Download or read book Onnagata written by Maki Isaka and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2016-01-01 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kabuki is well known for its exaggerated acting, flamboyant costumes and makeup, and unnatural storylines. The onnagata, usually male actors who perform the roles of women, have been an important aspect of kabuki since its beginnings in the 17th century. In a “labyrinth” of gendering, the practice of men playing women’s roles has affected the manifestations of femininity in Japanese society. In this case study of how gender has been defined and redefined through the centuries, Maki Isaka examines how the onnagata’s theatrical gender “impersonation” has shaped the concept and mechanisms of femininity and gender construction in Japan. The implications of the study go well beyond disciplinary and geographic cloisters.
Download or read book Kabuki a Pocket Guide written by Ronald Cavaye and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2012-07-09 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kabuki A Pocket Guide introduces readers to the foundations of Kabuki--its history and its actors, its acting styles and its performance, its color and music--to the sheer beauty and joy of Kabuki. Kabuki, the popular theatre of Japan, began in about 1603 and is still flourishing today. It was the entertainment of the common people as opposed to Noh, the refined theatre of the aristocracy, and is a close relative of the Bunraku puppet theater. All the actors in Kabuki, even those who play female roles, are men and plays and dances deal with the love of the heroes and villains form Japans real or legendary past. Concise enough to take to performance, this pocket guide to Kabuki provides a wealth of fascinating information about plays, the actors, and their history. As only an insider can do, the author takes us behind the scene to meet the actors, attend rehearsal, and get a first-hand look at the makeup, costumes, sets and props that go into a Kabuki performance.
Download or read book The Kabuki Theatre of Japan written by Adolphe Clarence Scott and published by . This book was released on 1966 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Kabuki s Forgotten War written by James R. Brandon and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2008-10-31 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: According to a myth constructed after Japan’s surrender to the Allied Forces in 1945, kabuki was a pure, classical art form with no real place in modern Japanese society. In Kabuki’s Forgotten War, senior theater scholar James R. Brandon calls this view into question and makes a compelling case that, up to the very end of the Pacific War, kabuki was a living theater and, as an institution, an active participant in contemporary events, rising and falling in consonance with Japan’s imperial adventures. Drawing extensively from Japanese sources—books, newspapers, magazines, war reports, speeches, scripts, and diaries—Brandon shows that kabuki played an important role in Japan’s Fifteen-Year Sacred War. He reveals, for example, that kabuki stars raised funds to buy fighter and bomber aircraft for the imperial forces and that pro-ducers arranged large-scale tours for kabuki troupes to entertain soldiers stationed in Manchuria, China, and Korea. Kabuki playwrights contributed no less than 160 new plays that dramatized frontline battles or rewrote history to propagate imperial ideology. Abridged by censors, molded by the Bureau of Information, and partially incorporated into the League of Touring Theaters, kabuki reached new audiences as it expanded along with the new Japanese empire. By the end of the war, however, it had fallen from government favor and in 1944–1946 it nearly expired when Japanese government decrees banished leading kabuki companies to minor urban theaters and the countryside. Kabuki’s Forgotten War includes more than a hundred illustrations, many of which have never been published in an English-language work. It is nothing less than a com-plete revision of kabuki’s recent history and as such goes beyond correcting a significant misconception. This new study remedies a historical absence that has distorted our understanding of Japan’s imperial enterprise and its aftermath.
Download or read book Kabuki Heroes on the Osaka Stage 1780 1830 written by C. Andrew Gerstle and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The creation of celebrity and fame is a topic easily understandable in today's world of pop idol competitions and reality TV shows. This exhibition and catalogue will focus on a similar phenomenon of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when urban Osaka and Tokyo created superstar actors, and will show how this was a stimulus for the creation of theatre, visual arts and poetry. Visitors to the exhibition will be struck by a colourful and varied visual display through which actors were portrayed as legendary urban heroes. The dates of items included will range from about 1780 until the 1830s; but the core of the exhibition will cover the period 1800-1821, and focus on the fierce rivalry between the two Osaka Kabuki superstars, Arashi Kichisaburo II (Rikan I, 1769-1821) and Nakamura Utaemon III (Shikan I, 1778-1838). Books, surimono, single sheet actor prints and albums will highlight the different ways in which actors and performances were represented, and show how this was part of a complex strategy to create celebrity for the actors, poets and artists involved.
Download or read book The Red Devil Battery Sign written by Tennessee Williams and published by Dramatists Play Service Inc. This book was released on 1988 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is William's symbol for the military-industrial complex and all the dehumanizing trends it represents from mindless cocktail party chatter to bribery of officials to assassination plots directed against those who won't play the game, to attempted coups by right-wing zealots.
Download or read book Kabuki Plays on Stage Volume 2 written by James R. Brandon and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2002-05-31 with total page 427 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kabuki Plays On Stage represents a monumental achievement in Japanese theatre studies, being the first collection of kabuki play translations to be published in twenty-five years. Fifty-one plays, published in four volumes, vividly trace kabuki's changing relations to Japanese society during the premodern era. Volume 1 consists of thirteen plays that showcase early kabuki's scintillating and boisterous styles of performance and illustrates the contrasting dramatic techniques cultivated by actors in Edo (Tokyo) and Kamigata (Osaka and Kyoto). The twelve plays translated in Volume 2 cover a brief period, but one that saw important developments in kabuki architecture, acting, dance, and the manipulation of characters and themes. As the series title indicates, the plays were translated to capture the vivacity of performances on stage. The translations, each accompanied by a thorough introduction that contextualizes the play, are based not only on published texts, but performance scripts and the study of the plays as they are performed in theatres today. Each volume is lavishly illustrated with rare woodblock prints in full color of Tokugawa- and Meiji-period productions as well as color and black-and-white photographs of contemporary performances.
Download or read book Secrecy in Japanese Arts Secret Transmission as a Mode of Knowledge written by M. Morinaga and published by Springer. This book was released on 2005-05-05 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring the Japanese tradition of hidden (or the secret transmission of) knowledge within a closed and often hereditary group, the author investigates how esoteric practices function, how people make meaning of their practices, and how this form of esotericism survived into the modern age. These questions are examined through the use of esoteric texts from the 15th to 18th centuries and theatrical treatises from the late 19th century onwards.
Download or read book Kabuki s Nineteenth Century written by Jonathan Zwicker and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023-08-09 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kabuki's Nineteenth Century examines the theater culture of nineteenth-century Japan from the perspective of the history and materiality of the book, the nature of reception, and the making and making use of images. The aim of this book is to rediscover the kabuki theater of nineteenth-century Japan by shifting our critical focus from performance to print and the public sphere, and thus embedding theater history within the larger world of printed matter by means of which theatricality circulated beyond the stage and through which performance was most often consumed. Fundamental to Kabuki's Nineteenth Century is a reconsideration of the nature of the printed archive itself. The book argues that the archive of printed material related to the theater in nineteenth-century Japan (playbills, actor critiques, theater guides, maps, actor prints, calendars, and broadsheets) is something more than—and more complicated than—a set of materials out of which we might reconstitute the always transient event of performance. Rather, the archive constitutes an object of inquiry unto itself, an object that reveals as much about the interrelations between and among various printed media and genres circulating beyond the confines of the theater as it does about what happened on stage. Even as we use these materials to examine the history of performance, a series of different questions might be asked: what can the production, consumption, and collecting of this enormous body of printed matter tell us about such problems as the role of print in everyday life, the construction of specialized knowledges, and the manner in which a culture archives itself?
Download or read book Heroes of the Kabuki Stage written by Arendie Herwig and published by Brill Hotei. This book was released on 2004 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Heroes of the kabuki stage" is written for kabuki lovers and collectors of kabuki woodblock prints, eager to know more about the interesting images on their prints. This lavishly illustrated book has no precedent in a Western language outside Japan. The introduction to this form of theatrical art is placed in the historical and social context of Tokugawa and Meiji Japan between 1603 and 1912. Many of the conventions in the theatre are explained and practically all aspects of kabuki are investigated. The evolution of the playhouse itself, the fascinating interaction between actors and audiences, as well as the development of plays are discussed. There is no other theatre tradition with such elaborate costumes, make-up and variety of acting styles, and these aspects are explained in detail. A brief historical outline of actor prints and their designers, from both Edo (present-day Tokyo) and Osaka, is also included. A large section of the book is dedicated to retelling the 36 popular kabuki plays that are still performed today. Many theatre pieces have their origin in the Nô and puppet theatre traditions: all sources are mentioned in the short introduction to each retelling, which also include{s} detailed notes and references as well as gossip and anecdotes from the world of the theatre. The main scenes of each play and the actors in their leading roles are illustrated by woodblock prints, produced over a period of more than a century. The bibliography provides an up-to-date list of books and articles in Western languages about kabuki. Heroes of the kabuki stage is unique for its extensive index on roles, actors, playwrights, subjects and attributes, which will enable the reader and print collector to find his way in the spectacular world of kabuki.
Download or read book Historical Dictionary of Japanese Traditional Theatre written by Samuel L. Leiter and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2006-01-16 with total page 632 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Historical Dictionary of Japanese Traditional Theatre covers all four genres (nT, kyTgen, bunraku, and kabuki), providing information on nearly every aspect, including actors, theatres, companies, history, makeup, costumes, masks, biographies, theories, training, music, religion, criticism, and many more. This is done through hundreds of dictionary entries arranged alphabetically with abundant cross-references, a general introduction, a chronology, and a special glossary of all terms mentioned in the text but not provided with their own entries, all of which can be supplemented by consulting the most extensive bibliography of English-language Japanese theatre books, articles, and websites presently available.
Download or read book Handbook on the Economics of Cultural Heritage written by Ilde Rizzo and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 673 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cultural heritage is a complex and elusive concept, constantly evolving through time, and combining cultural, aesthetic, symbolic, spiritual, historical and economic values. The Handbook on the Economics of Cultural Heritage outlines the contribution of economics to the design and analysis of cultural heritage policies and to addressing issues related to the conservation, management and enhancement of heritage. The Handbook takes a multidisciplinary approach, using cultural economics as a theoretical framework to illustrate how crucial and stimulating cross-disciplinary dialogue actually is. Contributors scrutinise the co-existence of cultural and economic values as well as the new challenges that arise from changes brought about by technology, and relationships between the different actors engaged in the production, distribution and consumption of heritage services. The roles of public, private and non-profit organizations are also explored. Case studies underpin the discussion, demonstrating the clear and vital link between theory and practice. This highly unique Handbook will prove a fascinating and informative read for academics, researchers, students and policymakers with an interest in cultural economics.
Download or read book Japan s Modern Theatre written by Brian Powell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-12-16 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book endeavours to unravel the complicated skeins of Japanese theatre in the modern period and offers an appreciation of the richness of choice of presentational and representational theatre forms. Since the end of world War II there has been continuing but different conflict between the major theatrical genres. Kabuki continues to defend its ground successfully, but the 'new drama' (shingeki) became firmly established in its own right in the 1960s. It was a vigorous and exuberant 'underground' theatre which exploited anything and everything in the Japanese and western theatre traditions. Now, thirty years on, they too have been superseded. The youth theatre of the 1980s and 90s has thrown aside the concerns of the angry underground and developed a fast-moving bewilderingly kaleidoscopic drama of breath-taking energy.
Download or read book A Kabuki Reader written by Samuel L. Leiter and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-02-12 with total page 463 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unique in any Western language, this is an invaluable resource for the study of one of the world's great theatrical forms. It includes essays by established experts on Kabuki as well as younger scholars now entering the field, and provides a comprehensive survey of the history of Kabuki; how it is written, produced, staged, and performed; and its place in world theater. Compiled by the editor of the influential Asian Theater Journal, the book covers four essential areas - history, performance, theaters, and plays - and includes a translation of one Kabuki play as an illustration of Kabuki techniques.
Download or read book Brandon s Guide to Theater in Asia written by James R. Brandon and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2021-05-25 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From India to Japan, the theater of Asia spreads out like a brilliant kaleidoscope. There are dance-dramas, ballets, masked pantomimes, operas, operettas, shadow-plays, puppet-plays, and more. You will see not only actors and actresses, but elegant and exquisitely costumed court dancers, musicians, singers, and chanters. You will hear songs and heroic narratives and flights of poetic dialogue. Drums will thud and gongs will boom. Everywhere you go, the colors, sights, and sounds will vary enormously from place to place. But it is not easy to discover where theaters are, what types of plays are being staged, or the hours, days, and seasons of performance. The purpose of this Guide is to help the traveler in Asia find and enjoy exciting living theater. The author's personal experience and knowledge of theater in Asia will be an indispensable resource to the traveler who cares about theater, but knows little about Asia. Brandon describes and evaluates the many theatrical forms, itemizing in detail the festival or theater seasons and locations and types of theater buildings. The Guide also lists theater street addresses, phone numbers, best route to the theater, hours and days of performances, best and worst seats in the house, and times and places to buy tickets. Noted also is whether the theatergoer should bring a blanket, a folding chair, or a snack—or plan on a gourmet dinner in any one of several restaurants in a deluxe theater complex. Approximate prices (in each local currency) are given for tickets, taxis, meals, programs, etc. For each country there is a list of relevant books to read before, or upon, arrival; for each city there is a list of local newspapers, theater guides, and other sources of information.
Download or read book The Cambridge Guide to Theatre written by Martin Banham and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1995-09-21 with total page 1268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides information on the history and present practice of theater in the world.
Download or read book Rising from the Flames written by Samuel L. Leiter and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2009 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On August 15, 1945, when the war ended, almost all of Tokyo and Osaka's theaters had been destroyed or heavily damaged by American bombs. The Japanese urban infrastructure was reduced to dust, and so, one might have thought, would be the nation's spirit, especially in the face of nuclear bombing and foreign occupation. Yet, less than two weeks after the atom bombs had been dropped, theater began to show signs of life. Before long, all forms of Japanese theater were back on stage, and from death's ashes arose the flower of art. Rising from the Flames contains sixteen essays, many accompanied by photographic illustrations, by thirteen specialists. They explore the triumphs and tribulations of Occupation-period (1945-1952) theater, and cover not only such traditional forms as kabuki, no, kyogen, bunraku puppet theater (as well as the traditional marionette theater, the Yuki-za), and the comic narrator's art of rakugo, but also the modern genres of shingeki, musical comedy, and the all-female Takarazuka Revue. Among the numerous topics discussed are censorship, theater reconstruction, politics, internationalization, unionization, the search for a national identity through drama, and the treatment of the emperor on the pre- and postwar stage. The essays in this volume examine how Japanese theater, subject to oppressive thought control by prewar authorities, responded to the new--if temporarily limited--freedom allowed by the American occupiers, attesting to Japan's remarkable resilience in the face of national defeat.
