Kabuki makeup

The roles of makeups in Kabuki and our daily lives

Mitsumi Yamamoto

A woman somewhere in Japan woke up early in the morning, washed her face and brushed her teeth and then she started “makeup”. I think many women especially in Japan spend their morning time like this.  Some women want to make their eyes big and bright, others want to make their lips pinky and juicy. Probably there are even women who are sensitive their appearance and want to be exactly like their favorite fashion model. It is true that almost all women have ideal images that they wish to reborn in their minds. “Makeup” is something to make it possible. Kabuki actors also put on makeup, but what are the roles of makeups in Kabuki performance? Is it same as the usual makeups in our daily lives?

Kabuki became gradually popular and rose to a peak during Edo period. Kabuki actors played their performances on the stage from dawn to dusk surrounded by many enthusiastic audiences. The reason why the kabuki makeup was created is hidden in this situation. Have you ever been to musicals, operas or concerts? I am sure that there must be many lighting effects on the stages such as indirect lightings and colorful lightings. Imagine the kabuki performances during Edo period, when there is no lighting apparatus. The only things which worked as current lighting effects were sunlight and candlelight. The audiences could not see the actors’ faces change well in the dim light. Considering this problem, kabuki actors started to put white powders on their face and draw bright red, brown or black lines around their eyes and mouth to make them outstanding. At first, the role of kabuki was making their face clear on the stage with dim lights.

However there is more important role of makeups in kabuki. I found the role of Kabuki makeups in an interview between an interviewer and 市川　染五郎(Ichikawa Somegorou), who is one of the famous kabuki actors .  According to the interview, there was no people who makeups him nor books like instruction manual, so actors put on makeups by themselves. Each role such as hero, bad guy and ghost has each specific form of makeups, but kabuki actors study the features of their faces and the wigs of their roles and make the makeups suitable for their faces. Why do they put makeups by themselves? He says this process is not just finishing makeups, but what is important for him is concentrating on his role in kabuki. He looks at himself in a mirror and changes himself into the person appearing in the story. He can feel as if he went deep into the story’s situation. As he gets into his role, the quality of the kabuki performance should be improved. The process of makeups has played the major role in kabuki performances.

Do you think this role of makeups in kabuki has nothing to do with women’s daily makeups? The reason why most of women in Japan put on makeups when going somewhere might be that they can feel becoming as “a new me” in the process of makeups. The roles of makeups must be big in the women’s daily lives as well as kabuki performance.

 

 

 References

Kabuki no hiroba. Retrieved from

          http://blog.bookpeople.jp/kabuki/oshiete/001.html

Kabuki no ohanashi.　Retrieved from http://ohanashi.edjidai.com/kabuki/html/ess/ess051.html