Watch the video clip and fill in the missing words: Kabuki The people's dramatic art - Amanda Mattes.MP4 Kabuki, the people’s dramatic art Many elements of traditional Japanese culture such as 1) _________ and 2) ____________ are well known throughout the world. Kabuki, a form of classical theatre performance may not be as well understood in the West but has 3) _________ over 400 years to still maintain influence and popularity to this day. The word Kabuki is derived from the Japanese verb Kabuki meaning out of the ordinary or bizarre. Its history began in early 17th century Kyoto where a shrine maiden named Izumo No Kuni would use the city's dry Kamo river bed as a stage to perform unusual dances for passersby who found her daring parodies of Buddhist prayers both entertaining and mesmerizing. Soon other troops began performing in the same style and Kabuki made history as Japan's first dramatic performance form 4) ______________the common people. By relying on makeup or Kesho and 5) ____________________instead of masks and focusing on 6) _________________ and everyday life rather than 7) _______________, Kabuki set itself apart from the upper-class dance theater form known as Known and provided a unique 8) __________ on society during the Edo period. At first, the dance was practiced only by females and commonly referred to as Kana Kabuki. It soon evolved to an ensemble performance and became a regular attraction at tea houses, drawing audiences from all social classes. At this point Onna Kabuki was often risque as geishas performed not only to show off their singing and dancing abilities, but also to advertise their bodies to 9) ________________. A ban by the 10) ___________Tokugawa Shogunate in 1629 led to the 11) _____________of Waka Shu Kabuki with young boys as actors. But when this was also banned for similar reasons, there was a 12) _____________to Yaro Kabuki performed by men necessitating 13) ________________________ and makeup for those playing female roles or Onnagotta. Attempts by the government to control Kabuki didn't end with bans on the gender or age of performers. The Tokugawa military group or Bakufu was fueled by 14) _______________________ and often enacted 15) _____________on costume fabrics, stage weaponry and the subject matter of the plot. At the same time, Kabuki became closely associated with and influenced by Bunraku, an elaborate form of puppet theater. Due to these influences, the once 16) ___________one-act dance evolved into a structured five-act play often based on the tenets of 17)___________________. Before 1868 when the Tokugawa Shogunate fell and Emperor Meiji was 18) ______________________, Japan had practiced 19) ___________from other countries or Sakoku and thus the development of Kabuki had mostly been shaped by 20)____________________. But even before this period, European artists such as Claude Monet had become interested in and inspired by Japanese art such as woodblock prints as well as live performance. After 1868, others such as Vincent van Gogh and composer Claude Debussy began to 21) __________________Kabuki influences in their work while Kabuki itself underwent much change and experimentation to adapt to the new modern era. Like other traditional art forms, Kabuki suffered in popularity 22) ___________________ World War II but innovation by artists such as director Tetsuji Takechi led to a resurgence shortly after. Indeed Kabuki was even considered a popular form of entertainment amongst American troops stationed in Japan despite initial U.S. censorship of Japanese traditions. Today, Kabuki still lives on as an 23) ___________part of Japan's rich 24) ________________________, extending its influence beyond the stage to television, film and anime. The art form pioneered by Okuni continues to delight audiences with the actor's elaborate makeup, 25) _____________ and delicately embroidered costumes and the unmistakable melodrama of the stories told on stage.