Japanese Literature - Kabuki

Kabuki Theater was invented during the Tokugawa period (徳川時代); the Tokugawa period is also referred to as the “Edo Period (江戸時代).” The Tokugawa period was a period of change within Japan that lasted from the early sixteenth century until 1868. During the changes going on in Japan, all of the arts had increased – from literary books to ukiyo-e woodblock prints to the theater. Many people, not just the higher upper class, were becoming more interested in the arts and demanded for better availability. Kabuki was one of the arts that held a high demand. But what separates Kabuki Theater from the other arts? From its emergence into the theater to the make-up and costuming, Kabuki has gained the interest of many people.

Kabuki (歌舞伎) emerged from a troupe of entertainers that would perform for the audiences during the seventeenth century. These troupes of entertainers would usually travel from one location to the next performing for those interested. Unlike those of the Nō (能) plays, Kabuki plays had depended solely on the non-aristocratic, i.e. the common Japanese people, to survive. The first kabuki performance was credited to a woman by the name of Okuni (お国), who was an attendant at the Izumo Shrine (出雲大社). Okuni and her company, composed up of mostly women, performed on the dry bed of the Kamogawa River (鴨川) in Kyoto (京都) during the year 1603. After her company performed on the riverbed, they gained national fame. The dance that Okuni and her company had performed was a modified version of “nembutsu odori (念仏踊り), which was Buddhist ceremonial dance. It was Okuni’s company who started the trend and genre of “kabuki.”

The Chinese characters – or kanji (漢字) – for kabuki when separated stands for “sing/song” (歌), “dance” (舞), and “skill/technique” (伎). Therefore, the meaning of “kabuki” is basically having the skill of singing and dancing or the technique of singing and dancing. The word “kabuki” itself came from the Japanese word “kabuku,” which originally meant “to incline.” “Kabuku” came from the Azuchi-Momoyama period (安土桃山時代), from 1573 until 1603. In the seventeenth century, the meaning for “kabuku” changed from “to incline” to mean “to be unusual.” However, “kabuku” is no longer used in the Japanese language today. The word “kabuki” was first used to describe Okuni’s company for their bizarre style of light theatrical performance with dancing and comic sketches.

When people think of Kabuki Theater, they do not imagine women playing the roles of any characters. This is because of the ban the Japanese government had placed on women performers. Okuni had popularized the idea of “onna kabuki (女歌舞伎),” translated into “women’s kabuki.” In women’s kabuki, the female actresses play all the roles, regardless of gender. Much like how the kabuki actors now have the men playing all the roles, regardless of the character’s gender. Onna kabuki was very popular among all the crowds, whether it was noblemen or common folks; members of all societies came to see the women’s performance. However, this would be due to the fact that some of the women within the onna kabuki would double as an actress and a prostitute. Actually, none of the female members in Okuni’s company had practiced prostitution. As the trend was becoming more popular, female prostitutes were taking advantage of the interest to advertise their services by doing sensual dances. As a result of the increase in prostitution within the onna kabuki, a new term was used to describe the situation, “yūjo kabuki (遊女歌舞妓)” or “prostitute’s kabuki.” Because there were limited women performing, the audience members would often fight over the actresses. The fighting became more violence with the passing of time. In order to maintain order, the Tokugawa shogunate or bakufu (徳川幕府) had banned women completely from performing in kabuki performances in the year 1629.

Even though the onna kabuki was banned from being performed, the art of kabuki still gaining popularity. Because of this, a new form, called “wakashu kabuki (若衆歌舞伎)” or “young men’s kabuki,” had emerged into the theater scene. In this form, only young, handsome men play the roles of the characters, as mentioned above. The young men take on the roles of men, women, anyone. The young men in the wakashu kabuki, like the women in the onna kabuki, had also performed kabuki acts as well as soliciting their bodies. The Tokugawa shonugate had also disapproved the wakashu kabuki for their prostitution was being committed by the adolescent male actors. Because the males in the wakashu were also prostitutes, violence over the men broke out within the audience that came to see them perform. At first, the wakashu kabuki’s prostitution was not banned until a fight between two samurai over one of the young boys was made public in the year 1652. In July of 1652, the Tokugawa shogunate had once again stepped into the kabuki theater’s affairs to regulate it.

Only two years after wakashu kabuki was banned from being performed, another new form of kabuki was created to please the audience; this new form was called “yarō kabuki (野郎歌舞伎)” or “Men’s kabuki.” Within yarō kabuki, the male actors had to show the authorities of the shogunate that they would indeed not use their bodies for sexual services or display their bodies in a provocative way. Yarō kabuki was under a more careful watch from the authorities than the previous forms of kabuki had been, which lead to the creation of new techniques to captivate the audience’s attention – rather than using their sex-appeal.

In order to make the young men from wakashu kabuki appear older for yarō kabuki and to represent the change from boy to man, the actors were forced to shave the front of their hair, called “maegami (前髪)” or known now as “bangs.” Because of the longer hair the wakashu kabuki actors had, it gave them the appearance of being more feminine and one of their most attractive features. Without the maegami, the wakashu had lost that major feature. To make up for this, the kabuki actors began to use wigs to make up for the missing hair. The wigs that the kabuki actors used are called, “katsura (かつら/鬘).” Each katsura held a specific meaning as to whom the actor is playing. The katsura described to the audience without words of the social status, age, and the occupation of the wearer of the wig. The katsura was made from real hair imported from China at the time. Because so many different katsura were used, there would be workers in the kabuki theater dedicated exclusively to the katsura process. The craftsmen of the katsura focus solely on the creation of the katsura; these craftsmen were called katsurashi (鬘師). The tokoyama (とこやま/床山) or wig dressers prepare the katsura for each performance, which could take hours to repair.

In order to create the katsura, the craftsman would spend about ten or more days preparing the katsura for the upcoming performances. To create the katsura being used for the plays, the craftsman would have to take the measurements of everyone’s heads who are involved within the kabuki play. For the katsura to be able to stay on the head of the actor and keep the original shape, the daigane (台金) – the thin framework made from copper – is created. The hair is then added to a silk over the daigane, skillfully hiding the framework holding the katsura onto the actors’ head. The silk is called habutae (羽二重). After the katsura are created, they are then given to the tokoyama to be perfected. For most of the wigs, there is a similar design used but each wig is customized to have elements of the actor within the wig style itself. So even if there are many wigs laid out in a room dedicated to the wigs, the actors would be able to immediately identify which wig belongs to them.

Even though all the wigs on the actors were elaborately done, the most complicated in design would be those of the onnagata (女形), the female roles played by the male actors. Within the category of onnagata, there are many subcategories that follow, each with their own style of katsura. Some of the subcategories of onnagata are hime (姫) – ladies from high social status or translated into “princess,” musume (娘) – women of ordinary social status, nyōbō (女房) – married middle-class women, and the geisha/gigi/keisei/courtesans. Within each of these subcategories, there are even more groupings that divide the category of onnagata, all with their own set of katsura.

Each katsura had its own specialized name given by the tokoyama and each section of the katsura had its own name. The four main components of the katsura are divided into the following: the maegami, bin, tabo, and mage. The maegami (前髪), as mentioned above, is the hair that lies on the top of the forehead or the bangs. The bin (鬢) is the hair that is swept back from the sides of the face, specifically where the temples are on the head. The tabo (髱) is the hair found at the bottom of the neck at the nape. The mage (髷) is the hair on top of the hair, usually in a knot style. For the onnagata actors, there is another division within the mage. This division classifies whether the women is unmarried (shimada 島田) or married (marumage 丸髷). To this day, the two hairstyles are worn by Japanese women. The shimada style is worn more often than that of the marumage. The women who wear shimada tend to typically be younger women for festive events or by geisha. When women get married in Japan, it is customary to wear a shimada katsura if the wedding is traditional style. The marumage is rarely seen in modern days; however, some women within remote areas in Japan could be spotted wearing this type of hairstyle.

The marumage katsura originally came from katsurayama (鬘山) wore in jidaimono (時代物) plays, or historical plays. In the older days of Kabuki Theater, no longer used in modern day kabuki, actors would sometimes have a small colored patch of silk attached to the katsura. Two common colors of the attached silk are purple and grey. The purple attachment was called “murasaki boshi” and the grey was referred to as “baba boshi.” The baba boshi was primarily used for the elderly women roles. The main purpose of these coverings was to hide the lack of maegami, due to the transition from wakashu kabuki to yarō kabuki. As a result, these coverings then became the signifier for the onnagata roles.

For the actors playing the roles of hime onnagata, a different type of katsura was used. This type of katsura is referred to as “fukiwa” (吹輪). This type of katsura has two main characteristics; the mage is higher and broader than most other katsura and the hair is decorated with elaborate ornaments that only the higher class ladies would be able to wear.

Another ornate katsura would be the oiran (花魁), which was wore by the courtesan roles. Within this type of katsura, the mage is more pronounced than those of the other katsura. It is a semicircle that had exaggerated the hair arrangement above the nape. This style of exaggeration was known as the “hyōgo mage” (兵庫髷). The actors, who had to wear the hyōgo mage as part of their role, had required the physical strength to hold his head up due to the weight due to the weight of the actual katsura. The costuming for the courtesan roles would also be of heavy materials, which require the actor to support the weight above his head and below his body.

To further the appeal and make their characters more distinguished, the actors in Kabuki Theater would use makeup to set apart the actors. Like the katsura, each specific role had a specialized style of makeup design for the specific character role. The makeup, also like the katsura, visually gave background information on the roles of the characters – for example, the status held in society by the character or even the gender of the character.

One of the most noticeable features of kabuki is the painted faces on the actors. Kabuki makeup in general is referred to as “keshō (化粧).” Another style of kabuki makeup is called “kumadori (隈取).” The purpose behind kumadori is to exaggerate the outlining of the face to give the face a more masculine and muscular appeal to the audience. With kumadori, the lines the painted onto the face are bold and use different colors to define the characters. These lines are drawn among the eyes, eyebrows, cheeks, and mouth in a symmetrical pattern. One reason why the lines are boldly painted onto the face is to accentuate the expressions from the actor, rather than concealing it. The most common colors appearing in kumadori are black, red, and blue; however, the occasional brown, purple, gold, and red yellowish-brown will be used. Each color has a specific meaning as to why it is used. For example, the color red (akai 赤い) is associated with heroes and being virtuous whereas blue (aoi 青い) represents a villainous person and wickedness.

However, these colors are not directly on the face of the actor. There is actually a whole process the actors have to go through in order to prepare makeup-wise for the performance. One of the first things the actor does is cover any part of his body that will be seen by the audience in a white base, called oshiroi (おしろい). The actors cover all parts of his face, including eyebrows and lips, to completely conceal his own features. While applying the oshiroi, the actors have their katsura wrapped up in a habutae (羽二重), the same silk their katsura are made of, to protect their wig from any keshō that may get onto the katsura itself. If the actor is playing the role of an onnagata, then a pink color is painted on before the oshiroi is applied. This gives the appearance of a feminine blush within the face.

Because the entire face of the actor is covered with the oshiroi, the actor would then have to paint on all the features of a face. For the eyes, an outline is made around the eyes, followed by emphasizing the eyes with a red or black coloring within the far corners of the eyes. Depending on the character type the actor is trying to portray, the lips would be drawn a certain way. If the character was a young girl, the lips would be drawn more delicately than that of a man’s. A young woman’s mouth would be designed as a small pout whereas the man’s would have a more serious undertone. Like the lips, the eyebrows also differed between the two genders. The males’ eyebrows would be slightly lower than those of a female character’s eyebrows. Some women roles did not have eyebrows painted on if they were portraying a married woman character. If the character was a married woman, it was also within custom to blacken their teeth, which was seen portrayed on stage to mimic a real-life woman.

From the history of Kabuki Theater to the hair and makeup, everything involved with this art form was very interesting. Even though the theater had many criticisms from the Tokugawa shogunate, it continued to thrive on into the modern world and remain as a form of entertainment for all social classes. Due to the regulations and restrictions placed among kabuki, the theater is no longer like its original form. However, the process of applying makeup had stayed the same throughout the Tokugawa period until now, the Heisei period (平成).