Kabuki

For over four hundred years Kabuki has remained a major form of artistic expression for Japan's mercantile, urban societies. Essentially it has always been a popular theatre, reflecting not just the fashions and cultural tastes of the people, but also the political and socio-economic conditions of each age through which it has evolved.

Following centuries of civil war that ravaged the country, the ascendancy of the Tokugawa shogunate at the beginning of the seventeenth century at last brought peace in the form of a centralised military dictatorship. The shogun maintained his power by an unforgiving, hierarchical control of nearly all aspects of Japanese society. With the samurai warrior class at the top, the Confucian class system descended through farmers and craftsmen and finally to merchants, the latter despised particularly for their association with such vulgar matters as usury and trade.

In such constrained social circumstances, the Kabuki theatre was one of the only officially sanctioned forms of entertainment for the general public, and in particular for the grass roots of society. As such Kabuki became a vital channel of expression against government repression. Although strict censorship ensured that nothing negative could be stated openly, nevertheless the subjects of many plays were subversive in content, often criticizing the contemporary social system under ancient historical guise. The real intentions and subjects of such stories, however, were perfectly obvious to the audiences of the time.

As time passed, Kabuki actors became increasingly popular with the public and were, in effect, the bright superstars of their day. They were appreciated not only for their acting skills, but also for the spirit of freedom and individuality that they embodied, as well as for their roles as true fashion icons.

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