers hedefeats a group of villains
who attack. Tadanobu
flies away with the drum.

That’s right. That’s why it’s
still popular now.

みえ

見得A Mie is a stop motion pose thatis like a beautiful sculpture. This isespecially used in fight scenes.
This technique expresses acharacter’s strong emotion.

十二Column4

Column5

ちゅうの宙乗り

Chuunori is a technique thatshow s some supernatur alcharacter flying through the air.
This is a technique that has beenused since the Edo period.

There are a lot of Kabukifans all over the world.
I’d lik e m y f r i ends in
America to see Kabuki
too!
I want to go to Kabukiwith my family next time!

Thank you for coming.
I hope you’ll come here
again.

Information about

performances

Check the website of the National
Theatre f o r i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t
performances of Kabuki and othertraditional performing arts.

I’m glad you enjoyed it.

1314

場所・アクセス〒 102-8656

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徒歩約 1 分DISCOVER KABUKI―歌舞伎入門―（中学校編）
発行日／平成 28（2016）年９月１日
発行／独立行政法人日本芸術文化振興会〒 102–8656 東京都千代田区隼町 4–1

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