A horse. "The Kabuki stage horse is a work of art, a splendid structure of wood and velvet borne by two specialist assistants. These assistants have exercised a monopoly for generations and there is very little about the behavior of horses that they do not know and reproduce. Their beasts toss their heads, paw the ground, back away from obstacles and fret at the bit like any thoroughbred. Trotting is a proud specialty and the authors have even seen a gentle canter. The actor who rides such horses must give a tip known as "hay money" (kaibaryô) to the artists if he does not wish to risk an undignified fall - the pleasing tradition persists at least, even if present-day stage discipline militates against any such calculated mishaps" (Aubrey and Giovanna Halford in "The Kabuki Handbook").

In Japanese: 馬

Plum tree/blossom. It is associated to Umeômaru, one of the main characters in the epic drama "Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami".

In Japanese: 梅

Dances or dramas whose leading character is the otokodate Ume no Yoshibei. The most famous ume-no-yoshibeimono in the current Kabuki repertoire is "Suda no Haru Geisha Katagi".

In Japanese: 梅の由兵衛物

Unshû is another name for the province of Izumo (Izumo no Kuni), which grosso modo corresponds to the eastern part of the current Shimane prefecture.

In Japanese: 雲州

"Utazawa is a style of singing with shamisen that comes from the late Edo period. The voice is drawn out and highly ornamented and there is a very subtle relationship between the voice and the shamisen. It began when some samurai and wealthy merchants decided that the popular songs of the time needed to be polished and improved and eventually, this became a separate style." (Source)

The first master of this style was Utazawa Sasamaru, who later took the name of Yamato no Daijô. This school divided itself into two branches, one led by Utazawa Toraemon and the other led by Utazawa Shibakin.

In Japanese:
歌沢 (for the Toraemon branch)
哥沢 (for the Shibakin branch)
うた沢 (when both branches perform together)

The name of a Japanese bird, which calls out its children with the onomatopoeia utô. The children answer with the onomatopoeia yasukata.

In Japanese: 善知鳥

The "gentle style". One important Kabuki acting style, usually opposed to the aragoto style. The father of wagoto was the great Kamigata actor Sakata Tôjûrô. The typical wagoto hero is a young, soft, romantic refined gallant, the heir of a rich family of merchants and deeply in love with the most beautiful courtesan of the Ôsaka pleasure quarter. He has spent all the family fortune in the pleasure quarter or doesn't have enough money to buy back the contract of his lover. At the end of the play, he often has to run away with her lover, committing a beautiful shinjû in order to live happy together in the afterlife. Speech and gesture in wagoto are much more realistic and delicate than in the aragoto style. The two most famous wagoto roles are Fujiya Izaemon and Hiranoya Tokubei in the plays "Kuruwa Bunshô" and "Sonezaki Shinjû". The wagoto style symbolizes the Kamigata Kabuki, whereas the aragoto style is associated to Edo Kabuki.

In Japanese: 和事

One subdivision of tachiyaku: a wagotoshi is an actor specialized in roles in the wagoto style.

In Japanese: 和事師

One subdivision of tachiyaku: wajitsu is a subtle mix of wagotoshi and jitsugotoshi.

In Japanese: 和実

Actor onnagata specialized in young maiden or princess roles.

In Japanese: 若女方

Old province, which grosso modo corresponds to the southern part of the current prefecture of Fukui. It was also called Jakushû.

In Japanese: 若狭

Actors specialized in young adolescent roles.

In Japanese: 若衆方

Dances or dramas whose main characters are Wanya Kyûbei and his lover, the courtesan Matsuyama. Kyûbei, nicknamed Wankyû, is the son of a wealthy Ôsaka drygoods dealer. He spends all his time and family's money in the pleasures quarter and his extravagance has no limit. His parents are so exasperated that they decide to confine him in a room. He escapes and wanders in the countryside in a state of madness, desperately looking for his lover. This story is based on some real facts. There was a man named Wanya Kyûemon, who led an extravagant life in the Shinmachi pleasure quarter, loving a courtesan named Matsuyama. Many legends surrounded his life and he became the hero of a book written by the famous writer Saikaku. One of these legends was about a new year party done in the middle of summer, using expensive decorations, including some real pieces of gold to be picked up by the crowd. The death of Kyûemon is still a mystery. He was punished by his parents and confined in a room. In one version, he escaped, became crazy and fell into a river. The other version is less romantic: he was sent off in Kyôto and died of illness there. His tombstone is located in the Jissôji temple in Ôsaka.

The most famous wankyûmono are "Ninin Wankyû", "Maboroshi Wankyû", "Wankyû" and "Wankyû Sue no Matsuyama".

In Japanese: 椀久物

Japanese hand-molded traditional paper.

In Japanese: 和紙

Actor guild name. The equivalent of a store name for actors. During the feudal times, lower class people were not allowed to hold family names. It was however possible for a merchant or an employee to use his store name as a family name. For example, Chôbei, head clerk at the Yamadaya liquor shop was called Yamadaya Chôbei. The Kabuki actors used family names, like Ichikawa, Nakamura, Onoe, Kataoka or Bandô to name the most famous ones, but it was of course a breach in the law and the yagô was a good way to give the illusion to the Shogunal authorities that actors were not trying to usurp some privileges of the higher classes. The yagô is very important in Kabuki, more important than the family name of the actor, because it strictly defines the guilds (acting families). For example the Ichikawa clan is divided in several guilds like Naritaya, Omodakaya or Mikawaya. Without the yagô, there would be no way to understand the close link between the Onoe Kikugorô and Bandô Hikosaburô lines of actors, which share the same guild name (Otowaya). The first ideogram used in a yagô is ya, which means roof/house/shop in Japanese.

In Japanese: 屋号

One of the most famous Japanese schools of swordsmanship [more details].

In Japanese: 柳生新陰流

Low-ranking footman serving a high-ranking samurai. They lead their Lord cortege to free the streets with their spears when he travels in the country. They are key roles in many Kabuki dramas, helping either the hero or the villain of the play and they are at the center of many famous tachimawari. Yakko's costums are always colorful and they often put on kumadori make-up.

In Japanese: 奴

Play or dance whose main character is a yakko.

In Japanese: 奴物

Actor.

In Japanese: 役者

hyôbanki.

An itinerant Buddhist priest practicing asceticism in the mountains. The most famous one is the monk warrior Musashibô Benkei, commonly called Benkei, faithful retainer of the young Lord Minamoto no Yoshitsune.

In Japanese: 山伏

Dramas or dances whose main character is Yamamba, the supernatural mountain hag of the Japanese legends. In Kabuki, she is the mother of Sakata Kintoki, a strong boy who will be one of the shitennô. One of the most famous yamambamono is Chikamatsu Monzaemon's drama "Komochi Yamamba".

In Japanese: 山姥物

Guild name (yagô) for the actors Bandô Mitsugorô, Bandô Tamasaburô, Bandô Yajûrô, Bandô Shûchô and Iwai Hanshirô.

In Japanese: 大和屋

A willow tree.

In Japanese: 柳

Oshichi was a 16 year-old girl, daughter of a vegetable store (Yaoya in Japanese) owner, living in the district of Hongô in Edo (the current Bunkyô-ku ward in Tôkyô). In 1681 Oshichi fell in love with a young priest whom she met at his temple while seeking shelter from a large fire. Hoping to see him again, she set fire in 1682 to her own home, causing a massive blaze that destroyed a huge section of Edo. She was arrested, trialed and condemned to be executed for arson. She was burnt alive to pay for her crime. Her grave is located in a temple in the district of Hakusan (Bunkyô-ku, Tôkyô). Yaoya Oshichi became a legend and a leading character in several Kabuki plays.

In Japanese: 八百屋お七

Dance with a Spear (keyari). This kind of dance was created by the great dancer Mizuki Tatsunosuke I during the Genroku era.

In Japanese: 槍踊り

A doer; a go-getter; a shrewd person; a hot shot.

In Japanese: 遣り手

The "Great Mirror of Adult Male Role Players" ^[1], which was published in Ôsaka by Izumiya Yazaemon in January 1687, was the very first hyôbanki in Kabuki history.

In Japanese: 野良立役舞台大鏡

Old province, which grosso modo corresponds to the current prefecture of Tochigi. It was also called Shimotsuke.

In Japanese: 野州

A spectacular pavilion or building destruction on a Kabuki stage (keren).

In Japanese: 屋台崩し

A former rich man fallen into the lower classes because he spent all his money for the love of a courtesan.

In Japanese: 俏し

Nimaime actor excelling in yatsushigoto roles.

In Japanese: 俏し方

One form of wagoto, with the main character being a yatsushi.

In Japanese: 俏し事

Guild name (yagô) for the actors Nakamura Karoku, Nakamura Kashô, Nakamura Tokizô, Nakamura Shinjirô and Nakamura Shidô.

In Japanese: 萬屋

An adopted child.

In Japanese: 養子

Famous pleasure quarter in Edo. The Shogunal authorities ordered the construction of Yoshiwara in 1615. The first location was the current district of Nihonbashi Ningyôchô. Destroyed during the big fire of 1657, Yoshiwara moved to the district of Asakusa and took the name of Shinyoshiwara.

In Japanese: 吉原

Old province, which grosso modo corresponds to the current Ehime prefecture on Shikoku island. It was also called Iyo.

In Japanese: 予州

Nighthawk (literal meaning). The second meaning is prostitute.

In Japanese: 夜鷹

Unlined cotton kimono (for loungewear or sleepwear). Informal summer light kimono.

In Japanese: 浴衣

Blackmail scene in a Kabuki play.

In Japanese: 強請場

The head of a Kabuki troupe. The zagashira was the main artistic producer of all the performances and the supervisor of the scripts provided by the playwrights. He was also in charge of the organization of both stage and backstage, working closely with both the zamoto and the tatesakusha. It seems that no onnagata actor ever held this title.

In Japanese: 座頭

Kabuki performances promoter during the Edo period. Owner of the right to organize Kabuki performances. There were important differences between Edo and the Kamigata:

In Edo, the zamoto was somebody who received a license from the Shogunal authorities to produce Kabuki in his own theater. He had the right to transmit his title, his license and his name to his son or adopted son. The most famous lines of zamoto in Edo were Nakamura Kanzaburô (Nakamuraza), Ichimura Uzaemon (Ichimuraza), Morita Kan'ya (Moritaza), Kawarazaki Gonnosuke (Kawarazakiza) and Yamamura Chôdayû (Yamamuraza).

In Kamigata, the zamoto was an actor, who produced Kabuki performance in the name of a nadai (the owner of the right to organize Kabuki performances). It was usually a yearly assignment.

In Japanese: 座元 (座本)

The "Cropped Hair Plays". Genre of sewamono dramas, created by the playwright Kawatake Mokuami and the actor Onoe Kikugorô V, dealing with contemporary Meiji characters:

"The designation, "cropped hair," refers to the fact that in the Meiji Era with the abolition of certain social distinctions, hair-styles also changed. Until Meiji a man's station in life was indicated by his hairdo, i.e., the way the scalp was shaved and the length of hair and method of tying it. With the levelling of all ranks of men, ordinary close-cropped hair (zangiri) became the fashion for all classes high and low. Kikugorô's "Cropped Hair Plays" were so-called because the characters appeared with the characteristic haircut and costume of the Meiji Era. These plays were the second step in the development of a modern theatre in Japan, and the first time since Genroku that Japan had even the semblance of a contemporary theatre." (Faubion Bowers in "Japanese Theatre")

In Japanese: 散切物

A blind masseur.

In Japanese: 座頭

A medieval 9-year war in Ôshû, which started in 1051 and ended in 1062. The Minamoto clan, appointed by the Imperial Court in Kyôto, went to fight and defeat the Abe clan in their own lands, the Ôshû provinces.

In Japanese: 前九年

A progressive leftist theater troupe founded by Kawarazaki Chôjûrô IV and Nakamura Kan'emon III in May 1931. They succeeded in building their own theater in 1937 in Kichijôji (a suburb of Tôkyô) in the face of great difficulties. The troupe, which survived the military dictatorship and the after-WW2 chaos, is still active today, performing in its own theater (rebuilt in 1980), at the Minamiza in January and at the National Theater in May. The repetoire of the Zenshinza mixes up Kabuki plays/dances and modern politically-oriented productions. The Zenshinza is also famous for its revivals of Tsuruya Namboku IV's dramas.

In Japanese: 前進座

A straw sandal.

In Japanese: 草履

To hit somebody's head with a straw sandal. A very insulting and humiliating act in old Japan. The most famous zôriuchi is in the play "Kagamiyama Kokyô no Nishikie".

In Japanese: 草履討ち

[1] translation from Samuel Leiter in the "New Kabuki Encyclopedia".