Kumadori

Kumadori (隈取) is the stage makeup worn by kabuki actors, mostly when performing kabuki plays in the aragoto style. The term also applies to a painting method in which two brushes are used simultaneously, one for the color and the other used to create shading or other details.

Kumadori makeup generally consists of brightly coloured stripes or patterns over a white foundation, the colours and patterns symbolising aspects of the character. Though kumadori was originated and developed extensively by members of the Ichikawa Danjūrō family of actors, some conventions are creations of the Onoe Kikugorō line.

Colours

Only a few colours are used in kumadori makeup; red, blue, brown and black. Whilst black is simply used to exaggerate features, such as eyebrows and the line of the mouth, the other colours are used to tell the audience about the character's nature.

Red kumadori indicates a powerful hero role, often a character with virtue and courage. The most famous role to use red kumadori is that of the hero in Shibaraku, Kamakura Gongoro, and has come to stereotypically represent kabuki in the West.

Blue makeup is used to represent a villain, human or not, and represents negative emotions such as fear and jealousy. Ghosts in traditional Japanese dramas are often trapped by their attachment to such emotions, and so often wear blue makeup; kitsune (fox spirits) such as Genkurō in Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura wear blue makeup as well.