Is human hair used in kabuki wigs?

A kabuki wig is built quite differently from a Western one. The foundation is the daigane: a thin sheet of metal, copper among them, hammered to the shape of an individual actor's head. This is the wig's skeleton, made of metal so as to bear the weight of the topknot and survive violent movement. Into it the hair is drawn, strand by strand — the trade calls this step ke o tōsu, drawing the hair through.

That hair is chiefly human, for a simple reason: it must be dressed into a shape and hold it. A kabuki wig is redressed for each role and tended daily through a run, and synthetic fibre will not survive the repetition. Where particular texture or strength is wanted, yak hair and others are said to be used alongside it — yak has more spring than human hair and reaches greater lengths, which is why it also serves special purposes such as a lion's mane.

The work divides into two offices. The katsura-shi builds the wig itself, from shaping the metal base to drawing the hair through it. The tokoyama dresses the finished wig for each role and, through the run, repairs it daily, drawing out the sweat and setting it right. And crucially, one wig dressed differently changes a character's rank and nature entirely — townsman or samurai, young girl or older woman, respectable wife or courtesan, all declared by the shape of the topknot. This is why the wig is called not a prop but the role's own head.