The Genroku period was a time of great renaissance in Japanese
culture, a time when both aristocratic and common arts
flourished. Having been cut off from the outside world for over
50 years, a native stamp was placed on may art forms introduced
during the previous period of frequent contact with both the
West and China. The Genroku period was also the time when most
of the conventions and stylizations of Kabuki, including play
structure, character types, the art of the onnagata, took form.
Actors were arranged in a strict hierarchy, a hierarchy that
determined which sort of character they would play each month.
The head "tachiyaku" actor at the theater received the main
role, while the star onnagata played the main woman role.
Beneath came the waka-onnagata, or young onnagata, the villains
and the comic actors. Among "tachiyaku" male character roles,
two prominent acting styles emerged in this period. In Edo,
presently Tokyo, Ichikawa Danjuro I created "aragoto," or rough
style. This bombastic, exaggerated s