This small screen of racy scenes was best enjoyed while lying on one’s side—in bed. The artist depicts a makeshift theater on the fringe of Kyoto’s pleasure district, with its brothels and courtesans—indeed, he idealizes it with plenty of gold leaf and tidy details. The lead actress is likely the incomparable Izumo no Okuni, whose bawdy performances launched kabuki theater. While the artist would have been paid handsomely for a piece made with such fine skill and materials, he neglected to sign it—perhaps because he didn’t want his name associated with what was then a risqué subject.
Pity the dark-robed man at the bottom right of this screen. He presses his eye against a crack in the wall to get a glimpse of the scene inside. We, on the other hand, have an easy view of the shadow underway.
Izumo no Okuni was famous for her suggestive performances impersonating a samurai warrior. Okuni herself, hair in a top-knot and carrying a long sword, is possibly pictured here at the stage entrance with her sidekick Saruwaka.
In early kabuki shows, women played all the roles, wearing their hair in a top-knot and carrying swords when impersonating a man. That all changed when the shogunate, or military government, banned women from kabuki in 1629 in an attempt to control prostitution.
Music is central to kabuki theater. Stringed *shamisen *help set the mood, while drums add sound effects like footsteps or combat blows.
Many credit the famous actress Okuni with introducing the hanamichi, or "path of flowers," a runway that reaches from the stage through the audience to a door in the rear of the theater, allowing the audience to be part of the action.
Kabuki performances might last all day, so many people would bring a picnic to enjoy with the show. Such long performances led to the term "political kabuki" after World War II, a criticism of Japan's postwar posturing during drawn-out peace negotiations, which included sending kabuki theater tours to the United States in a goodwill gesture.
Four porters wait beside a sedan chair that carried an important person to the show. Kabuki theater was a rare opportunity for social classes to mingle.