Kabuki

Kabuki is a popular Japanese drama dance and is known as the art of 歌 and 舞. 歌 and 舞 mean art and dance. In other words, Kabuki is known as the art of singing and dancing. A woman named Izumo no Okuni created Kabuki in 1603 in Kyoto. When she started performing a new drama dance style, it caught the Imperial Court's attention.

For the first twenty three years, the people who danced were all women. The clothing was usually elaborate kimonos or other costumes; they also wore stylized makeup that made the actors appear larger than life. Initially the performers were all women, because a performer was usually a woman that was available for prostitution, but starting in 1629, women were banned from dancing in Kabuki, because it seemed to erotic. Men called oyama, meaning female role, started cross-dressing as females so Kabuki could continue. This led to the modern day Kabuki.

Today, Kabuki is very popular; it is one of the most popular traditional dance. Kabuki still entertains people as much as it had four hundred years ago, and now tourists are always expecting to see the amzing dance.