The honbutai is the main stage of performance. It is enclosed on the left and right by pillars called daijin-bashira, which are painted matte black and can be obscured by the scenery. The left side of the staging area, from the audience's perspective, is called shimote and the right side is called kamite.
Kabuki theaters use a specific curtain called a joshiki-maku, "predetermined-form curtain," which is a permanent fixture in the theater. It is usually made with vertical stripes of black, dark green and yellowish brown, colors symbolic of Kabuki.
In kabuki, the entire stage is set on a platform that can be raised and lowered. In a dramatic scene change, the lower level scenery lifts from beneath the stage before the audience's eyes. According to the Japan Arts Council, this lift was invented during the mid-Edo period in 1753 by Kabuki playwright Namiki Shoza. Electronics power modern seri, but their original counterparts relied on manpower alone. Modern stages can also have seri of multiple sizes. Ozeri, "big lift," move all the scenery while kozeri,"small lift," are used to lift an individual actor.
In addition to having lifts, the Kabuki stage is set on giant circular platform that can be rotated to reveal another set on the opposite side. The mawaributai was also invented by Namiki Shoza, only five years after the seri in 1758. This was also operated by manpower from below the stage. The workspace below the mawaributai was so unpleasantly dark and damp, lit only by candlelight, that it was given the name naraku -- "hell."
The hanamichi is a narrow strip of stage that extends from the main stage on the shimote, or left side, and passes through to the back of the audience. It is mainly used for actor entrances and exits, though many plays utilize it as various narrow spaces in the story, such as a road or river bank.
At the end of the hanamichi, in the back of the theater, is the agemaku, "entrance curtain," through which actors enter and exit. It is hung with metal rings over a steel bar so it makes a distinctive sound when used, thereby accentuating the actor's movement. It often has the seal of the theater company printed on it.
Named for the turtle's ability to raise its head from its shell, the suppon is a kozeri, or "small lift," placed on the narrow hanamichi near the main stage. It is used primarily for the entrance of supernatural characters, such as ghosts.
Kabuki uses a "yuka" to designate a small section set forward and to the right of the main stage, on the kamite side. This space is reserved for the speaker of the takemoto, Kabuki narration accompanied by shamisen. It does not move with the mawaributai and has its own small curtain called a misu, "bamboo curtain," which can be either raised or lowered as the takemoto is given.
The kuromisu is on the shimote, left side of the stage, and is separate, much like the yuka. Similar to the pit in Western theater, the kuromisu is a small space with black bamboo walls that conceals singers and musicians who provide music as emphasis and sound effects to the actions of the play. Often the music they provide is also called kuromisu in association with this space.
During the Edo period, Kabuki stages could lift harnessed actors into the air with the use of the kakesuji, a rope and dolly system set up on a catwalk above the narrow suppon. Sometimes even aerial fight scenes would be enacted in this way. This device is rarely found in modern Kabuki stages.