RUTH M. SHAVER
"Art is a sensitive barometer to measure the buoyancy of spirit."
—ERNEST F. FENOLLOSA
NOTE
In speaking Japanese, the five vowels and double consonants are pronounced as they are in Italian, single consonants approximately as they are in English, except that g is always hard. Japanese words are pronounced with an almost equal stress on each syllable, except where there is a long vowel sound which is mainly a pitch accent and not a stress accent as in English. Unvoiced consonants sometimes become voiced—for example the change from s to z in sakura (cherry tree, cherry blossom) in the play title Yoshitsune Sembon-Zakura.
A noun does not denote gender or plurality except by context of the sentence. The same spelling is standard for singular or plural verbs. The custom of Japanese surnames preceding given names is followed throughout the book except in the Acknowledgments, where all names except those of actors are given in Western style. Kenkyūsha's Mew Japanese-English Dictionary and the author's instructors were the authoritative sources for the spelling of Japanese words. All Japanese words other than proper names and those which are widely familiar in the West are italicized. Except in well-known place names, macrons to indicate long vowel sounds have been retained since they are essential to correct pronunciation.
Introduction
Kabuki Costume is designed to acquaint the reader with a little known segment of a great theater: theater costume. The presentation of all phases of Kabuki, or any one aspect completely, within the confines of a single book is an impossibility. It is, however, necessary to give some account of what Kabuki is and how it has developed in order to understand the place and importance of the costumes.
A brief orientation to Kabuki through a discussion of it historically and as an art form will precede chapters on various aspects of Kabuki costume, such as male and female costumes, make-up, wigs, and accessories.
Kabuki is one of the most captivating and fantastic legitimate theatrical forms in the world, though most enthusiasts, both Japanese and foreign, admit it to be a diversion not for the intellect but for the senses. The nobility and warrior classes for centuries rejected this unpredictable, plebeian theater, holding their favorite Nō drama to be the epitome of elegance and good taste. Yet by its own artistic energy, Kabuki long ago raised itself to an admissibly fine classical dramatic expression and today far surpasses Nō in general appeal.
This truly native theater of Japan has been compared to the ancient Greek, to the Elizabethan, and to the Chinese theaters, as well as to the Western opera. Few admit that anything ever originated in Japan. The Japanese are looked upon as the world's most facile borrowers, even in the arts. But Kabuki, composed of dance, song, and histrionics, does not admit to being an offshoot or a development of any other entertainment, other than possibly folk dances of strictly Japanese origin; nor has any serious study of Kabuki proved it to be modeled after a foreign theater. A study of the historical background of Japan at the time of the beginning of Kabuki supports the belief that the art is indigenous.
In Kabuki, the actor is the pivotal force. This is not so apparent to the playgoer upon his first attendance, but the majority of a Japanese audience arrives in a spirit of great anticipation to see how well each role will be reproduced, for invariably comparisons are made of the acting stylizations of the current stars and their forebears. Reputation and popularity are founded on the preservation of a tradition. Only the young ever admit that present-day actors excel the illustrious greats of the past, and the young-in-heart in their dotage undoubtedly will revert to the narrower view of comparisons.
Second in importance to the actor is the over-all pictorial beauty which pervades the stage, and of course the actor's costume is a primary element in composing that beauty. The costume need not necessarily be realistic or logical. Reasonableness is for Western or modern Japanese plays. Until recent times, research was never done to make costumes authentic as to period. The public had little or no knowledge of historical customs and dress. As a consequence, the actors chose to use costumes in current use with which the audience was familiar, because the performers felt that the play would then have a more pertinent meaning.
Psychiatrists say that we see ourselves in characters in dramatic production; we cry and we laugh, usually because of our identification with them. People feel more comfortable if they see traits which they believe to be their own or if they fancy themselves in a similar light. Whether experience, instinct, or the astute Japanese psychology brought Kabuki actors to the realization of what was effective is impossible to say, but when actors used costumes familiar to the people, the audience felt a greater personal concern in the drama, for the playgoers had little vision beyond their own environment. Kabuki therefore developed an imaginative atmosphere of the immediate present which has always endured.
Since Kabuki reached its peak of perfection during the Edo, or Tokugawa, period (1603-1868), practically all the characters, regardless of the age of the play, appear on the stage in costumes of that period. The court beauties of the ninth century, as well as wives of samurai of the eleventh century, are dressed like women in Edo times, and their coiffures also reflect the Edo fashion.
Changes of costumes, materials, and patterns are made for various roles, and costumes are designated in accordance with individual roles. Not only the dress—for garments alone do not make the characterization—but also wigs and make-up fulfill extremely important functions in Kabuki. Patterns are not inflexible. Leading actors do make changes on occasion, but in general most present-day costumes remain identified with those originated by the past masters who popularized the roles. An actor must be a great idol indeed to be able to effect a change or to develop a part in a way that does not conform to the classical tradition.
One of the distinguishing traits of Kabuki, then, is the ease with which habitual playgoers recognize the type of play and the roles by the actors' costumes. The audience depends upon the array of splendid costumes to give vivid impressions of certain characters and to emphasize stage effects. Some costumes in their original form followed the social trends of the day; others were figments of the imagination, beautified and highly exaggerated. Imitations of costumes worn in the Nō dramas and in the ningyō-jōrurishibai (puppet theater) were used in plays adapted to Kabuki from these media. Even though a plot depends upon a specific period or impersonation of an actual individual, costumes which are not historically correct are used unhesitatingly even today.
It is not unusual to have queer costumes, the like of which never existed anywhere at any time. For instance, the costume called yoten—worn in historical plays by brave men, valorous brigand chiefs, and notorious thieves, as well as lowly policemen—exists only on the Kabuki stage. It was never a garb worn in real life. Most costumes worn in the jidai-mono (plays based loosely on historical or semihistorical events) and aragoto (drama designed for a highly stylized, vigorous form of acting) are not realistic. In many instances they are merely symbolic and grotesque.
In the same scene, some actors may be somewhat conventionally attired, while others may wear unbelievably fantastic costumes—a peculiarity which is accepted as quite natural in Kabuki.
What is the cause of these oddities? One of the principal reasons for the fantastic and imaginative costumes—especially those of samurai and noble classes, since imitation of their dress on the stage was proscribed by law—was that luxurious display of rich materials in Kabuki was strictly banned by the feudal government, so that ingenious methods had to be found to make the costumes theatrical and representative of important personages through color, pattern, and design.
Second, the costumes fulfilled the public's love of glamor, for Kabuki originated among and for the unaffected townsmen and the nouveau-riche merchants. Consequently, not only the simple, emotional stories of the plays