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The appeal of Asian Theater in America today confirms that the theatre of the Far East is a remarkable and catalytic experience for a Western audience. Staging Japanese Theatre presents two complete plays in the theatrical forms of Noh and Kabuki. Each play appears in Japanese with English translations on facing pages and is pre-ceded by a brief history of the theatre form and the evolution of the production. The text contains an abundance of photographs, diagrams, and the stage directions from the IASTA performance. ... Read more

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One of the most comprehensive handbooks available on Kabuki theatre provides readers with all the information they need to understand and appreciate this exciting amalgam of dramatic and musical arts. A clear and thoughtfully written text describes the theater’s development in the context of Japanese history, with detailed analyses of actors’ techniques, music and dance, plays and playwrights, the playhouse’s design evolution, and six representative Kabuki plays. Includes glossary of Japanese terms. Invaluable to students, scholars and anyone intrigued by classical Japanese theater.
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This work provides a complete introduction to the traditional Japanese Kabuki drama. Featuring sections on the appreciation of Kabuki, characteristics of the plays, machinery peculiar to Kabuki, the best Kabuki plays, Kabuki techniques, and symbolism used in the plays, the book will provide any traveller with the background knowledge necessary to appreciate and participate in Japanese culture.

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Describing the onstage magic and the backstage hierarchy that is Kabuki, this book looks at the 500-year-old spectacle of dance, music and elaborate costume from an actor's point of view. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

interesting but flawed
Interesting but the author arrived quite late on the kabuki stage and in an unconventional fashion.Generally kabuki dynasties are long held and quite prestegious.This is explained clearly by Mr. Nakamura.I wonder, however, if the story is all that complete without a view from a family or actors that have been entrenched in the world of kabuki for 2 or 3 hundred years and may have a remarkably different perspective on their world.Only a nagging feeling that I couldn't shake while I read this tome. ... Read more

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This text documents the tumultuous lives and flamboyant careers of three formative figures in the world of kabuki, riddled with the sex and intrigue that pervaded the early theatre. ... Read more

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Masakatsu Gunji, one of Japan's scholars of kabuki, tells of its 16th-century origins and its modern stagings in this book. Photographs of famous stage scenes, special effects and classical performances are included. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

trip to the Kabuki-za theatre
Well done.Like a trip to the Kabuki-za theatre. Large format draws you in and captivates imagination.Beautiful photography. ... Read more

Product Description
Kabuki has been a part of Japanese culture for nearly four centuries. This revision of the 1979 Kabuki Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive reference source on Japan's kabuki theatre in any language other than Japanese. The present volume, a massive updating and expansion of the original, includes many new illustrations, a lengthy and detailed index, thorough cross-referencing, greatly expanded descriptions of plays, an extensive bibliography of English-language and Japanese sources, and more than 400 new entries. A major feature is the inclusion of Japanese characters for all main entry terms, titles, and names. The entries are arranged alphabetically, and the volume's appendices include a chronological table of kabuki history, a list of all major or formal play titles, a list of all variant or popular titles, genealogical charts, and a list of all major actors' stage nicknames (yago) currently in use. ... Read more

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Kabuki--the nearly 400-year-old Japanese theatricalart--was never intended to mirror life but to be much larger, moregrandiose. In this it amply succeeds, as anyone who has had thepleasure of seeing Kabuki would agree. To relive that experience, orto partake of it for the first time one step removed, there is no moreexciting means than that provided by Kabuki Today. In thispreeminently visual introduction, the photographs of Kabukiphotographer Shunji Ohkura capture the splendor and drama of Kabuki asno others have before.

Beautifully illustrated throughout in both color and black and white,the Kabuki theater is explained in an essay by Donald Keene and inconcise commentary by Kabuki literati Iwao Kamimura. The essence ofKabuki--its defining characteristics, tradition, principal stagefeatures, makeup and costumes, stories, characters, outstandingactors, dance and music, and ongoing growth--is presentedunadorned. No word is wasted, no illustration without its point,making Kabuki Today an eminently enjoyable reading experience.

Professional follower of Kabuki for over thirty years, Shunji Ohkurahas chosen from his vast library the most superlative photos forinclusion in Kabuki Today. It is thus not surprising that the bookshould meet the highest standards for visual excellence, either as afirst-time introduction to Kabuki or as a reacquaintance. ... Read more