Spelt ka (song) bu (dance) ki (skill), this traditional form of Japanese theatre is sometimes referred to as Japanese Opera or Ballet. With a history as long as the English Shakespearean tradition, Kabuki is an art form steeped in the traditions of Japanese high culture.

Kabuki's humble beginnings occurred around the year 1600, when Okuni, a Miko (shrine maiden) from Izumo Shrine, began performing dances in the dry riverbeds of the ancient capital, Kyoto. This early form of Kabuki was very different from that which can be seen today; the performances were mainly large ensemble dances performed by women. Okuni's dances attracted great popularity, and soon rival troupes began competing for audiences.

Kabuki of this era was a lower-class attraction (the samurai and nobles would only attend these performances in disguise) frequented by merchants, thieves, beggars and the like. The bawdy nature of these dances and, the prostitution which was inevitably associated with them, led to the banning of women on the stage.

This change has since been seen as one of the most significant in the development of kabuki as an art form, as it shifted the emphasis from display of beauty onto the skill and drama of the play itself. Banning women also had the effect that all women's parts now being played by men. Initially, young men took on these roles...but the prostitution which was inevitably associated with these fresh faced youths led to the banning of all but mature men from the stage.

Thus arose the long and illustrious tradition of the Onnagata (lit. woman-form), serious actors who turned female impersonation into an art form. The stylised interpretation of femininity which they present is asid to be unsurpassable, even by the most feminine of real women.

It is from these humble beginnings that the long tradition kabuki as a high art arose. For more detailed accounts of the history of kabuki, checkout the history page at Kabuki For Everyone or What Is Kabuki?

Kabuki itself is a highly stylised theatrical form, whose speech and movment styles are very distincitve. The sylte of acting is anything but naturalistic, with all motions deliberate and clear; some actors will still perform dances as well. The style of speech is similarly deliberate and cultivated, of kabuki. This, coupled with the fact that many of the scripts for kabuki were written in older forms of Japanese, has lent to the post-war feelings of kabuki as "stuffy" and unfamiliar. However, similar to the resugence in the popularity of Shakespearean theatre in the west, resent decades have seen a "kabuki boom" in Japan.

Another distinctive feature of kabuki is the emphasis on magnificent costumes, makeup and sets. For each main character elaborate costumes and wigs are put together, in collaboration with the actor, to bring out the individual charateristics of the role being portrayed. Kabuki actors also perform with heavily painted faces, in mimicry of Bunraku puppet theatre which at one stage overtook kabuki in popularity. The most memorable kabuki makeup is always the clean white face of an aragoto character with it's bold red markings emphasising the agressive bravery that typifies that character type.

Unlike Noh (theatre traditionally enjoyed by the nobility) with it's supernatural battle scenes and poignant romances, one of the main dramatic focuses of kabuki seems to be the issue of class distinction and the overcoming of class barriers. There is, however, some degree of overlap, as the three dramatic forms, kabuki, noh and bunraku, have influenced each other heavily.