Kabuki as a Synthetic Narrative

Abstract

Although the author has previously written several papers on kabuki addressing the narrative generation of kabuki or kabuki as narrative generation, this chapter is a kind of synthesis. At first, the chapter provides a focused summary of what kabuki is, which has already been summarized in the author's previous papers, and presents the synthetic characteristics of kabuki as narrative generation. The next section describes the main 15 narrative elements or techniques and several cross-sectional elements or techniques beyond conceptual description. Through two types of systems, including an integrated narrative generation system (INGS) and geinō information system (GIS), the author presents an entire image and design of narrative generation mechanisms in kabuki. Dependent on the above, the last section explains in detail several elements and techniques of kabuki and presents ideas of concrete design and implementation of kabuki-related narrative generation systems by the author.