By Joshua Carr
Special for The State News
Performer Umenosuke Onoe closed out Japan Week on Friday with his rendition of the ritualistic transformation and traditional Kabuki Onnagata performance to the nearly packed Kellogg Center auditorium.
Hiromi Maenaka, assistant director at MSU's Asian Studies Center, worked with an official from the Japanese Consulate in Detroit to bring the show "Kabuki, Onnagata, and Creating a Feminine Ideal" to campus.
Onnagata is a term referring to when a man performs a female role, and the technique stems from the 400-year-old art form Kabuki, Onoe said.
"I chose Onnagata when I was 16 years old in high school," Onoe said through a translator.
During the show, Onoe walked the audience through the painful makeup and wardrobe process he endures as a Kabuki performer to transform from a man into an Onnagata woman.
"I will show you everything from A to Z," he said to the audience while dressing in the traditional purple kimono.
MSU alumna Melody Teodorl said she has participated in Kabuki shows and classes and said it's uncommon for the performer to reveal the inner workings of the metamorphosis.
"Kabuki is a rare gem; it's a dying art, it's eccentric and, as far as a dying art form, it's arcane," she said. "There are only a few theaters left that are devoted to Kabuki."
Onoe said his task is to make Kabuki understandable to the world, but with the growing entertainment changes in western and eastern cultures, Kabuki has become a rare art form.
To become a Kabuki performer, Onoe scrapes off his eyebrows and raises them by wrapping a sash tightly across his forehead. He then applies thick, white makeup to his face and puts red lipstick on the center of his lips to make them appear smaller.
The Onnagata look is complete when an 11-pound wig, made of real female hair, is placed on top of his head. Onoe said his goal was to appear like a doll.
"I really enjoyed it, because you usually don't see the transformation of Kabuki dancers; it's usually a secret, because it is an art form and very private," said Khanh Van Nguyen, an assistant during the show and outreach coordinator for the Asian Studies Center.
The show ended with Onoe performing a dance called "Iris," followed by closing remarks from Maenaka.
"I am very happy that we had quite a large turnout," Maenaka said in a written statement. "The program went very well with an excellent rapport among the performer, the moderator and the audience."
