Shibaraku
Shibaraku — Just a Moment!
Japanese title: 暫(しばらく)
Also written as: 暫 / Shibaraku / Just a Moment!
The Story in Three Lines
Kabuki loses nothing when you know the story in advance. Start with just three lines.
- 01
The tyrant Kiyohara no Takehira has seized power and is about to execute a group of innocents who refuse to bow to him.
- 02
Suddenly a mighty voice rings out—"Shibaraku!" ("Just a moment!")—and the hero Kamakura Gongorō Kagemasa appears on the hanamichi.
- 03
After a magnificent self-introduction speech, Gongorō sweeps the villains aside with superhuman strength and saves the innocent.
Three Things to Watch For
These three points are all the preparation you need. On the day, simply give yourself to the stage.
The famous cry
A single shout from the back of the theatre transforms the air—kabuki at its most immediate and thrilling.
The ultimate aragoto look
The wheel-like wig, bold striped makeup, and enormous persimmon robes bearing the family crest—the very image of kabuki.
Style as spectacle
The story is simple by design, so you can savor the pure pleasures of voice, pose, and costume.
Characters
- Kamakura Gongorō Kagemasa
- The archetypal aragoto hero—a young warrior of superhuman strength who halts injustice.
- Kiyohara no Takehira
- The arch-villain: a court aristocrat drunk on power, painted in the pale makeup of kabuki's noble evildoers.
Stagecraft and Highlights
Gongorō wears a persimmon-colored suō robe dyed with the Ichikawa Sōke's mimasu (triple-square) crest, a wig with wheel-like side locks, and bold sujiguma makeup. The sleeves are famously enormous—so large that stage assistants help maneuver them—and the costume itself is part of the spectacle.
Listen for the tsurane, the rolling self-introduction speech; watch for the huge sword sweeping the villains aside, and the climactic Genroku mie, arms and legs flung wide as the tsuke clappers crack. In a single scene, Shibaraku concentrates everything aragoto stands for.
The Ichikawa Connection
A defining aragoto piece of the Danjūrō line and one of the Kabuki Jūhachiban. In the Edo period it is said to have been staged every year as part of the season-opening kaomise programs, and it remains an emblem of the family's art.
In Danjūrō's Words
Danjūrō's own words on this play will appear here once they have been recorded and verified with him. We never invent or paraphrase his remarks.
Read Before and After
Sources
This page is compiled by the D-13 editorial team from established, widely shared knowledge of kabuki. Where details such as premiere dates are debated, we avoid definitive statements.
- Author
- D-13 Editorial
- Published
- Aug 15, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 15, 2026