A kimono belt.

In Japanese: 帯

Kabuki dramas dealing with the tragic couple of Ôsaka, the greengrocer Hanbei and his wife Ochiyo. The most famous ones are "Shinjû Yoi Gôshin" and "Yaoya no Kondate".

In Japanese: お千代半兵衛物

A spindle of thread.

In Japanese: 苧環

The big stage props, like all the elements creating the scenery: buildings, trees, rocks, mountains, fields, ...

In Japanese: 大道具

A sacred holy sand, which is used in doshakaji, a practice of kômyô shingon (the Mantra of Light) by the Shingon branch of Buddhism.

In Japanese: お土砂 / 御土砂

The Ogasawara clan was a Japanese samurai clan, which descended from an important branch of the Genji. The Ogasawara acted as governors of the Shinano province in the medieval period and as daimyô of territories on Kyûshû during the Edo period [more details]. Their succession troubles at the beginning of the 1800s became the main theme of some Kabuki dramas, including the famous "Ogasawara Sôdô".

In Japanese: 小笠原氏

Kabuki dramas dealing with Oguri Hangan and his betrothed Princess Terute.

In Japanese: 小栗判官物

The name of the village, where Akechi Mitsuhide was killed after he assassinated the warlord Oda Nobunaga and tried to seize control of Japan. The defeated Mitsuhide was treacherously speared to death by the bandit, who was hidden in a bamboo grove.

In Japanese: 小栗栖

The nickname of the Tsuyu Tenjinsha shrine in Ôsaka.

In Japanese: お初天神

Kabuki dramas dealing with the troubles within a great daimyô's household.

In Japanese: お家物

High-ranking courtesan.

In Japanese: 花魁

A full house (for a Kabuki theater).

In Japanese: 大入

A hired thief-catcher, police confidential informant or police lookout during the Edo period. They were usually from the lowest social classes and often former outlaws who served the police to avoid punishment or even execution. Some of them were also used by the police as torturer in the Edo jails.

In Japanese: 岡っ引

A geisha house. The place where Geisha live, not the place where they meet their customers (ageya).

In Japanese: 置屋

A popular Japanese speciality originating from both Hiroshima and Ôsaka, made from flour, water, eggs and cabbage, with a special sauce on top of it. It means "cook what you like" and is sometimes nicknamed the "Japanese pizza" by foreigners.

In Japanese: 御好み焼

It literally means "honourable wife" and is used for the wife of a daimyô. An okugata was the key to many successful power struggles within or outside the clan and played an important part in strengthening a daimyô's grip on his territory.

In Japanese: 奥方

Traditional Japanese amulet, purchased in temples or shrines and supposed to protect the bearer from any kind of catastrophes or devilries. In Kabuki, the omamori is always used by characters to identify some unknown relatives: a classic pattern is a story in which a brother and a sister, who received after birth the same omamori, were separated by tragic events hitting their family and who finally meet again 20 years later, in either a bordello or a Lord mansion, falling in love each other. It goes without saying that in the course of events, one will find the other's omamori and realize his/her true identity.

In Japanese: 御守り

A series of plays based on a real event: in 1737, the warrior Hayada Hachiemon, from Satsuma, killed several people in an Ôsaka bath-house named Sakura, including the bath-house girl (yuna) Kikuno, whom he loved but was already engaged with a man named Sen'ya Zengobei. This sad story was dramatized in several different plays with different names for the three main characters. The girl was named not only Kikuno but also Sakuraya Oman or Koman. The killer was either Katsuma Gengobei or Satsuma Gengobei. The girl's lover was Sasano Sangobei or Sasanoya Sangorô. The oman-gengobeimono are the plays dealing with this story; Namiki Gohei I's "Godairiki Koi no Fûjime", Tsuruya Namboku IV's "Kamikakete Sango Taisetsu" and Oka Onitarô's "Imayô Satsuma Uta" are the main oman-gengobeimono in the current Kabuki repertoire.

In Japanese: おまん源五兵衛物

Make one's debut on stage. First stage appearance for a child actor, who is introduced at a very young age to the audience. He does not receive any stage name and sometimes does not even play any role. This is also the occasion to gather all the actors belonging to his family.

In Japanese: お目見得

Old province, which corresponds grosso modo to the current prefecture of Shiga.

In Japanese: 近江

The Eight Views of Ômi. This is a conventional set of outstanding landscape views around Lake Biwa in the Ômi province, portrayed for centuries by poets, painters or illustrators. These 8 landscapes are also the main thema of many Kabuki hengemono:

In Japanese: 近江八景

A sacred portable Shintô shrine, paraded in during a matsuri.

In Japanese: 御神輿

A collection of ten dances, who were the favorites of Ichikawa Danshirô II and Ichikawa En'ô I, gathered by their heir Ichikawa Ennosuke III in November 1975: "Renjishi", Sannin Katawa, "Sumidagawa", "Higaki", "Ninin Tomomori", "Buaku", "Ukiyo Buro", "Tsuri Gitsune", "Cho Hakkai" and "Yugaodana".

In Japanese: 澤十種

Guild name (yagô) for the actors Ichikawa Ennosuke, Ichikawa Danshirô, Ichikawa Ukon, Ichikawa Emisaburô, Ichikawa Emiya, Ichikawa Kamejirô, Ichikawa Danjirô, Ichikawa En'ya and Ichikawa Shun'en.

In Japanese: 澤瀉屋

The surface, the face, the front side. A Kabuki theater is divided into two different worlds (spaces) by the stage hikimaku, the ura and the omote; the omote is the audience side.

In Japanese: 表

A Kabuki theater staff working in the omote space of the theater; it can be somebody in charge of welcoming the audience, selling tickets or programmes, an accountant, ... Any job directly related to the business.

In Japanese: 表方

Synonymous with jômon.

In Japanese: 表紋

A farewell performance done by a Kamigata actor, who is about to leave Edo and goes back to his native land, at the end of his season in an Edo theater (usually in September or October).

In Japanese: お名残狂言

An ogre; a devil; a demon

In Japanese: 鬼

The troubles of Ônin or the Ônin war. An absurd succession war that destroyed completely the Imperial Capital Kyôto between 1467 and 1477. The Shôgun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, who did not really like to exercice power and had nobody to succeed him, adopted in 1464 his brother Ashikaga Yoshimi, who lived in a Buddhist hermitage, far from the Shogunate administration. The succession was questioned following the unexpected birth of a son for Yoshimasa. He decided not to honour the promises he made to Yoshimi, for the benefit of his son. Yoshimi called to Lord Hosokawa Katsumoto for help. This warlord occupied the Eastern hills of Kyôto with 100,000 warriors. Yoshimasa received the support of the "Red Monk" Yamana Sôzen Mochitoyo (Katsumoto's father-in-law), who brought an army of 90,000 soldiers to the Western hills of Kyôto. This long war, without any decisive battle but plenty of skirmishes, was a trench warfare, whose sole noteworthy events were the frequent reversal of alliances. The two warlords died in 1473. Yoshimasa finally retired and gave the shogounal sovereignty to his son. Yoshimi also retired definitively in the Enryakuji Temple. None of these events had any impact on the war, which went on in the ruins of Kyôto without purpose and strategy. In December 1477, the Yamana troops suddenly broke camp and left Kyôto, bringing the Ônin war to an end. Most Japanese historians consider 1467 as the end of the Muromachi Era and the beginning of the Civil War Era (1467~1603).

In Japanese: 応仁乱

"A woman of warrior rank, or a woman of warlike spirit, capable of fighting with a man." (Charles J. Dunn and Torigoe Bunzô in "The Actors' Analects")

In Japanese: 女武道

A female otokodate. In Kabuki, the onna date is the parody of the familiar male hero turned into a female counterpart.

In Japanese: 女伊達

A male actor who plays female roles in Kabuki; a female-impersonator (also called oyama).

In Japanese: 女方 (女形)

Female senior retainer.

In Japanese: 女家老

A troupe created after the death of the great star Onoe Kikugorô VI by his stage fellows Onoe Shôroku II, Ichikawa Omezô IV, Onoe Baikô VII and Bandô Hikosaburô VII. The first program was staged in October 1949. The troupe goals were both to keep late Onoe Kikugorô VI's memory alive and to focus on the creation of new dramas like the famous Kabuki adaptation in 1951 of the novel "Genji Monogatari", starring Ichikawa Ebizô IX in the leading role of Hikaru-no-Kimi. The troupe still exists and occasionally gives de luxe performances, mainly at the Shimbashi Embujô. The zagashira is nowadays Onoe Kikugorô.

In Japanese: 尾上菊五郎劇団

The Onoe-ryû is a school of Buyô, which was established by Onoe Kikugorô VI in 1948. He was the first headmaster of the Onoe-ryû. The same year, Onoe Kikunojô I, one of Onoe Kikugorô VI's students, was appointed as the second headmaster and the school's first performance took place at Shimbashi Embujô in June 1948. When Onoe Kikunojô I died the 13th of August 1964, Onoe Kikunojô II was appointed as 3rd headmaster.

In Japanese: 尾上流

Ono no Komachi (c.825~c.900) was a famous Japanese poet of the early Heian period. She was one of the six Rokkasen [more details].

In Japanese: 小野小町

Ono no Michikaze (894~966), commonly called Ono no Tôfû, was a Japanese calligrapher of the Heian period [more details].

In Japanese: 小野道風

Style and techniques used by an actor portraying an angry female ghost.

In Japanese: 怨霊事

Ôoka Seidan are the stories about the famous cases solved by the Edo magistrate Ôoka Echizen-no-Kami Tadasuke (1677~1751), who had the reputation to be both sagacious and benevolent in his rulings, to find innovative ways of establishing the truth of a case, to be fair to the poor, and also to find sometimes bizarre ways of making the punishment fit the crime. As his fame spread after his death in 1751, stories about his exploits were compiled into an anthology known as the "Ôoka Seidan" ("Famous Cases of Ôoka"), which was dramatized in several Kabuki dramas and, from the 1970s, made into popular television series.

In Japanese: 大岡政談

An ôoka-seidanmono is a Kabuki drama based on an Ôoka Seidan.

In Japanese: 大岡政談物

Large trapdoor located in the center of the stage and used to lift big structures like ôdôgu.

In Japanese: 大セリ

The major licensed theaters during the Edo period (1603~1868). From Meiji, it meant the major league of Kabuki actors, performing in the big theaters, compared to the minor league of Kabuki actors (koshibai). This expression was used up to the complete disappearance of koshibai.

In Japanese: 大芝居

Kabuki dramas or dances dealing with the tragic couple of lovers Yaoya Oshichi and the temple page Kichisaburô.

In Japanese: お七吉三物

A mandarin duck. Another possible reading is en'ô. Used also in Japanese to describe a a happily-married couple.

In Japanese: 鴛鴦

Old province, which was made up of the current prefectures of Fukushima, Miyagi, Aomori, Iwate and a part of Akita.

In Japanese: 奥州

Kabuki dramas dealing with the tragic couple of Ôsaka lovers Osome and Hisamatsu.

In Japanese: お染久松物

The front gate of a castle.

In Japanese: 大手

A gallant and chivalrous man. Otokodate were gangs of tough and fearless commoners originally formed to protect ordinary townspeople against the abuses of some lawless low-ranking samurai groups, probably more in fiction than reality, and who came to have more in common with protection rackets than anything else. These Robin Hood look-alike figures, who made a living with gambling, were as reckless as their ennemies. They were the ancestors of nowadays yakuza (Japanese mafia). They became the heroes of the commoners because they were said to stick up for the little ones and protect the merchants neighborhoods from the injustices of the powerful. Otokodate roles appealed a lot the Edo Kabuki audience. The most famous one is Sukeroku.

In Japanese: 男伊達

Guild name (yagô) for the actors Onoe Kikugorô, Onoe Kikunosuke, Onoe Tatsunosuke, Onoe Ukon, Bandô Hikosaburô, Bandô Takesaburô, Bandô Shinsha, Onoe Matsusuke, Bandô Kamesaburô, Bandô Kametoshi and Onoe Matsuya [more details].

In Japanese: 音羽屋

Popular Japanese folk pictures. These paintings were dubbed ôtsue after their popularity in the city of Ôtsu (Shiga) around the 17th century. [more details].

In Japanese: 大津絵

Kabuki dramas dealing with the tragic couple of Ôsaka lovers Otsuma and Hachirobei. The most famous one is "Unagidani".

In Japanese: お妻八郎兵衛物

An imperial palace; a place where the emperor lives and "rules".

In Japanese: 大内

An actor who plays old men roles in Kabuki (fukeyaku).

In Japanese: 親仁方

A school of narrative music created in Edo by Ôzatsuma Shuzendayû I during the first years of the Kyôhô era. This style was finally absorbed at the beginning of the Meiji era into Nagauta. This lively and bombastic style is still used in Kabuki, especially for the dramas in the aragoto style like "Shibaraku".

In Japanese: 大薩摩

A famous pleasure quarter in Kyôto.

In Japanese: 先斗町

Traditional Japanese comic storytelling.

In Japanese: 落語

Traditional Japanese comic storyteller.

In Japanese: 落語家

Rangiku is the beautiful spreading chrysanthemum. It is a famous pattern used on kimono [visuals].

In Japanese: 乱菊

Reigenki are Buddhist tales relating miracles. Reigenkimono are Kabuki dramas whose one of the highlights is a Buddhist miracle. The two most famous examples are "Hakone Reigen Izari no Adauchi" and "Tsubosaka Reigenki".

In Japanese: 霊験記物

Cold sake; sake intended to be drunk chilled.

In Japanese: 冷酒

Eleven priests, called rengyôshû, pray for nation's prosperity and world peace during the shunie rituals at the Tôdaiji.

In Japanese: 練行衆

The Buddhist name of the warrior Kumagai Jirô Naozane.

In Japanese: 蓮生

Rôben (689~773), also known as Ryôben, was a Japanese Kegon priest, a renowned eighth-century Buddhist abbot presiding over the Tôdaiji temple in Nara.

In Japanese: 良弁

"The Six Immortal Poets". Six outstanding poets of the 9th century, who were designated by Ki no Tsurayuki in the preface of Kokinshû, the first imperial anthology compiled in 905. These poets were Ariwara no Narihira, Sôjô Henjô, Kisen, Ôtomo no Kuronushi, Bun'ya no Yasuhide and Ono no Komachi (the only woman in this group).

In Japanese: 六歌仙

Masterless samurai.

In Japanese: 浪人

The humble house of a rônin.

In Japanese: 浪宅

Kabuki technique used for a spectacular, rapid-paced, gesticulaive exit on the hanamichi. Roppô means literally "six directions" (North, South, East, West, Sky, Earth). There are several types of roppô: tobi roppô (the flying roppô used by Umeômaru in "Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami"), kitsune roppô (the fox roppô used by the fox Genkurô in "Yoshitsune Sembon Zakura"), katate roppô (the single-handed roppô used by Benkei in "Kanjinchô").

In Japanese: 六法

A famous a unit of currency in the Edo period. 1 ryô was a gold piece, which could be used to purchase up to 140 kilogrammes of rice. 1 ryô would be equivalent to 60,000~80,000 JPY (check a currency converter website to find the equivalent in EUR or USD).

In Japanese: 両