Background Information

An Introduction to Kabuki Theater

Grade Levels

College and Beyond, High School (9-12), Middle School (6-8)
Regions

Japan
Academic Topics

Rituals & Celebrations
Academic Subjects

History & Social Science, Performing Arts, Visual Arts

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4 Photos

Kabuki Theater

Kabuki actors Nakamura Nobuzo II and Nakamura Nosho II in a theatrical scene

A Kabuki actor as the bandit Shiro in falling snow

The actor Nakamura Utaemon III as the bandit Ishikawa Goemon

The Actors Anegawa Daikichi as Sankatsu and Bando Hikosaburo II as Hanshichi

Kabuki actors Nakamura Nobuzo II and Nakamura Nosho II in a theatrical scene

Kabuki actors Nakamura Nobuzo II and Nakamura Nosho II in a theatrical scene, by Katsukawa Shunei (Japanese, 1762–1819). Woodblock print, ink and colors on paper. Asian Art Museum, Gift of the Grabhorn Ukiyo-e Collection, 2005.100.55.

A Kabuki actor as the bandit Shiro in falling snow

A Kabuki actor as the bandit Shiro in falling snow, from the play Five Courageous Bandits in Five Colors, white, 1850-1900. By Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900). Japan. Woodblock print, ink and colors on paper. Gift of Toshiro Nakayama, 2010.256.

The actor Nakamura Utaemon III as the bandit Ishikawa Goemon

This is an example of an Osaka Kabuki print, so called because such prints were produced in the city of Osaka. It depicts a scene of a favorite actor in one of the Kabuki theaters located there. Ishikawa Goemon was a famous bandit and rebel whose story became popular in the late 1500s. Eventually he was captured, however, and he is said to have been boiled in a tub at Sanjogawara in the dry bed of Kyoto’ s Kamo River. Here, Goemon is depicted as a court official gesturing in amusement. It is difficult to determine from which play this episode comes.

The Actors Anegawa Daikichi as Sankatsu and Bando Hikosaburo II as Hanshichi

This print depicts a scene from a Kabuki play based on the real-life love suicide of the courtesan Minoya Sankatsu and her married lover, sake merchant Akaneya Hanshichi. This event, which took place in Osaka’s Sennichi cemetery on a winter night in 1695, became famous as the subject of numerous puppet and Kabuki plays. Here, the two lovers stand with their hands clasped, just before they depart for the cemetery in the final scene. Hanshichi wears a merchant’s ledger hung from his obi, and he carries a brush, with which he seems to have written a verse on Sankatsu’s cloud patterned inner sleeve. Above the two figures are the actors’ names and roles as well as the verse: Aisode ya fude ni kokoro wo fukumu sumi Sleeves meeting; In the brush Is heart-filled ink The second part of the poem refers to Hanshichi’s suicide note, which is read in an emotional scene late in the play. Crests also identify the actors: Hanshichi wears the crane roundel of Bandō Hikosaburō II and Sankatsu the ivy crest of Anegawa Daikichi. While the exact title of the play shown here is unknown, a clue exists in a closely related design by Kiyomitsu in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (11.18999). There a possible play title—Au yo no meoto boshi (Night Meeting of the Star-Crossed Lovers)—is provided in place of the verse in the Grabhorn example, and the actors’ crests appear above their names.

Kabuki Theater

Kabuki was one of the three most popular dramatic forms of Japan, the other two being Noh drama and puppet theater (bunraku). Singers and an orchestra of drums, flutes, wooden clappers, and samisen (a stringed instrument similar to the banjo) accompanied the highly stylized dialogue, lively and often violent action, and captivating dances of Kabuki. The plays were all-day entertainments that included lunch and tea.

Audiences in Edo (present-day Tokyo) were delighted by these powerful performances, and admiring merchants and artisans became the actors’ patrons. Even today, in a culture saturated with entertainment, Kabuki continues to flourish.

The art form has its origins in comic dances performed in the early 1600s by groups of women on a bank of Kyoto’s Kamo River. Kabuki grew into a colorful theatrical art form in both Edo and Osaka. In 1629 the government accused these women of being prostitutes and banned all women from performing the dances. Male actors began to play both male and female roles.

Edo’s three Kabuki theaters—Nakamura-za, Ichimura-za, and Morita-za—were located in different areas of the “Low City.” In 1842, after a fire had destroyed much of the city, all three theaters were relocated to the Asakusa area near the new pleasure quarter.

Kabuki Theater Facilities

Theaters housing Kabuki performances consisted of a hall with stage and audience areas; the stage was separated from the audience by a curtain drawn to the sides. Characteristically a runway, connected to the back of the stage, passed through the audience. This “flower way” (hanamichi) was so named because it originally served as a passage for audience members to present flowers to actors on stage. By the 1730s the hanamichi had developed into a supplementary staging area.

Signboards featuring current programs were hung above the eaves of theaters’ central entrances.

Kabuki Makeup

Kabuki actors wore thick makeup designed to express the characters they represented. Red stripes around cheeks and eyes signified power and youth, and indigo blue signified a negative attribute.