Ichikawa Danjūrō

The opening of Japan to the West in 1868 affected Kabuki and the rest of the country profoundly. Just when it thought it was free from government restrictions; Kabuki was faced with the challenge to adapt to the changing world. Actors like Ichikawa Danjuro IX tried to raise the

Although it started out as just another type of dance, Kabuki eventually emerged into an important and fascinating theatre where elaborate makeup and costumes combined to put on entertaining performances for audiences throughout the centuries. Kabuki started out as a style of dance in the early sixteenth century, also known as the Edo period. Kabuki is an exclusive type of theater in which only males can act on stage. For over 400 years, women have only been allowed in the audience and not on stage

In the following essay I will illustrate the story of Kabuki by discussing, the drama and the performance background of Japanese theatre. At first, Kabuki was the theatrical art that developed during the Tokugawa period between 1600 and 1868. However, Kabuki is one of the four great art forms of Japanese theatre and is more accurately considered as the ' 'Traditional stage art of Japan ' ', (Inoura and Kawatake 2006, p. 133). In the early 17th century, the origins of Kabuki were in the songs and