Women’s Kabuki 1605 - 1610

This folding screen, created by Kano Takanobu, depicts a bustling scene of Women’s Kabuki, an early form of the art which emerged in the early Edo period. Look at the swirling patterns of the robes. The figures are dynamic, full of movement and life. These gestures echo across time, recalling the frenzied dances of the Maenads in ancient Greece. Just as those ecstatic rituals celebrated Dionysus, here, the Kabuki dancers embody a similar release of inhibition. Consider how this outpouring of energy may be a collective response to the social constraints of the time. The bridge, a prominent symbol in Japanese art, appears here connecting two distinct realms – the performance space and the everyday world. Bridges are motifs that recur across cultures. They represent the connection between life and death, or the earthly and spiritual realms. This screen, beyond its immediate subject, touches on enduring aspects of human experience: the desire for ecstatic release, the crossing of boundaries, and the cyclical nature of cultural expression.