Changes

==In Kabuki==

==In Kabuki==

''Wakashû kabuki'' typically refers to kabuki performed chiefly or exclusively by young men in the period from [[1629]], when women were banned from appearing onstage, until [[1652]], when young men (''wakashû'') were banned; in both cases, the chief reason behind the shogunate's bans was because the women and the young men were working as prostitutes, and were using the performances to advertise their bodies.

''Wakashû kabuki'' typically refers to kabuki performed chiefly or exclusively by young men in the period from [[1629]], when women were banned from appearing onstage, until [[1652]], when young men (''wakashû'') were obliged to shave their heads, in order to appear as adult men;<ref>Mostow, 26.</ref> in both cases, the chief reason behind the shogunate's bans was because the women and the young men were working as prostitutes, and were using the performances to advertise their bodies.

Despite the 1652 bans, young men eventually returned to the stage. While ''wakashû'' continued to refer somewhat generally to actors (and, indeed, any men) who had not yet come of age, the term also came to refer more specifically to a type of apprentice actors known as ''kagema'', who also worked as male prostitutes.<ref>These apprentices largely remained in the background of kabuki scenes, or even off-stage entirely, "in the shadows" (''kage no ma''), in order to watch and learn. Mostow, 19.</ref>

Despite the 1652 bans, young men eventually returned to the stage. While ''wakashû'' continued to refer somewhat generally to actors (and, indeed, any men) who had not yet come of age, the term also came to refer more specifically to a type of apprentice actors known as ''kagema'', who also worked as male prostitutes.<ref>These apprentices largely remained in the background of kabuki scenes, or even off-stage entirely, "in the shadows" (''kage no ma''), in order to watch and learn. Mostow, 19.</ref>