Classification according to Performers

In the pioneering days of Okinawan Shibai when Seijuu Tamaki and Shogan Arakaki began their performances for general people, they did everything by themselves - dancing, playing musical instruments, writing dramas, directing and performing. Shuryo Tokashiki who wrote "Nakijin Yuraiki" and Seihin Uema who wrote "Banzuiin Choobe" kept an active interchange with the mainland. And repeating experimental performances, they tried to modernize Okinawa Shibai. Thus, at the end of Meiji era, Okinawan operas performed in the spoken language (Uchinaa guchi = Okinawan dialect) appeared and "Tumai Aka" by Yaei Ganeko, "Okuyama no Botan" by Inkichi Iraha and "Iejima Handuugwa" by Yuukoo Majikina were a great hit. Around the 5th year of Taisho, there was a new development to the system in which an actor was at the same time a playwright, who changed and recruited competent persons from various quarters. As a result, the dramas translated from Japanese or foreign dramas began to be performed with every theatrical company having a little characteristic of its own. But the most popular dramas were often performed by every company. It was after the war that the indivisuality of each company or each actor began to shine. At the end of this period, poor companies were eliminated. Chooi Yoza's Gekidan Yoza which were good at action-packed Samurai dramas, Shokichi Kudaka's Haiyuuza which mostly performed Okinawan operas, Kotaro Ohgimi's Taishinza which were popular for heart-warming dramas, Sachiko Nakada's Deigoza which were good at comedies, Sumiko Kitajima's Okinawa Jikken Gekijo for which Kitajima played "hitori shibai"(one man played), Yoshiko Miyazato's Gekidan Murubushi which charm the audience with gorgeous direction and Kyoko Teruya's Engeki Kuukan Taichi which did creative activities in modern dramas - those theatrical companies were now taking an active part in performances, showing their own individuality



Yaei Ganeko	Ryoko Miyazato	Seiju Tamaki