50 Fun Facts About Kabuki

Kabuki is a classical form of theatre from which country?

It grew up in the early Edo period and is known for its heavily stylised acting and elaborate costumes.

Who is regarded as the founder of kabuki?

She was a former shrine maiden, possibly a miko of Izumo-taisha, and was soon asked to perform for the Imperial Court.

In which year did kabuki begin, with Okuni's troupe of female dancers?

A statue of her was erected in 2002 to mark 400 years of the art.

In which city did Okuni's troupe first perform?

Her statue stands across from the city's last remaining theatre, by the bridge over the Kamo River.

What do the three kanji of the word kabuki mean?

The word probably derives from the verb kabuku, to lean or be out of the ordinary, so it can also mean avant-garde theatre.

In what year were women banned from performing kabuki?

Fights kept breaking out among young samurai patrons, and many performers were also involved in prostitution.

What is the term for a male actor who specialises in female roles?

Bando Tamasaburo V is the best-known living example and has played women in films outside kabuki.

What was the all-adult-male style that the art switched to in the mid-1600s called?

Wakashu, adolescent boys chosen for their looks, had been briefly banned too; both bans were lifted by 1652.

In which year did UNESCO first proclaim kabuki an intangible heritage of outstanding universal value?

It went onto the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008.

What is the hanamichi?

The name means flower path; Okuni herself used one.

What is the name of the elaborate, mask-like makeup worn by some kabuki actors?

It sits on a white base and exaggerates the facial lines into animal or supernatural masks.

What do red lines in the stylised stage makeup signify?

Blue or black lines mark villains, green the supernatural and purple nobility.

What is a mie?

Its development is credited to the founder of the Ichikawa line in the Genroku period.

Which actor pioneered aragoto, the exaggerated 'rough style' of Edo kabuki?

Roles in that style wear bold red or blue makeup and enlarged, padded costumes; the mie pose is credited to the same actor.

What are the three main categories of kabuki play?

History plays, domestic plays and dance pieces respectively.

Sewamono, or 'domestic plays', focus mainly on which social group?

Jidaimono history plays, by contrast, generally focus on samurai.

Which playwright, one of the first professional kabuki writers, is best known for The Love Suicides at Sonezaki?

That piece was actually written for the puppet theatre first.

Why did the government ban love-suicide plays in 1723?

Sonezaki Shinju had been adapted from the puppet stage and become hugely popular.

Kanadehon Chushingura, one of the most famous plays in the repertoire, tells the story of which historical event?

It is set in the 1330s as a disguise for a contemporary 18th-century affair.

Which stringed instrument is the principal accompaniment of kabuki music such as nagauta?

Musicians play from behind a bamboo screen called the kuromisu at stage left.

During which era did the mawari-butai, or revolving stage, develop?

Trap doors called seri appeared around the middle of the 18th century.

What is chunori?

It appeared in the mid-19th century and the Kabuki-za, National Theatre and Minami-za are all rigged for it.

What are the kuroko?

They add and remove props mid-scene and help with quick costume changes known as hayagawari.

What do expert audience members shout at a climactic moment, in a practice called kakegoe?

An even greater compliment is to shout the name of the actor's father.

What is the general term for kabuki's visual stage tricks, often translated as 'playing to the gallery'?

Flying by wire is still one of the most popular of them.

To which district of Edo were the three great theatres forced to move after the fires of the 1840s?

The new street was called Saruwaka-cho, and its last thirty years of Tokugawa rule produced some of the most exaggerated kabuki ever.

Which set of shogunal measures, begun in 1842, targeted kabuki as an overindulgence in pleasure?

The shogun had already refused to let the burnt Nakamura-za be rebuilt on fire-code grounds.

Who initiated Edo kabuki at the Nakamura-za in 1624, giving his name to the later theatre street?

Utagawa Hiroshige made a print series of the Saruwaka district in its new home.

In which registered red-light district of Edo did kabuki become a common entertainment?

Kabuki was unique in gathering a crowd of every social class in one place.

Which puppet theatre developed alongside kabuki, with the two art forms borrowing from each other?

In the mid-18th century the puppets briefly overtook kabuki as the favourite entertainment of the lower classes.

Which occupying power briefly banned kabuki after World War II?

Kabuki had supported the war effort since 1931; the ban was lifted within two years though censorship lingered.

By which year had the post-war ban on the art been rescinded?

Some post-war schools of thought rejected all pre-war art forms, kabuki among them.

What was the first Super Kabuki production, premiered in 1986?

Ichikawa En-o created the genre to broaden kabuki's appeal; the anime adaptations came from 2014.

Which video game did Square Enix announce as a Super Kabuki adaptation in 2022?

It was staged at the IHI Stage Around Tokyo in 2023 for the franchise's 35th anniversary.

In which Tokyo district is the Kabuki-za, the city's principal kabuki theatre?

It began year-round performances in 1991 and marketing cinema films of its shows soon after.

In what year was the original wooden Kabuki-za built?

It burned down in an electrical fire in 1921 and again during the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake before its rebuild was finished.

Which company has run the Kabuki-za since 1914?

Its founder was a Meiji-era journalist, Fukuchi Gen'ichiro.

What are the traditional colours of the striped kabuki stage curtain?

White sometimes replaces green; the one-piece curtain is pulled aside by hand.

What is the name of the last remaining kabuki theatre in the city where the art was born?

Okuni's statue stands diagonally across from it at the end of the Shijo bridge.

How many stage names will many kabuki actors take over a career?

Names are inherited within acting lines such as the Ichikawa Danjuro line.

Which all-female troupe debuted to acclaim in 1953?

The great majority of troupes remain entirely male, though some local groups now cast women in female roles.

What is the white base of the stage makeup made from?

It is called oshiroi, and the coloured lines go on top.

Okuni's troupe first performed on a makeshift stage in the dry bed of which Kyoto waterway?

A statue of Okuni now stands at the east end of the Shijō Ōhashi bridge over the same river, opposite the Minami-za.

Earphone guides for kabuki audiences were introduced in which year, with an English version in 1982?

They broadened the art's appeal enough that the Kabuki-za began year-round performances in 1991.

What is a hiki dōgu, used to change scenery mid-scene while the curtain stays open?

The technique dates from the start of the 18th century, when scenery or actors began rolling on and off on wheeled platforms.

Which director's post-war productions of kabuki classics are credited with sparking renewed interest?

He worked at a time when some schools of thought wanted to reject pre-war art forms outright.

Kodanji IV, the leading actor of the Saruwaka-machi period, mainly danced in dramas by which playwright?

Deemed unattractive, Kodanji focused on buyō dance; Mokuami kept writing into the Meiji era.

Which actor created the 'Super Kabuki' genre, launching it with Yamato Takeru in 1986?

The genre mixes advanced stage technology with traditional practice and has divided Japanese opinion.

The Za Kabuki troupe, performing annually since 1976, is based at a university in which country?

The Australian National University group holds the record for the longest regular kabuki performance outside Japan.

The Ōshika Kabuki, a well-known rural amateur troupe, is based in which prefecture?

Beyond the big Tokyo and Kyoto houses, many smaller kabuki theatres survive in Osaka and the countryside.