One of the joys of watching kabuki for most lovers of the art lies in the visual presentation of the costumes and katsura (wigs) of the performers. Katsura are almost equal in importance to the costumes themselves, and tremendous attention is paid to the details of this finely crafted prop; from its perfect fit around the forehead to the final styling and decoration of the beautiful mane of hair.
The making of this unique wig starts with the cutting of a copper sheet to fit the head of the actor it is being made for, which is then rounded into a three-dimensional shape. Next, washi (handmade Japanese paper) from Shinshu or Kyoto (areas renowned for the strength of the paper they produce), is pasted on top of the head-shaped copper shell. Then, habutae silk is attached to the washi with a strong glue called shiratama. Real hair (the majority of which comes from China) is then stitched strand by strand into the front layer of the habutae by hand. This part is most time-consuming and takes an entire day to complete. The last step is to comb the hair very carefully before sending it to a tokoyama (wig stylist), where it is coiffed into a style.
"Everything depends on being able to create a good forehead line," says Koji Miyazaki, 56, a katsura artisan with 40 years experience. Since the curve of the forehead is made differently for each character, just a slight adjustment to the shape can make the actor look beautiful for female roles or strong for male roles, he says.