Though for more than 300 years it's only been performed by men and boys, kabuki exists in the public imagination as actors engulfed in hair and makeup, wearing elaborate costumes and striking ostentatious poses on a vast stage.

Despite this, works by the Kinoshita Kabuki company founded by Yuichi Kinoshita when he was at Kyoto University of Art and Design in 2006 are attracting both traditionalists and contemporary theater fans to their modern versions of the classics.

For example, its Kunio Sugihara-directed version of "Kanjincho" — a popular play about Lord Minamoto no Yoshitsune and the loyalty of his retainer, Benkei — bowled me over with its casting of an actress as Yoshitsune, and an American man as Benkei, when I saw it on a small stage at ST Spot Yokohama in 2010.