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What is Okinawa Shibai (Okinawan Play)?
Classification according to Emotional Content
Classification according to Scenes
Classification according to Styles
Classification according to Historical Background
Classification according to Local Background
Classification according to Performers
The Archives of Performances
The History of Okinawan Plays
The Modern Entertainment Play in Okinawa (Okinawa shibai)

menu5Classification according to Local Background

Description
At the time of Haihan Chiken(Abolishing (Ryukyu) Han and establishing (Okinawa) Ken), the royal entertainers lost their status and become common people, some of whom put on performances in a playhouse by themselves, but some of them moved to live in the country. The entertainers who lived in the country taught their superb Kumiodori, songs and dances to the villagers. What they taught has been passed down to the people in the area. In the festival of the village, the songs, dances and kumiodori are perfomed. Originally, there were about two hundred forms of Kumiodori, but now only a few are correctly performed. It is interesting to see that many Kumiodori which were supposed to have disappeared with the abolishment of the Ryukyu Kingdom Court are now performed in the open-air theaters of the villages. The royal entertainments were originally formed in Shuri by collecting and polishing the outstanding art of entertainment in the country. They returned again to their home country. One of the examples is that many "Adauchi mono"(Kumiodori revenge stories)have been handed down from generation to generation in the northern part of Okinawa island. And in Yaeyama, Taketomi, Tarama and Miyako island, strong-tied youth associations with a sense of duty take over Kumiodori as treasures of their villages. Some Okinawan operas have twenty musical numbers in a single performance. Especially, many Yaeyama folk songs and Amami folk songs are adapted to operas. It is supposed that in the circumstances mentioned so far ;Shibai(plays) were spreaded throughout the country and their legends were taken from the dramas.

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