Kumadori

[1] The term also applies to a painting method in which two brushes are used simultaneously, one for the color and the other used to create shading or other details.

Though kumadori was originated and developed extensively by members of the Ichikawa Danjūrō family of actors, some conventions are creations of the Onoe Kikugorō line.

Whilst black is simply used to exaggerate features, such as eyebrows and the line of the mouth, the other colours are used to tell the audience about the character's nature.

The most famous role to use red kumadori is that of the hero in Shibaraku, Kamakura Gongoro, and has come to stereotypically represent kabuki in the West.

Some patterns are used for a number of roles, as they have come to represent a specific type of character over time, regardless of the play being performed: An impression of a kabuki actor's face make-up, preserved on a piece of cloth, is known as an oshiguma.