Part 5: The Takarazuka Troupe

 

Takarazuka is a theatre troupe and school in Japan that is all women, meaning all male roles become pants roles.

They’re very well-funded, and making it into the school is considered a very high achievement. Takarazuka was founded in 1913 and is considered responsible for lesbians existing in Japan. The majority of their fans are women and with women playing male and female roles on stage and usually romancing each other, it’s not a huge surprise that it basically created a whole group of lesbians, but it was still a big deal. 

 


This is common in a lot of Asian countries and Takarazuka is no exception- stars are usually not allowed to have relationships, so that they’re more desirable to their fans. So because the ladies of the Takarazuka troupe were not allowed to date men… they started dating each other. When this was first discovered, there was another group imitating Takarazuka who’s two stars were rumored to be dating. When they attempted double suicide and survived, it essentially forced them to come out to the public. Takarazuka and its imitators were accused of trying to normalize homosexuality. There was a time when Takarazuka would not allow their actresses to receive fan mail, because they didn’t want them to receive love confessions; that was seen as condoning homosexuality. 

 

Today, thankfully, it is more or less acceptable, even though they still keep much of their personal lives to themselves. One of Takarazuka’s former actresses, with her wife, was the first same-gender female couple to receive an official marriage certificate in Japan in 2015. 

 


To join the Takarazuka troupe, you must first be accepted into the Takarazuka Music School. The ladies train for two years and then receive seven year contracts. They are divided during their training into two groups- male and female basically. The women in the male roles cut their hair short and speak in the masculine form. Something interesting to note is that the women selected for the male roles are usually stronger dancers while the women roles are usually stronger singers. 

 

Initially, once their seven year contract ended, the women were expected to marry and have children, but it is becoming more common to see them stay with the company into their thirties, which is past what Japan considers marrying age. 


 

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