The aesthetics of the kabuki theater comprises a variety of elements:
hairstyles, makeup, costumes, settings, props, music, and much else.
All these components deserve detailed study. In the following discus-
sion, however, I shall limit myself to only four prominent aspects of
the Edo kabuki: the aesthetic of the "street knight" (kyōsha or
kyōkaku); the aesthetic of exorcism; the aesthetic of fashion; and the
aesthetic of evil.

Important Edoesque features entered kabuki when Ichikawa Dan-
jūrō--Edo's greatest actor-hero and a name inherited through over
a dozen generations to this very day--created the aragoto (bravura)
style of acting. The first Ichikawa Danjūrō ( 1660-1704) appeared on
the stage of the Edo Nakamura-za at age fourteen. In his debut per-
formance he played the role of the young Heian-period warrior
Sakata Kintoki in the play Shitennō osanadachi (The Birthplace of the
Four Heavenly Emperors). On this occasion Danjūrō seems to have
worn nonnaturalistic red and black makeup (kumadori) and a check-
ered costume fastened by a round cotton-padded ropelike sash. He
earned the highest praise for his wild, energetic performances.

In the years preceding Danjūrō's debut, a form of puppet theater
known as Kinpira jōruri was highly popular in Edo. This genre fea-
tured aragoto-like scenes in which Sakata Kintoki's son Kinpira
engaged in superhuman feats--valiandy disposing of scores of ene-
mies, for example, or fishing a thousand-foot whale from the sea.
The Kantō kekki monogatari (Tales of Hot-Bloods from the Kantō
Region) records that Danjūrō's performances were kabuki versions
of this Kinpira jōruri. ¹ During the seventh month of 1690 Danjūrō
starred in Kinpira kabutoron (The Argument over Kinpira's Helmet);

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