contributor
26,982
edits
Changes
From SamuraiWiki
Jump to navigationJump to searchno edit summary
The ''hayashi'' is rounded out by flutes, bells, gongs, and other struck or rung instruments known as ''narimono''<ref>鳴り物, lit. "things that ring", often used interchangeably with the word ''hayashi'', to refer to the entire ensemble outside of the shamisen players.</ref>. These, too, accompany the shamisen and drums in performing songs during a play, but can also be used for sound effects. A variety of objects designed specifically for sound effects are employed in kabuki, including a set of clappers used specifically for the clip-clop of a horse, and a tiny reed instrument which, when blown in one manner produces surprisingly realistic bird tweets or chirps, and when used in a different manner, produces the sound of crickets or the buzz of summer cicadas. Stories call for a wide variety of sound effects, depending on the settings and events, and the ''hayashi'' is prepared to produce more or less any sound necessary, some more literal (such as a Buddhist temple bell, or summer cicadas), and some more stylized and distinctive to kabuki (such as the example of the sound of snow).
The ''hayashi'' is rounded out by flutes, bells, gongs, and other struck or rung instruments known as ''narimono''<ref>鳴り物, lit. "things that ring", often used interchangeably with the word ''hayashi'', to refer to the entire ensemble outside of the shamisen players.</ref>. These, too, accompany the shamisen and drums in performing songs during a play, but can also be used for sound effects. A variety of objects designed specifically for sound effects are employed in kabuki, including a set of clappers used specifically for the clip-clop of a horse, and a tiny reed instrument which, when blown in one manner produces surprisingly realistic bird tweets or chirps, and when used in a different manner, produces the sound of crickets or the buzz of summer cicadas. Stories call for a wide variety of sound effects, depending on the settings and events, and the ''hayashi'' is prepared to produce more or less any sound necessary, some more literal (such as a Buddhist temple bell, or summer cicadas), and some more stylized and distinctive to kabuki (such as the example of the sound of snow).
===Calendar and Events===
The kabuki calendar moved in tune with the seasons, with particular plays or categories of plays, as well as annual events, tied to particular times of year.
At the beginning of each year, each theater held ''kaomise'' ("face-showing") performances, which showed off the company (often with some new actors, i.e. new faces, beginning that year) to audiences. These programs included regular plays, but often began with beginning-of-the-year announcements, introductions by or of the new actors, and auspicious dances to open the new theater season. These were events held onstage for audiences, but they were also often preceded by private ceremonies held by the actors, called ''yorizome'', in which they met within the theater or the attached teahouse, and then also on the street outside, to formally greet the theater managers.<ref>Timothy Clark, "Edo Kabuki in the 1780s," ''The Actor's Image'', Art Institute of Chicago (1994), 27.</ref>
These and other auspicious occasions often involve the entire troupe clapping their hands in a particular pattern, in unison. Such a hand-clapping ceremony was also held, for example, during the closing ceremonies of the post-war [[Kabuki-za]], before it was closed in 2010 (to be rebuilt and reopened in 2013).
==Plays==
==Plays==
