The Structure of Theater: A Japanese View of Theatricality

The Western concept of “theater” did not exist in pre-modern Japan. Engeki was the word chosen to translate “theater” when it was introduced to Japan in the second half of 19th century. ¹ It still sounds a little foreign to Japanese people. Traditionally Japan had a word shibai, which was almost equivalent to “theater,” but was, and still is, applied only to Kabuki and Bunraku (puppet theater) and not to Noh. The modern westernized theater is not usually called shibai, either, for this sounds too colloquial or too non-literal. The adjective forms of shibai, shibai-jimita or shibai-gakatta, imply “pretentious” or “insincere” behavior, a definitely pejorative nuance, equivalent to the negative meaning of the English term “theatrical.”