kabuki

Traditional Japanese theatrical form developed in the early seventeenth century that was popular among urban commoners. Kabuki plays involve dance, music, song, and dramatic performances and feature flamboyant costumes, makeup, and wigs along with bombastic sets and stage tricks. Since the mid-seventeenth century, kabuki has been an all-male theater, with specialist female role-players known as onnagata.

noh

Traditional Japanese theatrical form developed from ceremonial performances in the fourteenth century that involves chanting, singing, and dancing, often accompanied by a chorus and musical instruments like a flute and different-sized drums. Noh is traditionally an all-male theater, where the principal actors wear masks to convey the essence of their characters.

yūrei

The departed souls of human spirits who are unable to pass on to the afterlife—usually because of some injustice they suffered in life and their desire to seek vengeance. Yūrei are often depicted with pale blue faces to indicate their undead status, and the lower part of their body is usually transparent.

Landing page image: The Ghosts of the Taira Attack Yoshitsune in Daimotsu Bay (detail), Utagawa Kuniyoshi 歌川国芳 (1798–1861), Japan, ca. 1849–52, print, ink and color on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, The Pearl and Seymour Moskowitz Collection, S2021.5.592a-c