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Possible definitions for kabiki

kabuki
Popular Japanese entertainment that combines music, dance, and mime in highly stylized performance. The word is formed of three Japanese characters--ka (song), bu (dance), and ki (skill). Kabuki dates from the end of the 16th cent., when it developed from the nobility's No theater and became the theater of townspeople. In its early years it had a licentious reputation, its actors often being prostitutes; women and young boys were consequently forbidden to perform, and kabuki is today performed by an adult all-male cast. Its texts, unlike No texts, are easily understood by its audience. The lyrical but fast-moving and even acrobatic plays, noted for their spectacular staging and elaborate costumes and with striking makeup in place of masks, are vehicles in which the actors demonstrate a wide range of skills. Kabuki employs two musical ensembles, one onstage and the other offstage. It shares much of its repertoire with bunraku.


Kabila
Leader of rebel forces in Zaire (now Congo) that in 1997 overthrew the government of Mobutu Sese Seko. Kabila attended schools abroad, incl. military school in China, before participating in several Marxist-inspired uprisings in Zaire in the 1960s and '70s. He later became a trader in precious minerals and ivory. In the Rwandan civil war, Kabila collaborated with P. Kagame in attacking Hutu guerrilla groups in Zaire as well as Zairean government forces. His troops ousted Mobutu in 1997, and Kabila proclaimed himself president and renamed the country. His repressive policies soon led to a new and larger war, in which many African states sent troops and aid to both sides.


Kabir
Indian mystic and poet. A weaver who lived in Benares, he preached the essential oneness of all religions and was critical of both Hinduism and Islam for meaningless rites and mindless repetition. From Hinduism he accepted the ideas of reincarnation and the law of karma, but rejected idolatry, asceticism, and the caste system. From Islam he accepted the idea of one God and the equality of all men. Revered by both Hindus and Muslims, he is also considered a forerunner of Sikhism, and some of his poetry was incorporated into the Adi Granth. His ideas led to the founding of several sects, incl. the Kabir Panth, which regards Kabir as its principal guru or as a divinity.


Kaikei
Japanese sculptor who helped establish the traditional pattern of Buddhist sculpture. His technique, know as the Anami style, is noted for its gentleness and grace. Together with his teacher, Kokei, and his colleague Unkei, he made statues for the temples of Kofuku and Todai in Nara, Japan's ancient capital. He later became a monk and assumed the name Anami Butsu.


Kalinin
Russian communist leader and statesman. An early supporter of the Bolsheviks, he participated in the Russian Revolution of 1905 and cofounded Pravda. After the Russian Revolution of 1917 he served as mayor of ...

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