Tuesday, February 03, 2009

KABUKI and kimono

I started a research on topic of kabuki thinking of series of artwork on the topic.

First I pulled out some photos I shot yeas ago at a Kabuki performance .

Second, I started my web research about kabuki and theatrical outfit for the performance.

Resources about kabuki on the web :

The best source on the kabuki topic I found on the web is www.kabuki21.com excellently organized and very extensive I am going to research this site more shortly and post my findings. For right now I just want to recommend this source to everybody who is doing research on kabuki especially KABUKI GLOSSARY



other sources :
acording to this source
Kabuki came into existence around 1603 with the arrival in Kyoto of a troupe of dancing girls led by a certain Izumo-no-Okuni, formerly a shrine maiden. Their dances created a sensation and were labelled "kabuki", which at the time meant "unorthodox" or "eccentric". Such troupes of women were subsequently banned as were those of the dancing boys that took their place.



According to Mark Oshima
Originally the word ‘kabuki’ meant something ‘off beat’ or not quite moral and began with colorfully dressed, swaggering ex-samurai, courtesans and other street people in the early Edo period. Today the word is written with characters for ‘song,’ ‘dance,’ and ‘acting.’ These are the key elements of kabuki.