Kyogen is a form of traditional Japanese comic theatre that developed alongside Noh, historically performed together with it as a kind of intermission between Noh acts on the same stage and still closely linked to it today, sometimes designated Noh-kyogen. Its content is nevertheless unlike the formal, symbolic and solemn Noh theatre it accompanies; kyogen is a comic form whose primary goal is to make its audience laugh.
Facts
Place of OriginJapan; kyogen descends from sangaku, a comic performance tradition brought to Japan from China in the Nara period of the eighth century. 1 Notable ExampleBusu (The Delicious Poison), a kyogen play frequently featured in textbooks, in which servants entrusted with sugar disguised as poison eat it against their master's orders. 1 Defining TraitKyogen is a comic theatrical form whose primary goal is to make its audience laugh. 1 FAQs
Is kyōgen always comic?
Kyōgen is comic, except in aikyōgen, where a kyōgen actor serves seriously inside a Noh play to explain it.
Not in every case. Kyōgen is a comic form whose primary goal is to make its audience laugh, and when it is performed as a separate play between two Noh plays it is known as honkyōgen. When kyōgen takes part inside a Noh play as aikyōgen, it is not comic. A kyōgen actor dressed in a kyōgen outfit replaces the main Noh actor on stage and explains the play to the audience, using simpler, less archaic language than Noh, with a serious and dramatic manner.
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Source Kyogen (Wikipedia)tier 2
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.
Source Kyogen (Wikipedia)tier 2
Sources
1. Kyogen (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)History section
Sangaku was introduced to Japan from China in the Nara period in the 8th century.
Lead section
kyōgen is a comic form, and its primary goal is to make its audience laugh
Notable plays section
A play frequently featured in textbooks is Busu (附子; The Delicious Poison), where the servants Tarō-kaja and Jirō-kaja are entrusted with some sugar by their master, but told not to eat it, as it is poison; naturally, they eat it.
View the Source Kyogen (Wikipedia)
In Group: Comic Drama Forms, Lead sectionQuote, In Group: Comic Drama Forms, Lead section
kyōgen is a comic form, and its primary goal is to make its audience laugh
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