Mie (pose)

The mie (見え or 見得, Japanese pronunciation: [mi.eꜜ]), a powerful and emotional pose struck[1] by an actor, who then freezes for a moment, is a distinctive element of aragoto Kabuki performance.

Mie means 'appearance' or 'visible' in Japanese, and one of the primary purposes of this convention is to draw attention to a particularly important or powerful portion of the performance.

Audience members will shout out (kakegoe) words of praise and the actor's name at specific times before and after the pose is struck.

This mie is most strongly associated with the character Kamakura Gongorō Kagemasa, the hero of the play Shibaraku, and is said to have been invented by Ichikawa Danjūrō I.

Two mie cut by the priest Narukami, in Narukami Fudō Kitayama Zakura, are the "post-wrapping pose" (柱巻きの見得, Hashimaki no mie), in which the actor wraps his arms and legs around a post, column, or long weapon such as a naginata, and the Fudō no mie (不動の見得), which is meant to resemble the Buddhist figure Fudō Myoō, is a very strong pose, meant to evoke anger and power.