Maybe this theater form is the superb Japanese dramatic art representation, and maybe also the one that gathers the most aspects of it. Kabuki is hard to categorize because it shares both opera and ballet elements. Figurative or literal translation of Kabuki could be "dance and singing discipline".

As an interesting fact, it can be outlined that Kabuki nowadays is only represented by male actors, female parts of a play are also played by men dressed as women, but this has not always been the same: from the beginnings of kabuki until 1629, there were actresses, women in plays. In this date women were banned from appearing in kabuki theater once the government discovered that many of them were working as prostitutes outside the stage; the government was afraid that the actresses incited public moral decadence, but later on, some young actors were brought into this kind of activities.

Nowadays there are special representations where women are allowed to take part in a kabuki play. Male actors that play female parts are called "onnagata".

On the other hand, Noh theater has religious origins. Nobility in those days required esoteric poetry, refined language and movement simplicity without losing glamour

Around 1338 Noh theater became from being a popular amusement into a complex form of drama.

It is difficult to describe a Noh theater play, but there are some translations. Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Yoshimitsu's grandson, who became Shogun in 1449, benefit art in general, Noh theater between them. Noh representation had been transformed by the previous shogun Ashikaga into a refined and slender amusement, came from popular singing and dancing representations in Heian age or even before that.

Presented in a simple stage without any special scenery, play used to be, as it is today, a historic romance in which drum music and dance with flutes, beautiful dresses, poetic dialogs and symbolic pantomime were combined.

Bunraku is the traditional puppet theater. Without exception, each play is represented with puppets manipulated by handy dressed in black artists, even their faces are covered with a semi-transparent black veil. Apparently puppets were already famous in Japan since the XVII century, when travelling actors coming from China and Korea wandered across the country with half religious representations. Nevertheless, what is now known as bunraku, wasn't formed until XVI and XVII centuries, when narrators joined actors and shamisen (a kind of banjo) accompanying.

Bunraku, despite what it can appear, it's more likely an adult theater for the kind of plot it is built on, talks about very deep subjects as in William Sakespeare's play; love, rejection, revenge, sacrifice, reincarnation, etc.

Three artists give life to each puppet, this requires lots of coordination and audience must not sense the artist most of the time.

The approximate size of a puppet is a third part of a human. Narrators are called "gidayu" and they play a very important role, gesticulate, moan and sob in the left side of the stage to give life to the play's representation.