Exploring Onnagata Kabuki in Japanese Theatre By: Priscilla Chang

Performing Femininity: Exploring Onnagata Kabuki In Japanese Theatre By: Priscilla Chang About the author: Priscilla Chang is a student currently in her fourth year at the University of Guelph majoring in History and minoring in Museum Studies. Her paper, “Performing Femininity: Exploring Onnagata Kabuki in Japanese Theatre”, challenges the ways in which gender was (and is still) performed in Japan and how the onnagata viewed these roles while performing them both on and off stage. 3 Kabuki theatre was one of the first theatre forms in Japan that flourished in the Tokugawa period from 1603-1868.1 Kabuki had initially been an inclusive art that involved both men and women performing together on stage. Theatre acting was perceived as an immoral practice by the Japanese government and it was often linked with prostitution, so women, or the onna kabuki, were banned from performing onstage in 1629. The popularity of the onna kabuki, was soon taken over by wakashu - young boys who took the place of women to play the female roles. Soon, this, too, was banned in 1652, as the wakashu were also at risk for being involved in prostitution. With the ban on both women and young boys to fulfill female roles, there was no choice but to have mature male actors play the roles of females, the onnagata. They fulfilled female roles and performed dancing, singing and acting as a new and popular art form in kabuki theatre.2 Today, kabuki is known as a traditional art form, characterized by its all-male actors, elaborate makeup, and colourful costumes. Kabuki is an experiential form of theatre, whereby the audience and the actors are intimately connected by music, song and dance. This essay will explore the ways in which the onnagata embodied these female roles. Through theatrical performance, the onnagata created what Japanese society at the time viewed as the ideal woman. As a result, they were able to gain significant approval and recognition from Japanese society through moral codes and from their male and female patrons. This essay will also explore others who engaged in performing femininity such as the performers in Chinese opera, the nandan, as well as examine the onnagata in relation to androgyny and gender. Due to the influence of Confucian nationalism in Japan, women were encouraged to act in a way that operated within the Confucian patriarchal system and thus were excluded from performing onstage.3 The famous onnagata, Yoshizawa Ayame I (1673- 1729), encouraged this practice in the onnagata classic, The Words of Ayame.4 Furthermore, the onnagata inadvertently created a fictitious image of what femininity should be by conforming to ideas for women perpetuated by patriarchal ideas that were transferred to kabuki theatre. Chinese opera with the nandan performers also replicated a similar structure of how to play a female role. Finally, it is also important to note that while the onnagata did encourage gender roles, kabuki theatre also allowed onnagata to explore gender identity in the female roles that they performed. 1 Jonah Salz, A History of Japanese Theater (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016), 102. 2 Maki Moringa, “The Gender of Onnagata as the Imitating Imitated: Its Historicity, Performativity, and Involvement in the Circulation of Femininity,” positions 10, no. 2 (May 2002): 247. 3 Salz, A History of Japanese Theater, 113. 4 Minoru Fujita and Michael Shapiro, Transvestism and the Onnagata Traditions in Shakespeare and Kabuki (Folkestone, Kent, UK: Global Oriental, 2006), 71-72. 4 Confucianism is one of the most influential forms of religion that spread quickly throughout Asian countries such as China, Korea, and Japan in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.5 Thus, certain core beliefs and philosophies were adopted from Confucianism and were prevalent throughout the Tokugawa era in Japanese history, emphasizing moral conduct above all else. It is thought in Confucianism, that morality is not a characteristic that humans are gifted with, rather it is cultivated through the leadership of good models and teachers.6 In the Tokugawa period (1603-1868), educators taught Confucianism through teachers called the jusha, who were often employed by samurai as well as regional lords to teach their children. The printing press in this period was also had an influential part to play in spreading Confucian ideas in Japan. Even remote villages that were located far away from the Edo capital were taught these values through teaching the young and local schools.7 Although Confucianism promoted core values that were shaped around morality and good behavior, they did not look kindly upon women. The Neo-Confucianist Kaibara Ekken (1643-1714) wrote extensively on moral codes as well as treatises that included proper conduct for children, warriors and lords, as well as women. His treatise for women entitled, Greater Learning for Women [Onna Daigaku] instructed women on how to act with decorum and adhere to moral codes and values. The Way of the woman is to obey her man. In her dealings with her husband, both the expression of her countenance and the style of her address should be courteous, humble, and conciliatory, never peevish and intractable, never rude or arrogant - that should be a woman’s first and principal care.8 Many women during the Tokugawa period were familiar with Kaibara’s teachings. Those values defined a woman’s place in society as well as created a role that women had to fill. Kabuki began in 1603, when a former shrine priestess named Okuni (1572-1620) created a type of performance that used elements of song and dance to embellish her storytelling.9 Okuni quickly utilized her storytelling abilities by creating stories about popular heroes that would appeal to the 5 Nicole L. Freiner, The Social and Gender Politics of Confucian Nationalism: Women and the Japanese Nation State (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 34. 6 Ibid, 35. 7 Ibid, 46. 8 Kaibara Ekken, “Excerpts From The Great Learning for Women (Onna Daigaku)”, Asia For Educators I Columbia University. http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/japan/ekken_greaterlearning. pdf?menu=1&s=4 (Accessed 16 July, 2019). 9 Yoko Takakuwa, “Performing Marginality: The Place of the Player and of “Woman” in Early Modern Japanese Culture,” New Literary History 27, no. 2 (1996): 214. 5 public’s imagination, dramatizing their life and death to captivate audiences .10 Kabuki often involved both men and women performing onstage, however there were fears from Tokugawa officials thatkabuki actresses’ erotic performances would create rampant prostitution and cause social disorder. Thus, kabuki theatre could only re-open on the condition that grown men take the place of female roles, which led to the creation of the onnagata.11 It can be argued that the reason that women were banned from kabuki stage, was because of the enforcement of Confucian ideals, that put the onnagata in the spotlight. The onnagata did not just fill female roles, they too had certain expectations that they needed to abide by. These expectations are highlighted by the famous onnagata, Yoshizawa Ayame I (1673-1729). In his book, The Words of Ayame, he urges onnagata to mimic women not just onstage but offstage, in their everyday lives in order to perfect their roles. Imitating womanly behavior was vital to the careers of the onnagata; it was important for them to possess the very essence of a woman. According to Ayame, “If [the actor] does not live his life as if he was (sic) a woman, it will not be possible for him to be called a skillful onnagata.”12 Skillful onnagata acted within their female roles to produce a convincing portrayal on stage, as it was the duty of an onnagata to portray a woman with accuracy and authenticity. It was also important, according to Ayame, that onnagata practice behaving like a woman. This meant reflecting the Confucian values of the time, such as abiding by the same social constraints that women had to operate under in accordance to the social order. Ayame states in his book that onnagata, like women, needed to keep their minds chaste, and had to live as women in everyday life.13 Ayame also advised onnagata to avoid anything that women would not do such as making the audiences laugh on purpose, as well as giving the highest priority to chastity even inside the dressing room.14 The code of conduct for onnagata is very similar to the Confucian ideals for women reflected inGreat Learning for Women, in which, onnagata and women alike were to prioritize values of chastity and purity.15 Kaibara Ekken advised that, “a woman must always be on the alert and keep a strict watch over her own conduct.”16 The onnagata had to adhere to the same social constraints that women were placed under in order to perfect their female roles, this was to ensure that onnataga seemed convincing to the audience in these roles. 10 Ibid, 215. 11 Ibid, 215. 12 Frank Episale. “Gender, Tradition, and Culture in Translation: Reading the Onnagata in English.” Asian Theatre Journal 29, no. 1 (2012): 96. 13 Laura Miller and Jan Bardsley, Manners and Mischief: Gender Power and Etiquette in Japan (Berkley: University of California Press, 2011), 54. 14 Ibid, 54. 15 Ibid, 54. 16 Kaibara, “Excerpts From The Great Learning for Women”. 6 The onnagata were also required to mimic women’s body language to further convince the audience of their authenticity, and cater to male patrons through their femininity. Onnagata also specialized in training the mind and body to mimic women’s posture and movements. Ayame reveals that Japanese women often acted a certain way when “faking love”, “When a woman hugs a man while faking love, she will hug him over both his arms, and face sideways.

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