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Paper short abstract

This paper examines rakugo as a performative practice in which humor is produced through timing, pauses (ma), and embodied narration rather than verbal punchlines alone. Focusing on live performance, it analyzes how voice, gesture, and audience co-presence shape comic effect.

Paper long abstract

Rakugo is commonly described as a form of comic storytelling or oral narrative, and scholarly discussions have often focused on its plots, stock characters, or verbal punchlines. Such approaches, however, tend to overlook the fact that rakugo is first and foremost a live performance, in which humor unfolds in time and depends on the shared presence of performer and audience. This paper approaches rakugo from the perspective of performance analysis, asking how comic effect is produced through timing, pauses (ma), and embodied narration rather than through language alone.

The analysis is based on selected contemporary rakugo performances and concentrates on the performative means available to the rakugoka: vocal modulation, rhythmic pacing, minimal gesture, and the disciplined use of stillness. Particular attention is given to pauses and moments of suspension, which structure audience expectation and play a decisive role in shaping the reception of the ochi. In this context, the punchline is treated not simply as a verbal twist, but as the endpoint of a carefully calibrated temporal process.

The study employs a qualitative research approach based on the primary observation of recorded and live Rakugo performances. The research focuses on the physical bases of Rakugo and the way performers use the restricted prop set (sensu and tenugui) when seated and other subtle body and vocal changes to generate multiple characters. The study describes humorous mechanisms that generate amusing effects through silence, anticipation, and time delay rather than through obvious performance of comic actions.

This paper highlights timing and pause as the main analytical categories to provide an understanding of rakugo that is complementary to text and linguistic analysis. It demonstrates that rakugo is a particularly evident instance of humorous performance that is based on rhythmic patterns and physical control and the live performer-audience communication in Japanese performing arts.

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Paper short abstract

The paper compares Zeami Motokiyo (1363-1443) and Abe Kobo (1924-1993) as representatives of classical and modern Japanese theatre, focusing on their actor training theories. Through analysis of their writings, it identifies similarities in their views while acknowledging fundamental differences.

Paper long abstract

The paper compares two major figures of Japanese theatre: Zeami Motokiyo (1363–1443) and Abe Kōbō (1924–1993), representing classical and modern theatrical traditions respectively. Zeami is widely regarded as the most important figure in classical Japanese theatre and is often referred to as the "father of nō". In addition to his work as a performer, he developed the theoretical foundations of the genre, describing key aesthetic concepts such as yūgen (subtle profundity), myō (mystery), or monomane (imitation), as well as the notion of transmitting the flower, which describes the actor’s process of artistic development and mastery of stage techniques.

Abe Kōbō, on the other hand, is commonly associated with shingeki, a realist theatrical movement influenced by European playwrights such as Henrik Ibsen, Gerhart Hauptmann, and Anton Chekhov. However, this classification is only partially accurate. While his early plays of the 1950s and 1960s display realist elements, they also incorporate anti-realist features, including non-human characters and disruptions of linear time and space. In the 1970s, Abe moved decisively away from realism toward a form of visual theatre in which spoken language functioned as one expressive element among others, alongside sound, movement, and projection. During this period, he founded his own theatre troupe and developed a distinctive actor-training system, later articulated in a series of essays. Interestingly, the theatre Abe created in the 1970s often resembled the performances and aesthetic approach of post-shingeki creators, who themselves drew inspiration from classical Japanese theatre. Yet, Abe was never associated with the post-shingeki movement and consistently denied ever being influenced by classical Japanese art.

The paper analyzes key aspects of acting training in the theoretical writings of Zeami and Abe, identifying points of convergence in their thinking while accounting for the fundamental differences between their theatrical and philosophical frameworks.

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Compares Kabuki onnagata gait shaped by geta-based footwear with Jingju qiaogong (raised footwear simulating women’s bound-feet movement). Examines femininity as trained locomotion and contrasts the technique’s afterlives: continuity in Kabuki versus rupture and re-authorization in post-1949 China.

Paper long abstract

Kabuki onnagata and Jingju female impersonation both render femininity persuasive through disciplined lower-body training, yet scholarship often treats their “female-likeness” chiefly as a matter of visual style or gender ideology. Taking the feet as its point of departure, this paper examines how footwear-mediated footwork and gait function as micro-techniques of gendering across two performance systems. In Kabuki, onnagata movement is shaped by wooden clogs (geta) and their role-specific variants; femininity is articulated through step size, weight transfer, and the disciplined management of posture in motion. These techniques are intensified in pleasure-quarter role types, where courtesan pageant conventions choreograph erotic status through elevated footwear, patterned walking, and deliberate pauses and poses.

By contrast, I analyze qiaogong (the “qiao” technique) in Jingju as a footwear-based platform that is both narrowly defined and broadly generative. Qiaogong employs raised footwear (“qiao”) that simulates women’s bound-feet movement, yet it underwrites an entire movement ecology: it governs ordinary walking and swaying, structures circular stage steps, and can extend into acrobatic or combative sequences. Performers may also deliberately display the footwear as part of the character’s legibility. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, qiaogong’s visibility and legitimacy diminished sharply. Because it evokes late-imperial gender norms, it became implicated in the post-1949 repudiation of “feudal” bodily practices. Its recent reappearance has been accompanied by a framing that valorizes virtuosity and heritage, with publicity and reception materials foregrounding qiaogong as a demanding technique and a legible index of historical femininity.

Placed side by side, Kabuki and Jingju show how cross-gender technique acquires distinct afterlives under different institutional conditions: continuity stabilizes footwear-conditioned gait as routine craft in Kabuki, while rupture and later re-authorization render qiaogong a recovered and revalued technique in modern China. This comparison reframes debates on onnagata and the Chinese female-impersonator (nandan) tradition as a concrete question of embodied knowledge: how do performers learn to persuade audiences through the feet, and how do institutions decide which gendered techniques are ordinary, controversial, or “treasured”?

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Paper short abstract

This research examines onnagata performances of the Buddhist goddess Benzaiten through pictorial sources and actor critiques, focusing on movement, pose, and costume to show how male actors embodied sacred femininity in early modern kabuki.

Paper long abstract

Kabuki emerged in early modern Japan as a popular urban performing art, profoundly shaped by earlier theatrical traditions, including noh, which maintained close ties to Buddhist ritual and embodiment practices. Kabuki performers developed techniques that vocally and physically imitate Buddhist deities. The well-known kabuki striking pose mie, for example, can be traced to the stylized imitation of Deva King statues. Meanwhile, kabuki only has male performers. Within the all-male system, onnagata actors, who specialized in female roles, played a central role, making their performances particularly significant for both theatre studies and gender analysis. This research focuses on the onnagata enactments of Benzaiten, a Buddhist goddess associated with music, martial prowess, and fertility, examining how male actors embodied a divine feminine figure on the kabuki stage.

Drawing on pictorial materials and actor critiques (yakusha hyōbanki), this study analyzes onnagata performances through two modes of imitation commonly applied to Buddhist deities: vocal expression and physical embodiment. While vocal imitation is frequently discussed in evaluations of male-role performances, onnagata acting was rarely assessed in vocal terms. As a result, this research foregrounds bodily movement, pose, gesture, and costume as primary sites of analysis. By examining how onnagata physically articulated Benzaiten’s divinity, this study reveals how Buddhist imagery, gendered performance, and theatrical aesthetics intersected in early modern kabuki. The performance of Benzaiten demonstrates that onnagata acting was not merely a representation of femininity, but a complex imitation of sacred presence negotiated through male bodies on the public stage.