THEATER Traveling Troupes Play To the Masses By Ukai Masaki abuki, noh, bunraku puppet theater—these traditional arts immedi- kat Masakt ately spring to mind when the subject of Japanese performing arts e#ebes sociology is raised. Less well known outside Japan, but still high on any con- 4 Kyoto Bunkyo noisseur's list are the comic story-telling ans of rakugoand manzai Untuersity and (the former starring a single raconteur, the latter a two-member 4s researched team). Festival art is another prominent category. The pulsing music and dances “shit engeki for performed at festivals like Shikoku's nual Awa Odori can surprise a first-time 15.2475 From ‘visitor—they are as spirited and boisterous as anything this side of Rio. 1982 to 1983, as Would anyone, I wonder, think to mention taisbit engeki? It would bea pity 7 8*#duate to overlook it. Zngoti means theater. Taisbii, “the masses," has a pleasantly low- student be brow ring to it. An itinerant taishO engeki troupe, comprising at most 15 mem- peor wit bers, can even in these sophisticated times rouse audiences to feelings of pas: Fiamang sionate enthusiasm and nostalgia with swashbuckling dramas exploring that he Stage roupe theme of themes in Japanese stage at: gir-ninj, the confit between human "wer ie feeling and ironclad social obligation. Its tenacious staying power in the televi- ‘in sion age—television offers nothing to compare with taishd engelc's intimate Preveations interaction between actor and audience—attests to the vibrant, quirky originality Prvue Taisht of this peculiar brand of pop theater. ‘Engeki ¢ no Tabi (A Tour of Taisb Symbols of Shitamachi Fngeb, 1994), Taishd engeki theaters, typically seating no more than 200, are to be found here and there in the sbitamachi—old-style downtown shopping and entertain- ‘ment districts—of Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe, and other cities across the coun- try. Hotels at hot springs and health resorts also often feature taishd engeki stages. A taishO engeki troupe, usually with a family or wo at its core, will gen- enilly play one venue for anywhere from 15 days to two months before moving on, Taisha engeki offers a popular, inexpensive form of leisure. More oftea than not the main character is a yakuza, the conflict between giri—obligation—and rio emoten-“being resolved with all the poetic justice a grandstanding sword fight can confer. Realism is not what this brand of theater aspires 10. On the contrary, actors deliberately exaggerate gestures and speech. Plots may vary litle from one performance to the next, but the forms taishd engeki has incorpo- rated are eclectic indeed, notably kabuki, comedy, modem theater and sbimpa, a late 19th-century theatrical movement that opposed its comparative realism to kabulk’s stylized presentations. Moreover, taish engeki actors constantly switch paris, each one mastering the gamut of roles, including lead, villain, old man, young woman, dancer, and singer (although women also act in taishd engeki, male actors, as in kabuki, often assume female roles). January-March 1998 * Japan Quarterly 53 Copyright © 2009 ProCett LIC. All rights rezoned Copyright © Asch Shimbun