Kabuki!

Sorry it's been a while, I've been doing taxes . . . this has been sitting in my edit box so I might as well post it even though some of the information might not be correct or complete . . . I hope you can enjoy it anyway! This is from when I went to Kabuki Feb. 3rd! I hope you can enjoy it!

 

 Everyone agrees he plays a beautiful woman, don't you think?! :P
This is the younger brother, Shichinosuke, of the Kankuro line who will probably inherit the name after his older brother, Nakamura Kankuro:



Their father was a famous kabuki actor who passed away recently, and consequently, the kabuki name was passed down. You can read about it here: http://japandailypress.com/kabuki-star-nakamura-kanzaburo-dies-at-age-57-after-battle-with-cancer-0519339 \
This show was the beginning with the new Kankuro (pictured above).

The meaning of kabuki: "ka" (歌) means music, "bu" (舞) means dance and "ki" means play (伎). Even though it sounds as if the actors are speaking, really they are "singing" although it's much different than Western singing, and the timing is also very different. There's a storyteller who is accompanied by a shamisen player (Japanese guitar player) which is also in this unusual musical timing. The players will also react according to the playing at times, posing or dancing accordingly. In addition, there are members of the crowd who are professional "callers." Kabuki has people in the audience who call out to the actors so that the crowd gets more excited and focuses more deeply when the actor is about to do something important. It also helps the actors to do a bigger act because of the encouragement.
Anyway, here are some pictures:



This is the stage, the crest in the middle is the family crest of Kankuro. That's the family name of the recently deceased famous kabuki player. His son is now taking over and this year's performance was the first where his son took over the family name. Kabuki actors pass down their names and if you don't have a famous kabuki family name, you can never be a main actor in the plays. This is the curtain before the performance. I didn't sit here, but I wasn't allowed to take pictures during the show so I took pictures before sitting.

This is the hanamichi, or flower path where the actors are introduced during the play. They come out from a curtain:



I'm not sure why it's sideways, but it won't let me turn it . . .

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!