ABSTRACT
Kabuki is often seen as a thoroughly urban form of theater. It arose on the streets of Kyoto, was perfected in the theaters of Japan’s major cities, and came to occupy a central place in the sophisticated urban culture of Tokugawa Japan. Yet the history of kabuki involves a rich interplay between urban and rural. As rural kabuki took hold, provinces in turn attracted attention from the cities. While most early provincial kabuki was performed by itinerant troupes of professional or semi-professional actors (tabi shibai), nearly all the rural traditions that survive today feature local amateurs. Itinerant professionals remained an important part of the rural kabuki landscape through the end of the Tokugawa period, as villagers continued to hire professional troupes (a practice known as uke-shibai or kai-shibai) or employ hybrid practices such as hiring professional actors for lead roles in otherwise amateur productions.
