Kabuki started in a small theatre on the riverbed on the Kami River. A lady named Okuni, was the first of the performers. She and a group of prostitutes would perform for commoners and Samurai doing provocative dances and skits. Okuni reached the height of her popularity in 1603-1604. Besides from Kabuki, Okuni would dress in men’s clothes and participate in several men’s activities. More and more of these troops of prostitutes started forming and performing all around Japan. Brawls and bad behavior of the audience started breaking out. This along with breaking a policy of government, stating that no one should have more than one job resulted in women being banned from performing Kabuki in 1629. Since the women were prostitutes and were performers, the government counted it as two different jobs. Another factor of women being banned was that they portrayed immoral and lawless themes that threatened the government. Kabuki did not end there however; men soon began to perform women roles and carried on Kabuki. An acting company emerged by the name of Dansuke, which was the first all-male acting company. Their plays acquired the name Washaku Kabuki meaning mostly young boys. Kabuki got its name from Ka meaning song, Bu meaning dance, and Ki meaning skill. Kabuki was popular for four centuries.

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