Kabuki of Japan

Timeline

1. 1603–1620Kyoto · JapanIzumo no Okuni performed in the kawaki (eccentric) style at places like Shijō Kawaramachi in Kyoto, combining dance and comic narrative; this is regarded as the origin of kabuki and quickly attracted townspeople and samurai audiences.
2. 1631–1640Edo · KantōAfter women were banned in 1629, male-actor kabuki took shape in the 1630s under the three-city theater system of Edo, Osaka, and Kyoto; the shogunate constrained performances through the segregation of licensed quarters and content censorship, and the aragoto and wagoto systems gradually diverged.
3. 1640–1700Osaka · KinkiCompetition among the three theaters of Edo, Osaka, and Kyoto promoted the fusion of the hanamichi, kumadori makeup, and Gidayū-bushi material, as kabuki shifted from an improvised popular art to a professional genre transmitted through hereditary iemoto schools.