Entertainment - Entertainment

It is often used for convenience to collectively refer to theater, dance, music, songs, folk performing arts, movies, and popular entertainment, but the concept is quite vague and has changed over time, making it difficult to define. In modern times, it refers to "art" that is performed in response to people's entertainment needs.

The word "art" was originally a Chinese word, and generally meant acquired talent, arts, and skills. In the "Records of the Grand Historian" (Biography of Kisaku), it says, "He opened the way for the arts widely, and spread the learning of all the hundred schools." In China, arts were something that should be practiced, and they were called the "Six Arts," and the arts were Ri (etiquette and manners), Gaku (music, dance, and art), Sha (archery), Gyo (horsemanship), Sho (scholarship), and Su (arithmetic). In Japan, from the Middle Ages to the Middle Ages, Chinese poetry, waka, haiku, gagaku, sarugaku, kagura, saibara, roei, imayo, enkyoku, flute, koto, drum, kemari, yabusame, inuoumono, sugoroku, and go were included in the field of performing arts. In his Fushikaden, Zeami describes the secrets and effects of performing arts as follows: "The performing arts are originally meant to ease the hearts of people and to ease their sense of superiority and inferiority, to be the basis for increasing longevity and prolonging life." However, performing arts were not welcomed by samurai during the Sengoku period, and were not well received among samurai even in the early modern period.

In the early modern period, the performing arts became centered on music, dance, and singing, and professional entertainers began to appear one after another. As a result, the scope of the term "performative arts" became narrower. In the Meiji period, performing arts education became less and less popular, and while Western songs and musical instruments were adopted in school education, traditional Japanese performing arts were rarely used. After World War II, performing arts were significantly liberated, and a course of performing arts was established in schools, which included art, calligraphy, music, and crafts. In addition, performing arts became important in the world of mass media, and so-called entertainers became popular. Meanwhile, in the field of academic research, the work of searching for and organizing documents related to performing arts progressed, and the number of students studying performing arts and performing arts history increased. Academic societies for performing arts research were also organized, and academic specialized research books and magazines related to performing arts culture began to be published in large numbers.

[Kazuo Sekiyama]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

演劇、舞踊、音楽、歌謡、民俗芸能、映画、大衆演芸などを総称して便宜的に用いられることが多いが、その概念はかなりあいまいで、時代によっても異なり、定義づけることはむずかしい。現代では、人々の娯楽的要求にこたえて演ずる「芸」をさす。

　芸能は、もと中国のことばで、一般に修得した才芸、伎芸(ぎげい)、技能の意であった。『史記』（亀策(きさく)列伝）には「博(ひろ)く芸能の路(みち)を開き、悉(ことごと)く百端（百家）の学を延(あまね)くす」とある。中国では芸は実践すべきものとし、「六芸(りくげい)」と称して、礼（礼儀作法）、楽（歌舞音楽）、射（弓術）、御(ぎょ)（馬術）、書（学問）、数（算術）を芸能とした。わが国でも中古から中世にかけて、漢詩、和歌、俳諧(はいかい)、雅楽、猿楽(さるがく)、神楽(かぐら)、催馬楽(さいばら)、朗詠、今様(いまよう)、宴曲(えんきょく)、笛、琴、鼓、蹴鞠(けまり)、流鏑馬(やぶさめ)、犬追物(いぬおうもの)、双六(すごろく)、囲碁などを芸能の分野に入れていた。世阿弥(ぜあみ)は『風姿花伝(ふうしかでん)』のなかで、「そもそも芸能とは、諸人の心を和らげて上下の感をなさん事、寿福増長の基、遐齢延年(かれいえんねん)の法なるべし」と芸能の奥義と効能を述べている。しかし、戦国時代には芸能は武士に迎えられず、近世にも武士の間ではあまり喜ばれなかった。

　近世になると芸能は歌舞音楽に関するものが中心となり、職業的芸能人が続出するようになった。そのため芸能という用語の範囲が狭められていった。明治に入ってからは芸能教育が消極的になり、学校教育に西洋の唱歌や楽器類は採用されても、日本の伝統芸能が用いられることはほとんどなくなってしまった。第二次世界大戦後は、芸能が著しく解放され、学校でも芸能科という課程が設置されて、美術、書道、音楽、工作などがこのなかに入れられた。また、マスコミの世界では芸能が重要視され、いわゆる芸能人がもてはやされるようになった。一方、学問研究の分野でも、芸能に関する文献を渉猟したり、整理考証する作業が進められ、芸能や芸能史の研究に従う学徒が増加。そして芸能研究の学会も組織され、芸能文化にかかわる学術的な専門研究書や雑誌が盛んに出されるようになっている。

［関山和夫］

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