makeup, costuming, props and sets. In addition to its more naturalistic and realistic style, Kamigata kabuki was originally far more strongly influenced by jōruri, the puppet theatre of Osaka, and thus to some extent, laid greater importance upon plot than did Edo kabuki, which focused far more heavily on dance. It is not uncommon even today, particularly in Tokyo (Edo), for Kabuki performances to include completely disparate stories and characters inserted, at detriment to the plot's continuity, for the purpose of showing off an actor's dancing, mie posing, chanting, costumes or stage tricks. Later in the Edo period, actors began to travel more often between the two regions, influencing one another's styles, and introducing elements of each region's style and repertoire to the other. However, the two regions never ceased to be distinctly different, and to maintain their respective stylistic and aesthetic foundations. Today, kabuki is on the wane across the country, but remains more popular and thus more stable in Tokyo. Only one theatre remains in Kyoto, the Minami-za, while a handful remain in Osaka; the Naka no Shibai closed in 1999. Among the top actors onstage in Kamigata today are Nakamura Ganjirō III and his sons Nakamura Senjaku III and Nakamura Kanjaku V, Kataoka Hidetarō II, Bandō Takesaburō V and Kamimura Kichiya VI. A number of other Kamigata actors now perform in Tokyo. Ukiyo-e The ukiyo-e art of the Kamigata area, for a long time consisted primarily of woodblock printed illustrated books (such as Amayo no Sanbai Kigen) and paintings. Single-sheet prints depicting kabuki actors, landscapes, or beautiful women (bijinga), popular in Edo beginning around 1700 did not become common in Kamigata until roughly one hundred years later. When kabuki prints became popular in Kamigata at the end of the 18th century, they represented a significant departure from actor prints of Edo. Though the very idea of selling single-sheet prints of actors was inspired by the medium's success in Edo, the tastes of the artists, their customers, and the kabuki being represented were decidedly different. One key stylistic element of Kamigata prints is their realism, relative to those of Edo. Kamigata prints, particularly those of onnagata (male actors in female roles), sought to represent the actor's true appearance. Unlike Edo actors who seemed to never age in prints, and to be just as graceful and slight as if they were actual young women, Kamigata actors showed their age,