Jennifer M.

Yoo May 2011 Film & Theater Shes the Man: Performing Gender in Kabuki and Takarazuka through Kata Of all the theatre forms in the world, there are few as mystifying and fascinating as those found in Japan, especially the highly stylized Kabuki and Takarazuka. What is it about the Kabuki and Takarazuka aesthetics that attract their respective audiences? More than the music, the dancing, the romance, or the lavish spectacle, it is the male-role specializing otokoyaku in the all-female Takarazuka theatre and the female-role specializing onnagata in the all-male Kabuki theatre that draws spectators. Both of these actors demonstrate that gender is not connected to ones sex, but is a performance. A performance which requires the learning of a highly stylized set of patterns known as kata, by which the onnagata in Kabuki and the otokoyaku in Takarazuka learn to exude femininity and masculinity respectively, as well as become more elegant, graceful, and attractive than a real woman or man ever could. This in turn affects the audiences perception of gender for both male and female spectators and demonstrates the cultural difference between Japan and the West when defining femininity and masculinity. Kata, which literally means form or pattern, are what dictate the acting and production of all forms of Japanes theatre, although the style of kata differs depending on the form of theatre. Such set forms or patterns range from an actors dialogue and voice, to physical movements of the hands, feed, and neck, to appearance such as makeup, costumes and hairdressing. The kata found in Kabuki, especially those for the onnagata, are meticulous and are learned through diligent practice and repitition. The highly sophisticated movements of the onnagata are regarded as the most difficult and painful skills to acquire in Kabuki. Although the onnagata exude feminine charm and beauty in a seemingly effortless fashion, those graceful poses, according to Nakamura Matazo, a contemporary Kabuki actor, are excruciating to

perform. (Nakamura 14) And unlike his male-role acting counterpart, an onnagata also has to learn how to disguise his tall physique and hide his large hands. Yoshizawa Ayame, a prominent figure in the history of the onnagata, brought the art of performing onnagata to perfection in the eighteenth century. According to Ayames teachings, an onnagata should not only continue to have the feelings of an onnagata offstage in the dressing room but that he should also extend it to his real life and live like a woman, conceal the fact that he is married, and take care not to eat in a mannish fashion. It is the combination of such highly stylized acts and conventions that make an onnagatas performance convincing. (Fukuoka 53, 61-62) An onnagata can pass as a woman effortlessly because he has spent his whole life studying the art. The tecnique of the onnagata is a clear illustration that femininity can be an attribute of the male body, and that a man can appropriate those cultural constructs which are usually associated with the female body. The kata developed by the onnagata demonstrate that the attraction of the onnagata has little to do with the anatomical body of the actor, and has everything to do with the way he performs. If gender is performance, one wonders on the Kabuki stage who would perform femininity better, men or women. To this, Yoshizawa Ayame replied, If an actress were to appear on the stage, she could not express ideal feminine beauty, for she would rely only on the exploitation of her physical characteristics, and therefore not express the synthetic ideal. The ideal woman can be expressed only by an actor. (Ernst 195) In Kabuki, kata are much more particular because the onnagata are emulating a particular kind of woman that carries through all the female characters. It has been observed by scholars that during the formative stage of the creation of the onnagata, actors were tempted to imitate women as much as possible, but when the art of onnagata performance was finally brought to a set pattern during the eighteenth century under the teachings of Ayame, importance was given to the aesthetic idealizations of femininity and not so much to mimicry. (Fujita & Shapiro 29)

Like the onnagata, the otokoyaku does not represent a real man, but an idealized, beautiful man, one without dirt, sweat, roughness and a need to dominate. Her followers see the otokoyaku as a version of this kind of androgynous, safe beauty rarely found in real men. This Takarazuka aesthetic finds a parallel in other popular culture media oriented toward teenage girls, as exemplified by the androgynous bishounen or pretty boy manga characters with their long legs and large, pensive eyes with heavy lashes. However being less definably masculine in appearance does not mean these men in the Takarazuka are less masculine in action, for all of them demonstrate a strong confidence and charisma as well as typically martial skill. It does not appear, however, that the exaggerated femininity of Takarazuka female-role players, musumeyaku, make them preferable to real women, as they are often portrayed as merely decorative foils for the otokoyaku. And like the actors training in Kabuki, the students of Takarazuka are also trained by memorizing kata. In this way, the otokoyaku learn to perform male roles. Though some kata for playing men come directly from Kabuki, the characteristics that make up the model otokoyaku role are predominantly non-Japanese, and thus requires the use of different behavioral kata. In addition to the kata that dictate movements, posture, and use of the voice which they learn from their seniors within the company, because it is their individual responsibility to produce the ideal man that appeals to their fans, the otokoyaku also imitate and create kata from the behavior they observe in Japanese or Western film and stage actors, or even in the men around them. (Robertson 12-13) Costuming also demonstrates how complex the kata for Takarazuka-style masculinity can be. Like the onnagata, the female body of the otokoyaku must be disguised for her to play her role convincingly. But rather than just trying to look like a man, the otokoyaku present a certain kind of man: the idealized, androgynous, pretty boy or bishounen. This bishounen image is found in nearly all of the male characters in the Takarazuka and is considered one a key kata for physical appearance taught to otokoyaku, the exception being in the case of older

men characters, who are often portrayed as comical to make them less threatening. To emphasize their long legs, otokoyaku wear large high heels and tight-fitting high-waisted trousers. In addition to providing extra height, the high heels serve to remind the spectator that the otokoyaku is not a man, but an idealization of one, with attractive legs that appear longer than those of typical Japanese men. Similarly, although otokoyaku thicken and darken their eyebrows and add sideburns and even fake moustaches when appropriate to a role, they confound these signs of masculinity with long eyelashes and heavy eyeshadow (Robertson 1214). To a Westerner this sort of makeup generally spells femininity, but to a spectator of Takarazuka, as well as a general Japanese, this is not the case. Thus what are defined as masculine or feminine traits are not universal, but require cultural context. Interesting, however, is that a Western model of masculinity, epitomized by the dandy gentleman in an evening suit, has been chosen for the otokoyaku rather than a Japanese model. This is perhaps largely due to the majority of Takarazuka productions being Western in origin, but even when the production is Japanese and requires the wearing of a kimono and the assumption of a Japanese role, the otokoyaku does not change her kata and maintains the same image of a confident, charismatic and poised gentleman. Even the simplest of mannerisms that easily convey a different culture are not observed. Nobles accept sake cups as if they were wine goblets and regard each other as if they were in a grand Western ballroom. Samurai, rather than assume the formal seiza bowing position when addressing their lord, will drop to one knee like a European knight. (Satomi Hakkenden 2003) One may view this

preference as evidence that both the performers and their audience perceive Japanese men to be less masculine than Western men because of their comparatively slight build and less aggressive mannerisms. However, rather than because they are stronger markers of masculinity, it is more because of their markers of agency that the otokoyaku favor Westernstyle kata.

The Takarazuka theatre often offers up images of release from oppressive genderbound roles. For example, the hit series of Takarazuka productions largely responsible for the theatres rise in popularity in the mid-seventies, The Rose of Versailles, demonstrated the powerful attraction of being able to cross the gender barrier, and in so doing becoming empowered. In part two of the series, Oscar and Andre, Oscar, a girl brought up as a boy, is the object of the affections of her childhood friend, Andre. On the eve of the French Revolution, Oscars father decides it is time for Oscar to revert to being a woman and presents her with a prospective husband. Oscar, however, rebels for she wants to fight in the revolution. Believing that he will lose Oscar to another man, Andre opts to poison them both. But when Oscar begs him to always stay by her side, Andre has second thoughts and slaps the poisoned wine out of her hand. The night before they go off to battle, Oscar offers herself to Andre, urging him to make her his wife for one night. (Oscar and Andre 2001) For some, this scene represents a possibility for women to take the lead in a relationship with a man, something considered by some Japanese women to be impossible in real life. Rose of Versailles even grants women the capacity for aggression as demonstrated by Oscar going off to fight a war. However, the underiding message of the play is that for a woman to be able to act, or demonstrate agency, she must dress and behave like a man. Japanese women do not only favor the cross-gender performance in Takarazuka; the onnagata of Kabuki are also a big draw for women spectators. And like the otokoyaku, the onnagata also represents the ideal woman for she demonstrates agency, albeit within the constructs of her role as a woman. Thus Kabuki influenced how women saw themselves and interpreted their role in society. At the same time, one may also argue that the appeal of the onnagata is also due to the imagined feminized, sensitive man underneath the makeup and costume. The onnagata, a man who presents himself as and puts himself in the place of a woman, albeit an idealized woman, could have been regarded as safer, more affirming than the male lead or ordinary males in daily life. However, unlike how the otokoyaku served as a model

for her fellow women spectators, the onnagata does not appear to have been a model for the male audience in Kabuki, at least not when it was most prominent historically during the Edo period. Recently, however, there has been a detectable trend of the Japanese male youth becoming more what the Westerner would define as feminine, from wearing makeup and jewelry, styling their hair and observing certain fashion trends to picking up linguistic mannerisms and physical movement styles. But as was pointed out earlier in this paper, perceptions of femininity and masculinity vary depending on cultural context. So, in the case of Japan, rather than being a trend of Japanese men becoming more feminine, it can be interpreted that the combined perceptions of gender of both Takarazuka and Kabuki theatre have largely affected what Japan views to be attractive in both men and women.

Works Cited and/or Used as Reference:

Ernst, Earle. The Kabuki Theatre. New York: Oxford University Press, 1956. Fujita Minoru & Michael Shapiro (Edit.) Transvestism and the Onnagata Traditions in Shakespeare and Kabuki. Kent: Global Oriental, 2006. Fukuoka Yagoshiro. The Actors Analects. Trans. Charles J. Dunn & Bunzo Torigoe, Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1969. Leiter, Samuel L. (Edit.) A Kabuki Reader. New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 2002. Nakamura, Matazo. Kabuki Backstage, Onstage: An Actors Life. Trans. Mark Oshima, Tokyo & New York: Kodansha, 1990. Robertson, Jennifer. Takarazuka: Sexual Politics and Popular Culture in Modern Japan. Berkely & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1998. The Rose of Versaille: Oscar and Andre. Takarazuka Star Troupe. 2001. DVD. Satomi Hakkenden: Legend of the Eight Dog Samurai. Takarazuka Cosmos Troupe. 2003. DVD.