Izumo no Okuni: Mother of an all-male performing art

Kabuki is a Japanese art form that either captivates or repels. There are few who are neutral about this performing art. I would give a more nuanced answer for my own personal position. The majority of kabuki today is performed by performers associated with one major company. And that company has believed in the recent past that kabuki as an art form must be maintained in a "pure" state, nearly identical to how it was performed during its heyday during the Edo era (approx. 1603 to 1868). Those familiar with Shakespeare might find some similar issues. Shakespeare is actually a great playwright and author, but sticking tightly to the language and settings of late 1500s and early 1600s England means a lot of audience members are not going to understand.

Izumo no Okuni was born in the province of Izumo in approximately 1578, the daughter of a blacksmith. Her family lived near Izumo Grand Shrine, and several of her female family members had served the shrine as Miko shrine maidens. Okuni also served as a miko, and at some point she was sent to Kyoto to perform and essentially busk for money for the shrine. Okuni and the others began performing in the dry riverbed of the Kamo river in Kyoto in 1603, the same year as the Battle of Sekigahara marked the end of the warring states period and the ascendency of the Tokugawa clan to the position of shogun, kicking off nationwide peace for more than two centuries. Her performances quickly strayed from the official playlist to performances that incorporated seduction and humor. She was eventually summoned to return to Izumo, but she refused, sending money, but not returning.

She formed a troupe of performers recruited from outcasts, including prostitutes and other fringe characters. Okuni was the director, producer, dance choreographer, and pretty much everything else, whipping this motley crew into a skilled group of performers. Okuni's spirited performances involved lively music, dance, and risqué humor, capturing the hearts of the masses in Kyoto.

Okuni's group of performers were exclusively female, so all roles were played by women, including male characters. One of Okuni's most popular performances was centered around the story of Nagoya Sansaburo, with Okuni herself playing the male samurai, who was purported to be a great lover. He had lived contemporaneously with Okuni, and some felt that Okuni's performance had an inside perspective that indicated that Okuni and Sansaburo had been intimately familiar, although the evidence supporting that is far from conclusive.

The final definitive record we have of Okuni is performing at Edo Castle in 1607. After that, she disappears. Kabuki continues, but it grew increasingly suggestive and linked with prostitution. In 1629, kabuki with female performers was banned by the shogunate for being corrupting to general morals. The demand for kabuki continued though, first met by young men called wakashu. However this quickly devolved into more debauchery, and kabuki was restricted only to adult male performers for all roles, which is the current state.

What happened to Okuni is a subject of much conjecture. There are two graves that claim to hold the remains of Okuni, one in Izumo, and one at Daitoku-ji temple in Kyoto. Okuni may have died in 1613, 1644, or 1658, at the age of 41, 72, or 86, respectively.

Kabuki remains regularly performed in Japan. In 2018, the most recent year for which statistics could be found, 212,000 people attended kabuki performances, which was more than Bunraku, Noh, and Gagaku combined. While the overall attendance for kabuki is trending down, there are innovators working to update kabuki for modern audiences.