the intricate history and background of their special roles and the costumes that have been worn by them and their predecessors.
I also owe a special debt of gratitude to my teachers, whom I commissioned during a number of years to give me a series of personal lectures from Japanese documentary and other sources to supplement my academic knowledge of Kabuki.
Mr. Akira Sōma, painter, scholar, authority on Kabuki costumes, and son of the noted poet Gyofū Sōma, was an inspiring teacher and a perceptive artist who sketched and painted the majority of the detailed illustrations in this book.
Mr. Gakō Ōta, artist and adviser to the Meiji-za (theater) in Tokyo, instructed me on all forms of Japanese theater arts covering the past thirteen hundred years or more. He was the source of the information given in the chapter on kumadori, a subject to which he has devoted more than thirty years of study. The illustrations for kumadori are his, as well as some of those for costumes.
Mr. Yasuji Toita, a leading Kabuki critic and author, fascinatingly filled in the missing links in my Kabuki education. I have great admiration for this gentleman, who was very hesitant about taking a foreign woman for a pupil, who was uneasy at the first lectures, but who finally accepted me as a friend and an enthusiast of the theater he knows so well.
To other close and dear friends I owe much for their interest, help, and suggestions. It is a matter of deep regret that one of them will never read this acknowledgment of indebtedness. I owe much to Mrs. K. (Mitsuko) Tamura, who passed away in January 1963, for introducing me to the backstage of the Kabuki. She was my frequent companion at the theater, and it was she who translated into English many of the titles of Japanese plays mentioned in this book.
My utmost gratitude goes to Mrs. Tadayoshi (Takako) Yamada for her intelligent help during the compilation of the information on Kabuki costumes and for her assistance with many matters which only a true friend could give.
To Mr. Jinkichi Narumo, a fine young dancer in the Fujima school of Onoe Shōroku II (Fujima Kanemon), must go my thanks for opening up the delights of the Japanese dance, for acting as interpreter at Mr. Toita's lectures, and for offering suggestions during the writing of the manuscript which helped to clarify the meaning of certain Kabuki details.
I cannot say enough about the family of the late Mr. Yohei Fujinami III—Mrs. Nobuko Fujinami, her two sons, and daughter-in-law—for their kindness in receiving me on several occasions in their fascinating home, where they patiently explained the finer points of fans and swords.
Especial appreciation goes to Mrs. George (Gladys) Savage of the University of California, Los Angeles, who edited the manuscript for clarity, and to Dr. George Savage of the Theater Arts Department of the university for suggestions in editing. The encouragement and help extended by Mrs. Savage has been invaluable.
There is always one person for whom words are inadequate, and such a person is Mr. Tomoyuki Yamanobe, textile and dyeing authority of the National Museum, Tokyo, and member of the Ministry of Education's Commission for the Protection of Cultural Properties. Mr. Yamanobe attended Mr. Sōma's weekly lectures, eventually translated and interpreted them in a most knowledgeable manner, and finally proofread the finished manuscript of this book. For his assistance in many matters, his continuing enthusiasm, his genuine interest, and his sharing of his seemingly inexhaustible knowledge, I am tremendously indebted.
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
