Japan’s first acting school for women

Abstract

The Meiji Restoration in 1868 brought about momentous changes in Japan. Western culture, including the new and more modern Western theatre, reached the Japanese people. This represented a fundamental challenge for traditional Japanese theatre, especially for the kabuki. Besides the radical reform plans, the issue of women appearing on stage was highly debatable because of the official ban introduced in 1629 which prohibited women from performing in any theatre. On the other hand, after the Restoration, the new, Westernised genres like shinpa and shingeki used actresses in performances. There are questions about where these actresses came from and what kind of training they received. Sadayakko Kawakami, who is considered the first Japanese actress and who toured the United States and Europe with her husband, Otojirō Kawakami at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, established the Teikoku Joyū Yōseijo, the first Japanese acting school for women, in 1908. In this institution, based on French models, only young girls were trained.