From burdel to anime
- Japan, early 17th century. When the country was unified in the Tokugawa shogunate, the O began. After long conflicts, peace came to Japan, the bourgeoisie of the cities was hungry for entertainment and a suitable environment for artistic and cultural activities was created.
Izumo no Okuni was the priest of the temple of Izumo and was a skilled dancer. To get money for the temple, a group of prostitutes met and began performing dance and poetry shows. But soon, with his success, he left the temple and dedicated his whole life to shows. In fact, the show was a claim for the clients of the prostitutes who tried it. This extra service offered by the Okuni dantzaris was not new, but the previous show was. Nothing was invented, but with various dances and modified texts it laid the foundations for the mode of representation of goats.
The sexual contents, the transgressive aesthetic – often Okuni used men’s clothing on stage –, the innovative ways of telling stories, the possibilities of sexual relations with the actors… aroused the passions of citizenship. Given that a third of the Japanese at the time carried the Catana or the sword back, the shows had a bloody end. Therefore, in 1629 the authorities took measures to avoid confrontation. Were weapons banned in Kabukia? No, actresses were banned.
Young, androgyn-looking boys to perform female roles started using so-called onnagata. Homosexual relations were not taboo at the time of Edo, and onnagas also offered sexual services to viewers. And some viewers also began to consume these services. The problem was not only solved, but intensified. The shōgun ministers then decided to ban women's roles too, and therefore undulating.
Again, in vain. The history of older men represented by adult men did not arouse public interest. Theatrical entrepreneurs invented all kinds of tricks to overcome censorship, and actressed women dressed as men started coming in. Seeing that the remedy was worse than the disease, the roles of women and of undulation were again assumed in the cabaret. But actresses don't. So they invented by tactiles, a form of theater in which all roles are exclusively performed by female actresses.
That mold, created by the prohibitions and launched 400 years ago, was radically entrenched in Japanese culture and still today that influence is very great. In anime, mangan and other Japanese artistic and aesthetic manifestations, androgyny and fuzzy gender limits are very evident.
The Park of Doña Casilda in Bilbao becomes once a year the meeting point of the street theatre. This year, the Kalealdia festival is 25 years old, and in the first week of July, 86 performances have been seen from 32 different companies.
On July 3, I was struck by the colorful... [+]
Transmisioa eta dantza taldeetako erreleboa aztertu nahi izan dugu Dantzan Ikasi topaketetan, eta gazte belaunaldiek lan egiteko ereduak ezagutu nahi izan ditugu “Gazteen parte-hartzea euskal dantzan” mahai inguruan: Eder Niño Barakaldoko... [+]
Through the networks the mysterious Axut Theatre was announced! people from the company a few months ago. A few dates, a lot of actors, known and not so known, and that was only going to be in the Latsaga Palace of Izura. When we realized we arrived to date and there we were in... [+]
What place does the theater have in a showcase like the book and the Basque fair of Ziburu? Or in other words, how much does the theater of literature have? This question was the starting point for Daniel Landart and Arantxa Hirioien at the round table Zubiburu of the opening... [+]
Dreams can be classified into the set of phenomena we don't understand. Even though we don't understand them, they're so alive, so penetrating, so real. And how can we imagine dreams? The next morning we often don't remember the sleeping experiences, and when we wake up agitated,... [+]
