Kabuki is one of two major forms of commercial theater created by actors and playwrights for audiences of urban commoners during the Edo or Tokugawa period (1600/1603–1868) in Japan. In 1600, an attractive woman dancer, Okuni, captivated...

Kabuki (歌舞伎, kabuki?) is a form of traditional Japanese theatre. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by its performers. The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing (歌),...

Kabuki theater was one of the principal sources for early Japanese cinema, and it has remained an inspiration even after the country's filmmakers abandoned theatrical conventions for a purely cinematic style. The Freer Gallery's upcoming series, "Kabuki on Film," includes movies derived from classic...

HEROES OF THE KABUKI STAGE. By Arendie and Henk Herwig. Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, KIT Publishers, 2004. 359 pp. 280 color illustrations. Cloth $130.00. In the preface to Heroes of the Kabuki Stage, the authors write, "Our motivation in writing this book is...

In the following excerpt, Brandon examines how the joruri play Chūushingura was stolen by Kabuki actors, which seems difficult to understand considering that the two forms were originally so different, and he argues that the Kabuki performers deliberately set out to transform the play and make it particularly theirs, so that it is now the most beloved Kabuki play.

In the following essay, Shively examines the relationship between the conservative Confucian government, or bakufu, and the popular Kabuki theatre during the Tokugawa period (1603 to 1850), and concludes that the government's repression may ultimately have been beneficial to Kabuki as a dramatic form. Ideographic characters in this essay have been silently removed.

In the following excerpt, Ortolani provides a critical overview of Kabuki's historical and socio-political development, its use of supernatural elements, and its major figures and works, including the playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon and the play Chūshingura.

Analyzes the Japanese art forms of Kabuki and Bunraku. Explores the differences between the art forms and describes how each expresses the identity of Japanese people.