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is a traditional form of Japanese theater. Created around the year 1600, around the same time the English began to form colonies on the American continent, the history of is as long as that of the United States and just as multi-faceted. Okuni, a shrine maiden f ....

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.... feudalistic system. It is largely due to this humanistic quality of the art that it gained such an enduring popularity among the general public of those days and remains this way today. Early was much different from what is seen today and was comprised mainly of large ensemble dances performed by women. Most of these women acted as prostitutes off stage and finally the government banned women from the stage in an effort to protect public morals, just one in a long history of government restrictions placed on the theater. The players of the drama in its primitive stage were principally women, and with the increasing popularity of , many of the actre ....