Japanese Theatre

Japan boasts one of the world's oldest, most vibrant and most influential performance traditions. This accessible and complete history provides a comprehensive overview of Japanese theatre and its continuing global influence. Written by eminent international scholars, it spans the full range of dance-theatre genres over the past fifteen hundred years, including noh theatre, bunraku puppet theatre, kabuki theatre, shingeki modern theatre, rakugo storytelling, vanguard butoh dance and media experimentation. The first part addresses traditional genres, their historical trajectories and performance conventions. Part II covers the spectrum of new genres since Meiji (1868-), and Parts III to VI provide discussions of playwriting, architecture, Shakespeare, and interculturalism, situating Japanese elements within their global theatrical context. Beautifully illustrated with photographs and prints, this history features interviews with key modern directors, an overview of historical scholarship in English and Japanese, and a timeline. A further reading list covers a range of multimedia resources to encourage further explorations.

The first book of its kind: a collection of the most important genres of Japanese performance--noh, kyogen, kabuki, and puppet theater--in one comprehensive, authoritative volume.

Japanese Theatre presents a full historical account for Westerners of the theater arts that have flourished for centuries in Japan. Kabuki, arising in the late seventeenth century, is the theater of the commoner. The successive syllables of Kabuki mean "song – dance – skill." The precursors of Kabuki were the puppet theater and the comic interludes in the stately, aristocratic Noh drama – all fully described by the author. In the modem era the Japanese have broken away from Kabuki, and their stage has shown a realistic trend. Left–wing theater groups arose in the 1920’s, were suppressed by the militarists, and then revived during the occupation. Appended to the historical chapters are Mr. Bowers's translations of three Kabuki plays: The Monstrous Spider, Gappo and His Daughter Tsuji, and the bombastic Sukeroku. This book, with its many excellent photographs, is a permanent addition to the West's knowledge of the exotic, exciting theater of Japan and its tradition of great acting.

From ancient ritualistic practices to modern dance theatre, this study provides concise summaries of all major theatrical art forms in Japan. It situates each genre in its particular social and cultural contexts, describing in detail staging, costumes, repertory and noteworthy actors.

Senda Akihiko is one of Japan's finest and best-known modern drama critics. This collection of his essays, articles, and reviews from 1971 to 1987 presents international audiences with the first opportunity to experience the excitement and accomplishments of the theatrical revolution that has continued to sweep over the Japanese stage since the 1960s. Consistently judicious and honest, the essays reveal the excitement (or disappointment) of each phase in the unfolding "voyage" of contemporary Japanese theatre.

The Noh plays of Japan have been compared to the greatest of Greek tragedies for their evocative, powerful poetry and splendor of emotional intensity.

The first book of its kind: a collection of the most important genres of Japanese performance--noh, kyogen, kabuki, and puppet theater--in one comprehensive, authoritative volume.