Onnagata
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
Onnagata (女形/女方, lit. 'female role'), also oyama (女形), are male actors who play female roles in kabuki theatre.[1] It originated in 1629 after women were banned from performing in kabuki performances.[2] There are many specific techniques that actors must learn to master the role of onnagata.
History
Edo Period
The role of the onnagata was shaped during the Edo period as an expression of femininity that was meant to align with the femininity of real women in Edo society. Both onnagata and wakashū (or wakashū-gata), actors specializing in adolescent female roles (and usually adolescents themselves), were the subject of much appreciation by both male and female patrons, and were often prostitutes. All-male casts became the norm after 1629, when women were banned from appearing in kabuki due to the prevalent prostitution of actresses and violent quarrels among patrons for the actresses' favors.[3]: 90–91 This ban failed to stop the problems, since the young male (wakashū) actors were also fervently pursued by patrons.[2] This more modern, all-male kabuki was originally known as yarō kabuki ('male kabuki') to distinguish it from earlier theatrical forms.
Meiji era and beyond
During the Meiji era, the ban on women performing was lifted, and women began performing in kabuki performances where they played onnagata roles. This was more uncommon as it was standard for onnagata to be an artistically feminine performance played by a male actor who underwent training to learn the role.[4] In contemporary kabuki performance, onnagata is a separate theatrical role with different training that is separate from actual women in society.[4] After film was introduced in Japan at the end of the 19th century, the oyama continued to portray females in movies until the early 1920s. At that time, however, using real female actresses was coming into fashion with the introduction of realist shingeki films. The oyama staged a protest at Nikkatsu in 1922 in backlash against the lack of work because of this.
Onnagata performance techniques
.jpg){kind=link}
Every kabuki actor is expected to have facility with onnagata techniques. These include learning onnagata makeup, which is vastly different from that of a male character's, and adopting traditional feminine mannerisms specific to the role of the onnagata.[5] Some of the techniques that onnagata actors have to master with years of training and research include being able to move gracefully across the stage when wearing geta, adopting a more feminine posture and physical mannerisms like slouched shoulders and bending knees, and speaking at a higher pitch (falsetto) throughout the entire performance.[2] The falsetto used by the onnagata performers is not meant to be an exact imitation of the female voice. Instead, onnagata imitate typical vocal intonations associated with femininity. The type of falsetto varies depending on the specific role that the onnagata is performing.[6] Many actors specialise in onnagata roles, such as Bandō Tamasaburō V.
-
"Two Actors Combing Hair"; handpainted ukiyo-e scroll attributed to Hishikawa Morofusa, circa 1700. An onnagata wearing a purple headscarf combs the hair of a wakashū-gata (identifiable by his forelocks and partially shaved head).
-
Nakamura Shikan IV and Sawamura Tanosuke III in courtesan roles. Print by Toyokuni in 1860, the year of Sawamura's debut under that name on the kabuki stage.
-
Nakamura Utaemon VI in costume for a female kabuki role in Musume Dōjōji, 1951.
-
Popular onnagata Daigoro Tachibana dancing in a performance at the Miyoshibashi Theatre in Yokohama, November 2007. His crest can be seen on the red curtain behind him.
-
Bandō Tamasaburō V (center) in kabuki play Nihonbashi (December 2012)
Significance in visual kei
Notable onnagata
- Bandō Tamasaburō V
- Daigoro Tachibana
- Kataoka Nizaemon XII
- Nakamura Jakuemon IV
- Nakamura Shichinosuke II
- Nakamura Utaemon VI
- Onoe Kikugorō V
- Sawamura Tanosuke III (1845–78; 三代目 沢村田之助; only occasionally Sawamura written as 澤村).
- Sakata Tōjūrō IV
- Taichi Saotome
- Yoshizawa Ayame I
See also
- Japanese theatre
- Otokonoko
- Kagema for male prostitutes generally
- Cross-gender acting
- Drag show
- Köçek
- Pantomime dame
- Travesti (theatre)
- Womanless wedding
References
- ↑ "Three Actors". World Digital Library. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Episale, Frank (2012). "Gender, Tradition, and Culture in Translation: Reading the "Onnagata" in English". Asian Theatre Journal. 29 (1): 89–111. doi:10.1353/atj.2012.0023. ISSN 0742-5457. JSTOR 23359546.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedLeupp - ↑ 4.0 4.1 Isaka, Maki (2006). "Women "Onnagata" in the Porous Labyrinth of Femininity: On Ichikawa Kumehachi I". U.S.-Japan Women's Journal (30/31): 105–131. ISSN 2330-5037. JSTOR 42771946.
- ↑ Leiter, Samuel L. (1999). "From Gay to Gei: The Onnagata and the Creation of Kabuki's Female Characters". Comparative Drama. 33 (4): 495–514. ISSN 0010-4078. JSTOR 41154044.
- ↑ ""Female Voices in Male Bodies": Castrati, Onnagata, and the Performance of Gender through Ambiguous Bodies and Vocal Acts". web.archive.org. 2016-12-21. Retrieved 2024-11-01.