A hagyományos kabuki és a shinpa háborúja a 19–20. század fordulóján

After the Meiji restoration 明治維新 (1868), Western culture flooded intoJapan. This effect not only changed the political, economical and social lifebut also caused an enormous shock in people’s everyday life. The absolutelydominant and traditional Japanese theatre, the kabuki was no exception tothis tendency either. At the beginning kabuki was planned to be reformed inorder to cope with the new challenges, but eventually it could not be renewed.In addition, a new theatrical genre was born in the 1880’s, which defined itself in opposition to kabuki. The new school, called shinpa, applied severalmodern techniques, therefore it became extremely popular with the audience.This study focuses on the vivid competition, or even ‘battle’, of the kabukiand shinpa at the beginning of the 20th century.