These beautiful portraits of
kabuki actors by Japanese photographer Hiroshi Watanabe are deceptive. They suggest that the theatrical genre is the epitome of elegant, highly cultured Japan. In fact, it is something very different. Literally meaning 'the skill of singing and dancing', Western audiences would best understand
kabuki as a hybrid of opera and pantomime. Watanabe's subjects are part of a small, amateur company. "When they sit in front of my camera between plays, they are struck with stage fright and repeat their lines over and over," he says.
Elaine Hake
Watanabe's work will feature in The Photographic Portrait Prize 2006, National Portrait Gallery, London, from November 8
