Okuni Kabuki

Japan

first quarter 17th century

Six-panel folding screen, ink, color, and gold on gilded paper

Minneapolis Institute of Art

The screen shows a lively theater scene in the entertainment quarter of Kyoto and a performance of female courtesans also dressed as men. The performance shows “Tea House Entertainments” (chaya asobi) and could therefore relate to Izumo no Okuni whose most famous skit this was and she is credited as the founder of the Kabuki theater. Okuni’s performance was a popular subject for screen paintings in the 17th century. In 1629, the shogunal government forbid women as actors as such performances were seen to be a front for illegal prostitution. Young male actors took over but that was then forbidden in 1652 as it was a front for male pr