Kabuki is a form of Japanese theater, said to have originated with the dance of a shrine maiden. In the Edo Period, during which power shifted to Tokyo, or the Eastern Capital, kabuki told the stories of courtesans and misfits. Okuni, the originator of this art form, traveled from the Izumo Shrine to Kyoto. Around 1603, she danced by the Kamo River, playing a gong and drum, wearing a headband, gold-brocaded coat, and two swords, with a gourd fastened to a purple belt. She also wore a cross, a magical object brought by Portuguese merchants, known as the southern barbarians, who had landed in 1543 at Kagoshima, whereupon they also introduced firearms. The grace of Okuni drew great crowds. Soon women from brothels joined the dance.
Kabuki has roots in noh, a more stately form of theater, as well as the traditions of Shinto, a mix of animism and the myths propagated by the ancient Yamato ruling class, who traced the origins of the emperor to the sun goddess. The latter myth persisted until shortly after the surrender of 1945, when the victors forced the emperor to renounce his divinity. The element of dance goes back to a legend: the sun goddess hid in a cave, and the world fell into darkness, so the gods gathered around, and a goddess holding a spear or shaft of bamboo began to sing and dance topless on an overturned wash basin. The spirited performance stirred the multitude of gods into excitement and laughter, and the sun goddess, in curiosity, peaked out of the cave, whereupon the gods pulled her out, bringing sunlight back into the world. Similarly, the dances of Okuni and her troupe caused an enormous stir, until the government banned the performances. In a curious turn, men and transvestites inherited the tradition, taking both male and female roles. Still today, many of the female characters are played by actors who strive to live as women.
Kabuki emerged after the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, which led to the establishment of the Tokugawa dynasty. After many war-ravaged centuries, the lands entered a time of peace. Society no longer needed warriors, and thus many samurai lost their livelihood. They became ronin, wanderers, warriors without master. These were highly cultivated people, who knew not only the ways of war, but also poetry, literature, and other delicate arts. They adopted new hairstyles and began to wear wild, colorful, never-before-seen clothing. After nights of drinking, they walked unsteadily through the streets. They became kabuki-mono: strange, tilted figures. Stories about them appeared on stage, and thus the new blend of song, dance, and drama came to be called kabuki. From 1633 until the arrival of Commodore Perry’s black ships in 1853, the shogunate had mostly closed the country, the main exception being limited trade in the south, at the port of Nagasaki. During the centuries of isolation, kabuki reigned as the height of fashion. People traveled by boat to see the peak of the art form in Yoshiwara—the red-light district of Edo, authorized in 1617 by the shogunate. En route to the floating world, courtesans played long-necked lutes and sang. Audiences adored the stars of the stage and the tales of love and tragedy. Actors appeared in dazzling costumes and sophisticated hairstyles, driving the stories forward with vigorous, eloquent dialogue. Whereas the depth, austerity, and meditative pace of noh appealed to the elite, kabuki offered a popular form of dramatic elegance. Musicians sat along the back of the stage: strings, drums, flutes, and singers. The three-stringed lute, or shamisen, imported from the southern kingdom of Ryukyu, had arrived in Osaka around 1562, where it was adopted by blind storytellers. In kabuki, the strings evoke moods and settings; a melody suggests a snowy landscape, summer cicadas, or a journey along a river. Meanwhile, another ensemble produces sound effects in a low, hidden room. Before a performance, wooden clappers announce the imminent beginning. The curtain opens and the stage comes to life with the stories of glamorous lost souls.
