Kamigata (上方) was the colloquial term for a region today called Kansai (kan, barrier; sai, west) in Japan. This large area encompasses the cities of Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe. The term is used particularly when discussing elements of Edo period urban culture such as ukiyo-e and kabuki, and when making a comparison to the urban culture of the Edo/Tokyo region. The term was no longer used as name for the Kansai provinces when Emperor Meiji moved to Edo in 1868. An account described Kamigata suji as one of the two regions that emerged from the division of Japan for the purpose of taxation with the other being Kwanto-suji. Kabuki, ukiyo-e, and many of the other related fields of popular and urban culture of the Edo period in fact originated in Kamigata before being transmitted to Edo. The vast majority of scholarship on the urban culture of the Edo period (1603–1867), even today, focuses on culture in Edo; Kamigata culture, though it is beginning to be studied more and more, and represented in museum exhibits more often as well, remains very much overshadowed. Theatre Kabuki, like many other traditional arts, originated in the Kamigata area, particularly Kyoto, which also perfected the wagoto (gentler style of acting) school. It grew out of Noh theatre and traditional Shinto dances, and was originally much more a dance form than drama. After periods of women's kabuki (onna kabuki) and young men's kabuki (wakamono kabuki), in which the dancers/actors were also prostitutes, and thus various proscriptions were put into place, including the banning of women from the stage, men's kabuki (yarō kabuki), the beginnings of what is considered today the mainstream form of kabuki, emerged. Sakata Tōjūrō (1647–1709) was one of the first actors in this new form, and an extremely influential one in shaping Kamigata kabuki. He pioneered the wagoto style in the plays of Chikamatsu Monzaemon. It a soft, emotional, and naturalistic style of theatre, which would stand in sharp contrast to the bombastic, bold aragoto style created by his contemporary in Edo, Ichikawa Danjūrō I. The aesthetics and philosophy of wagoto would continue to shape and define Kamigata kabuki from then on, and actors from the two regions would more often than not experience great difficulties in adapting to the styles of the opposite region, and appealing to their audiences. Kamigata style uses fewer stage tricks (keren) than Edo kabuki, and more subdued