Make-up and Costumes

Yakuwari banzuke was a type of cast playbill in Edo (the former name for Tokyo), consisting of three writing papers pasted together horizontally or bound in a sack with twisted paper. Distributors used to hang many yakuwari banzuke in their left hands and hand them out to the audience. This yakuwari banzuke contained a list of the actors' crests (montsuki) from an early stage, so that audiences of the time could identify at a glance which actors were performing.

Kumadori, which is also called "kuma" for short, is a characteristic makeup of kabuki. This makeup emphasizes the muscle, skeletal structure, and blood vessels of an actor's face. It is written that the origin of kumadori was when Ichikawa Danjuro the First played the warrior Sakata Kintoki in Shitenno Osanadachi with red and black kumadori makeup in 1673 (Enpo 1) at the age of only 14. After that, Ichikawa Danjuro the Second added new ideas, such as gradations, to it.