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Akuba

【悪婆】

【AKUBA】

Kirare Otomi, a representative Akuba role, in “Musume Gonomi Ukina no Yokogushi”. Sawamura Sojuro 9th as Otomi and Ichikawa Danshiro 4th as Yasuzo. January, 1992 at the National Theatre （Y_E0100171000346）

Akuba refers to one of the Onnagata characters, which mainly appears in Kizewamono and is considered to have been created in reflection of the fully-matured society of the late Edo period.
The role stands for not “an old woman who does wrong things” but a middle-aged woman who commits a theft or murder for the sake of a man she fell in love with. The character is typically dressed up with a “horse- tail wig” which is only bound at the back untied, and with costumes in cross stripes called “Koshijima”.
The chief examples include “Kirare Otomi” in “Musumegonomi Ukina no Yokogushi”, and “Dote no Oroku” in “Osome Hisamatsu Ukina no Yomiuri” (so called “Osome no Nanayaku”).