Hikinuki is a dramatic technique for instantly changing a costume on stage. The actor wears 2 costumes previously sewed together with thick shitsuke ito (basting thread), and the Koken (onstage assistant) pulls out the shitsuke ito just before the moment of the quick change of costume on stage, taking away the top layer of costume while synchronizing the timing with the actor's movements. Hikinuki is done mainly for Buyo (dancing) as a dramatic technique that pleases the audience with its suddenness.
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The image shows Hikinuki during "Kyoganoko musume dojoji." In the flow of the dance, the actor and the Koken are in harmony, and it can be seen that the Hikinuki is done with superb timing.
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Another method of Hikinuki is called Bukkaeri. The costume for the upper half of the body is basted with thread, and when these threads are pulled the upper half of costume flips down and hangs down from the actor's waist. This dramatic techniques visually expresses the fact that the character has revealed its true self or that its characteristics have changed.
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The picture image shows Bukkaeri in "Tsumoru koi yuki no sekinoto." This is the scene in which Sekibe, a sekimori (barrier guard) who has concealed his true character, discloses that he is in fact Otomo Kuronushi, a court lord and a major villain aiming to take over the country. When the costume of a court lord has appeared from underneath the sekimori costume, it clearly expresses the change of character as well as of social status.
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<Major repertoire items in which Hikinuki is done>
<Major repertoire items in which Bukkaeri is done>
| > "Oshu adachigahara" | |
| - 'tamakinomiyagoten no ba' | |
| • "Shinobiyoru koi wa kusemono" |
| > "Tsumoru koi yuki no sekinoto" |
| > "Narukami" |
| > "Momijigari" |
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