Kumadori
隈取 / 1673– / Style / Stage Design
Kabuki makeup that exaggerates muscle and vein in red and indigo lines, diagramming a role's character on the face. With Sharaku's actor prints, the origin of the strong graphic face in Japanese design.


At a glance
Visual cues
- Red and indigo kuma lines
- Musculature drawn as pattern
- White ground
- A color code of character
Best used for
- Stage makeup and character faces that state temperament through line and color
- Posters and packaging where one strong face has to carry the whole design
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Dictionary entry
- Type
- Brushed letters that match the stroke energy of the makeup lines
- Composition
- Crop tight to the face and let brow and eye lines set the axis
- Material
- Red and indigo brushed over white, the bristle streaks left showing
- Caution
- Drawing the red and indigo as pure pattern breaks the code that marks good, evil and the superhuman, leaving a decorated face that states nothing.
- Further study
- Ichikawa Danjūrō I / the types and colors of kuma / Sharaku's ōkubi-e portraits
Related entries
- Commedia dell'Arte (コンメディア・デッラルテ)Same Stage Design lineage.Compare Kumadori and Commedia dell'Arte
- Ukiyo-e (浮世絵)Shared effects: Exhilaration / Nostalgia.Compare Kumadori and Ukiyo-e
More from Stage Design
Continue through styles in the same Stage Design family, prioritised by shared effects.
- Constructivist Stage (構成主義舞台美術)Shared effects: Rebellion / Exhilaration.
- Wayang Kulit (ワヤン・クリ(影絵芝居))Shared effects: Exhilaration.
- Bakst Stage Design (バクストの舞台美術)Shared effects: Exhilaration.
Browse all Stage Design entries
Cite this entry
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- https://indexstyle.org/styles/kumadori
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- [Kumadori — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/kumadori)
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- <a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/kumadori">Kumadori — IndexStyle</a>