Kabuki and Pokemon (and other Japanese cinema)

[Sylvia Chong]

Dear KineJapaners,

Are any of your kabuki experts by any chance? There's an image in 
Pokemon where the villains from Team Rocket dress up as Kabuki 
characters. (If you haven't seen this, I've put up the image at 
http://www.wenet.net/~schong/kabuki.jpg).  I was wondering if the 
costumes they are wearing are generic kabuki-like costumes, or are 
actually famous characters from kabuki plays.

This reminds me of other films in which the kabuki characters played 
by particular actors seem to figure into the narrative. I'm thinking 
of Mizoguchi's "The Last Chrysanthemum" and Ichikawa's "An Actor's 
Revenge." I have read Donald Kirihara on the Mizoguchi and Keiko 
McDonald on the Ichikawa -- are there any other sources that you have 
found interesting on this topic?

Sylvia