A very small gripe: it just occurred to me that, as far as I know (not much :-), there were no female actors in kabuki at the time; all the roles were played by men.

If that's actually the case, you may want to tweak the phrase “female impersonators” that were common within kabuki theatre."

 that were common within kabuki theatre

Guter Vorschlag!

@ #9:

You’ve certainly managed to confuse me. :-)

The argument, as I understand it, goes something like this:

• People used to think this figure was a man impersonating a woman.
• More recently, some people have begun to think that maybe it’s a woman taking her fashion cues from a man impersonating a woman.

In which case steve_hicks has done a perfectly good job of translating it, barring the few quibbles mentioned above. No? :-)

Sure. But

People used to think the figure represented a traditional young man.

and

People used to think the figure represented a traditional onnagata.

are not quite the same thing. It seems clear to me that the author wrote the first, though I am not 100% convinced that they meant to do so. No criticism of the OP translation in that respect was intended.

Der Text lautet doch: einen traditionellen jungen Mann in der Rolle einer weiblichen Tänzerin.

FWIW, aus dem Wiki-Link im OP :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onnagata

 Onnagata (女形/女方, lit. "female role") (also oyama (女形)) are male actors who play female roles in kabuki theatre.[1]

 History

  The modern all-male kabuki was originally known as yarō kabuki ("male kabuki") to distinguish it from earlier forms. In the early 17th century, shortly after the emergence of the genre, many kabuki theaters had an all-female cast (onna kabuki), with women playing men's roles as necessary. Wakashū kabuki ("adolescent-boy kabuki"), with a cast composed entirely of attractive young men playing both male and female roles, and frequently dealing in erotic themes, originated circa 1612.[2]: 90 

Both onnagata and wakashū (or wakashū-gata), actors specializing in adolescent female roles (and usually adolescents themselves), were the subject of much appreciation by both male and female patrons, and were often prostitutes. All-male casts became the norm after 1629, when women were banned from appearing in kabuki due to the prevalent prostitution of actresses and violent quarrels among patrons for the actresses' favors.[2]: 90–91 This ban failed to stop the problems, since the young male (wakashū) actors were also fervently pursued by patrons. ...

 that were common within kabuki theatre

Guter Vorschlag! (#6)

? Es geht doch darum, dass der vom OP gemachte Vorschlag (eben der Satz oben) NICHT wirklich gut ist und redcranes anregt, ihn zu ändern. Mir ist jetzt nicht klar, ob du den Originalsatz unterstützt (und #5 also widersprichst).