Dressing room - gakuya

Japanese: 楽屋 - がくや

A dressing room is a facility in a theater or a place where performing arts are performed, where actors, musicians, and other related parties to the stage can prepare and rest. This name originated from the Bugaku (Chinese dance) where the musicians performed behind the curtain at the back of the stage, which was called "Gakunoya." The room was partitioned with a curtain or folding screen, and was also used as a place for dancers to put on costumes and rest on one side. This was passed down to later Noh and Kabuki, which came to have their own unique structure as theater structures were improved, and came to have various customs. However, in Noh, the musicians perform in a designated position on the stage, so the dressing room became a place for the actors to prepare and rest solely, and the name and reality became separated. Kabuki inherited this style, and eventually the musicians began to perform in a separate space called the Geza. In early Kabuki theaters, like Noh, the back of the stage, called the "atoza," was partitioned off with a curtain and used as a hangout area for the performers, or dressing room. As the content of the plays became more complex, the organization grew larger, and the duties of the dressing room became more differentiated, individual rooms were required according to the roles and status of the actors, costumes, hairdressing, props, and other duties, and the internal structure gradually became more complex.

In the Edo period, dressing rooms were three stories tall, but because three-story buildings were not permitted, the actual third floor was called the "hon-ni-kai" (second floor) and the second floor was called the "chu-ni-kai" (second floor), making it look like a two-story building. The first floor was used for the lowest-ranking actors' rooms, called "Inarimachi," and was used for the rooms of those involved in the stage production, including the head actor's room, the writer's room, the musicians' room, the props room, the costume room, and so on. The female actors were assigned to the mezzanine floor, and behind that were the rooms of the leading female actors of the troupe. At the back of the second floor was the room of the head actor, followed by the rooms of the other leading actors, and then there was the "o-beya" (large room) where the actors below the title actor lived. The o-beya was also used for rehearsals before the show opened and for various theater events. This was the centre of the early simple dressing rooms, had a central hearth and was considered sacred.

The structure of dressing rooms differed between Edo and Kamigata, with Kamigata generally being two-story buildings. A distinctive feature of Kamigata dressing rooms is that they went beyond being a waiting room or resting area and were more of a place for the actor's private life, with the interior decoration and furnishings strongly reflecting the actor's tastes. This trend spread to Tokyo after the end of the Meiji period. The term "dressing room" also has examples of its old usage in folk performing arts, where it tends to be regarded as sacred as a place for transformation. In modern general language, it is also used as a word to refer to the back side of things that one does not want others to see, such as inside the dressing room or behind the dressing room.

[Yukio Hattori]

Western

In the West, the origin of the dressing room is said to be the skene in ancient Greek theaters. A skene was a square hut built behind the circular orchestra (the performing hall for the choir (koros)), and came in a variety of forms, from temporary tented structures to permanent stone structures. Part of the front was used as the stage backdrop or entrance, and the inside was used as a waiting area for the actors. In the early modern period, as the stage and audience seats were moved indoors, the structure of the dressing room changed, but its function has remained almost unchanged, and it is still used to refer to a room for actors to put on makeup and change clothes, as in dressing room, Ankleideraum (German), and loge d'artistes (French).

[Tsutomu Ohshima]

Utagawa Kunisada, "Drawing of the Dressing Room at the Nakamura Theater in Sakai-machi"
This is a depiction of the dressing room at the Nakamuraza, one of the three Edo theaters. Triptych, 1813 (Bunka 10), owned by the National Diet Library .

Utagawa Kunisada, "Drawing of the Dressing Room at the Nakamura Theater in Sakai-machi"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

劇場または芸能の演じられる場所で、演技者、演奏者など舞台の関係者が準備をしたり、休息したりするための施設をいう。この名称は、舞楽(ぶがく)において、楽人(がくにん)が舞台の後方の幕の内で楽を演奏した場所を「楽之屋(がくのや)」とよんだことに始まる。幕や屏風(びょうぶ)で間仕切りをして、一方で舞人が装束を着けたり、休息したりするためにも用いられた。これが後世の能や歌舞伎(かぶき)に引き継がれ、劇場構造の整備とともに独特の構造を備えるようになり、さまざまなしきたりをもつようになった。ただし能では、囃子方(はやしかた)が舞台上の定められた位置に出て演奏するため、楽屋はもっぱら演技者の準備と休息のための場所となり、名称と実態とが離れた。歌舞伎はこの様式を受け継ぎ、やがて囃子は下座(げざ)とよぶ別の場所に入って演奏するようになる。歌舞伎の劇場では、初期には能の場合と同じく、舞台の後方の「後座(あとざ)」の背後を幕で仕切り、ここを演技者のたまり場すなわち楽屋にしていた。芝居の内容が複雑化し、組織が大きくなり、楽屋の職分が分化してくると、俳優の役柄や身分、衣装、床山(とこやま)、小道具などの職掌による個室を必要とするに至り、内部構造はしだいに複雑になった。

　江戸時代の楽屋は3階建てを原則としたが、3階建築は許可されなかったため、実際の3階を「本二階」、2階を「中二階(ちゅうにかい)」と名づけ、表向き2階建てを装っていた。その1階は「稲荷町(いなりまち)」とよぶ最下級の俳優の部屋以外は舞台関係者の部屋にあてられ、頭取(とうどり)部屋、作者部屋、囃子部屋、大道具部屋、小道具部屋、衣装部屋などがあった。女方(おんながた)は中二階と定め、その奥に一座の立女方(たておやま)の部屋があった。本二階には奥に座頭(ざがしら)の部屋、それに続いてその他の立者(たてもの)の部屋が並び、さらに名題(なだい)役者以下の俳優が雑居する「大部屋」があった。大部屋は開場前の稽古(けいこ)や諸種の劇場行事にも使われた。ここは初期の単純な楽屋の時代の中心であった場所で、中央にいろりがあり、神聖視されていた。

　楽屋の構造は、江戸と上方(かみがた)とで違いがあり、上方は原則的に2階建築になっていた。上方の楽屋の特徴は、控え室、休息所という性格を越えて、俳優の私生活の場としての性格が濃く、室内装飾や調度品に強く俳優の好みが反映している点であった。この傾向は明治末期以後、東京にも伝わった。なお、「楽屋」の呼称は民俗芸能にも古い用法の例が残っており、変身の場として神聖視される傾向がある。また、現代一般語に内幕(うちまく)、内緒など他人にみせたくない裏面を表すことばとして、楽屋内、楽屋裏などとも使われている。

［服部幸雄］

西洋

西洋では、古代のギリシア劇場におけるスケネskeneが楽屋の始まりとされている。スケネは、円形のオルケストラ（合唱隊(コロス)の演技場）後方に設けられた方形の小屋で、臨時のテント張りのものから石造の常設のものまであった。前面の一部が舞台背景ないし出入口として用いられ、内部は俳優の控え所となっていた。近世以降、舞台や客席が屋内に移るにつれて楽屋の構造も変化したが、機能的にはほとんど変わらず、ドレッシング・ルームdressing room、アンクライデラウムAnkleideraum（ドイツ語）、ロッジュ・ダルチストloge d'artistes（フランス語）のように、もっぱら俳優のための化粧、着替え室の意味に用いられている。

［大島　勉］

歌川国貞『さかい町中村座楽屋之図』
江戸三座の一つである中村座の楽屋を描いたもの。三枚続　1813年（文化10）国立国会図書館所蔵">

歌川国貞『さかい町中村座楽屋之図』

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