Buddhism in Japan (Wikipedia)

Heian Period (794-1185, Wikipedia)

Liza Dalby's Tale of Murasaki website (info on the historical background for Dalby's fictionalized biography of Murasaki Shikibu, includingsynopsis of chapters of Tale of Genji etc.)

Medieval Period (Wikipedia): Kamakura (1185-1333) and Muromachi (1337-1573)

NHK educational videos on Japanese Theater (includes kyogen from "Nihongo de Asobo," short excerpts from Bunraku and Kabuki staged for television)

NOH THEATER

The Tradition of Performing Arts in Japan: Noh, Kabuki, Bunraku: Noh segment (Adachigahara, aka Kurozuka). Click here to purchase video (GPN Educational Media)

The Noh-com (includes an introduction to Noh; English translations of a number of plays, updated monthly, along with photo slide shows of performances; a database of masks and terminology, and a schedule of current performances in Japan. Not the best examples of translation -- too literal--but includes a number of plays that have not been translated previously. Also the Japanese is a modern translation, not the original text.)

Introduction to Noh and Kyogen (Introduction to Noh and Kyogen, including masks, costumes, props, etc. Includes short excerpts of Noh [Izutsu] and Kyogen [Boshibari])

Basic Knowledge to Enjoy Noh (Short introduction in English including play types, roles, stage, costuming the male ghost in Kayoi Komachi, costuming the female ghost in Matsukaze

Noh theater blog The Noh Diaries: by Dr. Diego Pellecchia (on current events in the Noh world)

This is Noh segments: Intro to Stage, 5 categories: Takasago, Category 2: Yashima, Category 3: Izutsu, Category 4: Sumidagawa , Category 4: Ataka, Category 5: Nomori, Roles, Yashima-training, Kata movement forms, Dojoji, Masks, Izutsu (well-curb scene), Training

Older intro to Noh (focuses on Izutsu]

Ono no Komachi in Noh [BROKEN] (includes the opening section of Sotoba Komachi and a list of links to other Komachi sites)

Atsumori Learning Site (a test site for the Global Performing Arts Database that includes the background story of Atsumori and an interactive text)

Costuming a Warrior for a Japanese Noh Play (test site for the Global Perforing Arts Database that takes the viewer through the process of costuming the shite actor in Atsumori)

Aoi no ue (full performance, no subtitles)

Adachigahara (full performance, no subtitles)

Atsumori (full performance, no subtitles)

Atsumori (final dance from same performance as above)

Dojoji: Kanze Kiyokazu (b. 1959) performing the ranbyoshi dance

Dojoji (3 min., just the ranbyoshi dance)

Dojoji (just the exorcism)

Dojoji (video about preparing to do Dojoji for the first time; performance starts about 30 minutes into the video)

Funa Benkei (Benkei on a Boat): full length production (no subtitles). Shizuka Gozen is costumed as a traditional shirabyoshi dancer (white robe and court cap). Compare to this Kabuki version of Funa Benkei performed outdoors at a shrine (a bit distant and not great quality but good for purposes of comparison).

Hagoromo (Kita school, full performance, no subtitles)

Hagoromo(takigi torchlight noh, nice opening sequence setting up torches)

NHK special in English on Noh with the director/comedian Beat Takeshi (Kitano Takeshi), using Hagoromo as example

Kakitsubata (The Iris) images: video begins with several shimai. The play begins at 19:40 with the entrance of the shite. In Japanese, no subtitles.

Kayoi Komachi photo story

Video of Kayoi Komachi

Sotoba Komachi images, photo story

Sotoba Komachi (really old B/W)]

part 1 (Komachi enters)

part 2 (meeting priests)

part 3

part 4 (Komachi puts on Captain Fukakusa's cap and dances)

Okina: performed by the Kongo-Ryu (No subtitles)

Sesshoseki (The Death Stone, segment where fox exits death stone, no subtitles)

Takasago (full performance, no subtitles)

Shunkan (full performance, no subtitles)

Sumidagawa (excerpt of scene where she finds her son)

Tsuchigumo(The Earth Spider)

YAMANBA (or Yamamba)

Yamanba(part 1: kuse B)

Yamanba (part 2: Kuse C)

Yamanba(part 3: Kuse A')

Yamanba(part 4: Kuse C')

Yamanba(shimai of last section)

Yamanba(shimai of kuse)

Yamabna(full performance)

Glossary of Noh Theater terms (another test site for the Global Perforing Arts Database: incomplete but includes a number of images of costumes, and detailed descriptions of both masks and costumes, as well as the major technical terms used in Noh and Kyogen)

List of Noh videos on Youtube

List of Noh Play Translations ( English translations in various books and articles.)

Japanese Text Initiative: Japanese text and English translations of fifteen Noh plays; includes two glossaries of technical terms in Noh

KYOGEN

Nomura Mansai special on Sanbaso (ritual performance at New Year's) with English Subtitles

Performance by Shigeyama Family at University of Chicago (includes Sanbaso, The Persimmon Thief, Mushrooms with short intros in English, but no subtitles)

Performance by Shigeyama Family at Library of Congress (includes Boshibari [Tied to a Stick], Neongyoku, Kagyu (The Snail)

Nomura Mansai performing styles of the sliding walk (suri-ashi) in Kyogen (also works for Noh)

Izumi School Kyogen actor Ogasawara Tadashi's website (English and Japanese)

Delicious Poison (Busu) starting at the moment where Taro Kaja and Shiro Kaja figure out the "poison" is sugar. No subtitles

new kyogen about Kaminari and Delicious Poison performance for children; Delicious Poison includes fanning around 3:50.

Mushrooms (Kusabira) in Japanese, no subtitles

Kaki yamabushi (Persimmon Yamabushi) in Japanese, no subtitles.

Shido hogaku (Hold Your Horses) plus Tsukimi zato (Blindman Viewing the Moon) in Japanese no subtitles

The Snail (Kagyu) very brief video without subtitles; Nomura Mansai and his son

Kaketori

Ichigo muko with Nomura Mansai

Chidori by the Yamatoza Kyogen troop

Buaku 1966 (B&W) performance by Nomura Manzai and Nomura Mansaku. Humorous example of demonic ghost.

Uoseppo performance by Nomura Mansaku.

Iroha Children's Kyogen: two very young (5 and 3 year-old) female members of the Shigeyama family (Okura School) performing for the first time on stage. No subtitles. Good illustration of training at a very young age, and the move within Kyogen to let daughters perform professionally.

Kyogen in English (Don Kenny's website, includes translations)

To Purchase Kyogen Videos (Academic Video Store): "Kyogen Classic: Poison Sugar" and "This is Kyogen"

FUSION THEATER: KYOGEN AND NOH WITH WESTERN THEATER

Theatre Nohgaku blog (Theatre Nohgaku runs workshops for foreigners on various aspects of Noh theater including music, costumes, and playwriting. The director is Richard Emmert, a qualified teacher in the Kita School of Noh. This blog includes extended summaries of Dojoji, Yamamba, Kayoi Komachi, Kurozuka etc. It also includes full scripts of Noh plays written in English and various workshop participants' thoughts on topics related to noh such as Jo-ha-kyu, Fudo Myoo and "Beyond the Agemaku.")

Begin Japanology Interview with Richard Emmert

Theatre of Yugen website (A San Francisco-based fusion theater group who do primarily Noh and Kyogen-influenced work, but sometimes incorporate other traditional Japanese theater forms, especially Bunraku. They also run workshops.)

Theatre of Yugen blog

EARLY MODERN HISTORY (EDO/ TOKUGAWA PERIOD

ONLINE LECTURE ON EDO PERIOD

Samurai Culture

Edo/Tokugawa Period (1603-1868, Wikipedia)

BUNRAKU

The Tradition of Performing Arts in Japan: Noh, Kabuki, Bunraku: Bunraku segment

BROKEN Introduction to Bunraku Puppet Theater (in English) (includes a short history of Bunraku, lots of pictures, and descriptions of chanters, shamisen, making puppets etc.)

BROKEN Introduction to Bunraku (in Japanese) (same as above, with even more info and pictures)

NHK World Begin Japanology: Bunraku (excellent intro to stagecraft in Bunraku, plus short excerpts from Sugawara's Secrets of Calligraphy, Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees, Ch?shingura -- A Treasury of Loyal Retainer, Benkei Joshi [thematizes conflict between giri duty and ninjo love)

NHK Begin Japanology Plus: Bunraku

Bunraku: Masters of Japanese Puppet Theater: This program presents the story of Bunraku through two of its greatest masters, puppeteer Tamao Yoshida and chanter Sumitayu Takemoto. Brought together for the last performance of the 20th century, these two "living national treasures" transform ancient tales of old Japan into vibrant human drama. Cameras go backstage to capture the immense preparations and grueling, rarely seen rehearsals for their exquisite rendition of the masterpiece Shinju Ten no Amijima. Performance begins around 42:00.

Intro to Bunraku (5 minutes): opens with Shunkan, Love Suicides at Sonezaki, excellent two minute illustration of how the puppets work. The chanter and lead puppeteers for Love Suicides at Sonezaki are the same as in Masters of Japanese Puppet Theater.

Bunraku: Creative Arts Television Documentary Part 1: Older video narrated by Fabion Bowers, with excerpts from Love Suicides at Sonezaki

Bunraku: Creative Arts Television Documentary Part 2

KABUKI

The Tradition of Performing Arts in Japan: Noh, Kabuki, Bunraku: Kabuki segment

Form in Kabuki Acting by Leonard Pronko

"Invitation to Kabuki" site (Japan Arts Council): lots of information, clips of techniques and famous plays

Video: Kabuki the Classic Theater of Japan (old but still useful 30-minute introduction to Kabuki)

Kabuki21.com (most comprehensive site on Kabuki in English; includes synopses of most major plays, definitions of terms, guide to actors, also current schedule of performance

 Portrait of an Onnagata

Invitation to Kabuki (Unesco site; does not include any photographs because Shochiku owns them all, but nice illustrations -- also true of Kabuki21. Good page on Shibaraku.)

Kabuki Kool (by NHK World) Homepage: Program 1 (Ichikawa Somegoro introduces Kabuki, with excerpts from Renjishi, Yotsuya Ghost Stories, Soga Brothers, Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees, Fuji Musume); Program 2 (on Onnagata female role specialists, including a great excerpt from Dote no oroku performed by Bando Tamasaburo [14.40], as well as the famous roles of Masaoka and Yaegaki and a bit on costumes at the end;) Program 3 (Stagecraft in Kabuki, includes some spectacular footage of performances by Ichikawa Ennosuke). Program 4 (Ch?shingura, A Treasury of Loyal Retainers); Program 5 (famous male roles, including excerpts from Sugawara's Secrets of Calligraphy, Kumagai Jinya, Kuruwa Bunsho - Love Letter from the Licensed Quarters; Sakana Sogoro - Fish Peddler Sogoro, Kochiyama - The Villanous Tea Priest

Other Kabuki Kool episodes:

Kabuki music

Kabuki sound

Kabuki props and stage equipment

Kabuki Heroes (four male types: wagoto in Love Letter, strong townsman in Sukeroku, iroaku in Kasane, Kampei's suicide in Chushingura

Aragoto Heroes

Kamigata Kabuki (wagoto)

Chikamatsu Monzaemon (includes Love Suicides at Amijima)

Temptresses (includes Narukami)

Kabuki plays based on Noh and Kyogen

Onnagata costumes

Onnagata and dance

Tachimawari fight scenes

Visit to the Kabukiza theater

Genpei Nunobiki no Taki

Battles of Coxinga

Yoshitsune senbon zakura

Married Love

Four seasons of Kabuki

Kabuki and Ukiyo-e

Women of different social classes

NHK World Begin Japanology: Kabuki (30 minute intro to Kabuki in English)

Kabuki in Depth : short intros to current productions, short introductions to major plays

Documentary about Ichikawa Somegoro (from Kabuki Cool) as a child Kabuki actor.

Bando Tamasaburo: in his seventies, but still the leading onnagata actor in the Kabuki world. There are many, many videos of his dance performances on youtube, including full-length productions of Dojoji, Sagi Musume, Yamamba, and a great remix of Tamasaburo dancing Orochi (The Great Serpent) to Daft Punk.

Kabuki Cool on Bando Tamasaburo (great opening montage, Musume Dojoji)

Short tribute to Bando Tamasaburo

10 minute dance by Bando Tamasaburo narrated by Paul Griffiths (courtesan in pleasure quarters -- great for understanding onnagata dance roles)

LA Times article about Bando Tamasaburo from 1994

Excerpt from Sagi Musume (Heron Maiden) performed by Tamasaburo, with hikinuki quick change at beginning. Narrated in English by Paul Griffiths.

Japanese documentary on Bando Tamasaburo

Tribute to Ichikawa Danjuro

Ichikawa Ebizo XI: montage 1, montage 2 advertisements for Ebizo's for first (2013) and second (2014) independently produced month-long productions at Kabuki-za. A five minute tribute to Ebizo by a fan (in English) from 2017.

Ichikawa Ebizo XI's 2018 production of Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari), done Kabuki style with elements taken from the Noh Aoi no Ue. In Japanese no subtitles.

Ichikawa Ebizo XI's production of Star Wars (in Japanese); for more about the production click here (unfortunately the English voice-over has been taken down)

Ebizo's daughter Reika takes the Buyo stage name Ichikawa Botan at 8 years of age (2019, in Japanese)

Ichikawa Ennosuke: 30-minute introduction to Ennosuke's spectacular innovations of the 1980s, which he called "Super Kabuki."

Shochiku Official Site: provides information about current Kabuki productions being produced by Shochiku in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto.

Kabuki Kumadori Makeup (images)

List of Kabuki excerpts on Youtube

Cocoon Kabuki: smaller group of Kabuki actors, originally led by actor Nakamura Kanzaburo XVIII and director Kushida Kazuyoshi, doing edgy versions of Kabuki in a relatively small theater. Great place to see Kabuki up close without paying Kabuki-za prices.

Chushingura (Treasury of Loyal Retainers)

Chushingura part 1 (English subtitles) opening until Enya Hangan draws his sword

Chushingura part 2 (English subtitles) Enya Hangan commits suicide

Chushingura scene michiyuki scene of Kampei and Okaru traveling back to her family-- nice example of a comic villain samurai (Bannai), highly stylized tachimawari fighting

longer version of michiyuki scene with Tamasaburo and Ichikawa Danjuro

Chushingura Gion Ichiriki Teahouse scene (1:11:39 Okaru begins telling how she read the letter)

Short excerpt from Ichiriki Teahouse scene with Tamasaburo as Okaru

Same scene done in Bunraku

Kabuki in Depth: Chushingura Part 1 explained

Kabuki in Depth: Chushingura Part 2 Attack at the Mansion explained

Kabuki in Depth: Chushingura Part 3 Hangan Suicide explained

Kabuki in Depth: Chushingura Part 4 Kampei suicide explained

Same scene in Bunraku

Kabuki in depth: Chushingura Part 5 The Gion Teahouse Scene explained

Kabuki in Depth: Chushingura Part 6 final Scene Explained

Ichinotani futaba gunki

Suma Bay Scene: this is a non-professional, outdoor performance. This particular scene appears to be very popular for performance by non-professional actors, especially children -- lots of videos on youtube.

Kumagai jinya (Kabuki Kool excerpt starts at around 8; episode starts with Terakoya, another play in which a father sacrifices his son to pay a debt of giri)

Musume Dojoji (The Maiden at Dojoji Temple)

Kabuki Kool: Plays based on Noh and Kyogen (Review of Noh Dojoji @ 2:30; Kabuki @ 5:35-8)

Video: Kabuki the Classic Theater of Japan (Musume Dojoji starts at 8:55. Hikinuki at 12:30)

Bando Tamasaburo performance of Musume Dojoji

part 1 (maiden enters on hanamichi and addresses priests)

part 2 (maiden answers priests questions, and gets entrance; 5:30 ("other than flowers there is only the pine" and ranbyoshi)

part 3 (dance continues; hikinuki begins about 0:45

part 4 (dance continues)

part 5 (dance continues, ends with dancer on top of bell)

Narukami

Video: NHK dubbed introduction to Narukami with Ichikawa Danjuro and Bando Tamasaburo (9:52 backrub, 13 drinking/scroll breaks; 15 description of bukkaeri;16:25 explanation by Danjuro of his acting motivation; 21:15 final transformation)

Video: Kabuki Kool Narukami (from 14-22)

Video: link to google drive with Narukami (both versions at 43; 1:11 frees dragon; 1:14 Narukami transforms)

Shibaraku

Invitation to Kabuki: Shibaraku (includes image of catfish priest)

Shinju Ten no Amijima

Kabuki version (overdubbed English). (Shinju ten no Amijima title)

Kabuki version (same actors as above, but better video. Japanese no subtitles). Jihei enters at 28

Kabuki Kool version (English overdubbing; includes Kawasho, scene with Osan, suicide at end)

Kawasho Teahouse scene (divided into 7 parts; in Japanese, no subtitles): 1 , 2 , 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Film by Shinoda Masahiro based on Love Suicides at Amijima (no subtitles).

Opening credits (we see a Bunraku puppet play of Shinju ten no Amijima being set up, plus a conversation between the director and his location person about where to film the suicide scene)

Jihei's entrance: Jihei enters the pleasure quarters. Warning: contains some nudity.

Tahei tells Koharu why she'd be better off with him rather than Jihei

Jihei's suicide scene with kurogo. (Jihei stabs Koharu, then uses her obi to hang himself from a torii gate, with the help of kurogo)

 

Shunkan (full Kabuki performance, no subtitles)

Sakurahime (segment, in Japanese, with Tamasaburo Bando and Kataoka Takao)

Sukeroku performed by Ichikawa Danjuro XII (Sukeroku) and Bando TamasaburoV (Agemaki). No subtitles. Introduction by Danjuro's son Ichikawa Ebizo XI. One of the last performances at the old Kabuki-za (2010), and one of Ichikawa Danjuro's last major performances (he died in 2013).

Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan (short excerpts from a recent performance, in Japanese no subtitles)

Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan (B&W video of 1956 performance)

Canal scene

Taisho Yotsuya Kaidan part 1, part 2 (2002 Bunkamura performance, in Japanese with no subtitles) This is not Kabuki (female actors and modern Japanese in Shinpa style) but intentionally includes many kabuki-like effects, including showing the hand-driven revolving and stage-tricks such as the board gettting pulled out of the river (part 2 at 17:00). It is a full performance of the Yotsuya Kaidan story; most modern kabuki performances eliminate the secondary story of Oiwa's sister and simply concentrate on Oiwa's transformation and haunting of Iemon, but that secondary story is fully included here. It eliminates the idyllic dream vision from Kabuki.

Cocoon kabuki performance Yotsuya Kaidan at Bunkamura that appears to have been influenced by the 2002 performance above (trailer). Shinpa Kabuki style, with onnagata but combinig elements from Kabuki and modern theater (in Japanese)

Invitation to Kabuki: Intro to Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan (includes three famous scenes: hair combing, the wooden board in canal, danmari)

Kabuki Kool (Yotsuya Kaidan starts @ 7)

TV show on the Ichikawa acting family: this episode is on Ichikawa Danjuro VII and VIII in Chushingura and Yotsuya Kaidan.(In Japanese)

Sakura Sogoro

Kabuki Kool: Sakura Sogoro

Fitzwilliam Museum (virtual exhibition of Kabuki in woodblock prints by Kunisada)

MEIJI PERIOD HISTORY

Meiji Japan (1868-1912, Wikipedia)

MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY THEATER AND PERFORMANCE

The Association for Asian Performance

SHINPA

The Demon Pond (Yashagaike) 1979 movie version (director Shinoda Masahiro with Bando Tamasaburo as Yuri and Yuki). Shinoda also did a famous film version of Love Suicides at Amijima,English title Double Suicide (1969)

On youtube (14 segments)

The Demon Pond 2005 filmed performance version (director Miike Takashi)

brief excerpt of opening scene on youtube (French subtitles)

TAKARAZUKA

Takarazuka: link to the official home page (in English)

Takarazuka: link to the official home page (in Japanese)

Rose of Versailles (Berusaiyu no bara): web page with info about Takarazuka version

BUTOH

Butoh: Piercing the Mask (youtube video)

Butoh: Body on the Edge of Crisis (youtube video)

Essential Drama: World Theater Traditions-Butoh (includes short intro to Butoh, clips, section on influence in Europe and elsewhere)

Akaji Maro and Dairakudakan

Links to images of major Butoh groups: the images are mainly taken off video, so are a bit blurry

Ono no Komachi done Butoh Style

Info on Butoh teachers: If you are overcome with a desire to learn Butoh, here are the teachers willing to take you on....

Endo Tadashi (teaches Butoh in Europe) on Butoh

POST-SHINGEKI THEATER

Aleksander Street Press: Asian Film Online

Theater in Japan: Yesterday and Today Includes clips from Ota Shogo (Water Station, 8:55), Suzuki Tadashi (14:10 opens with training method of stamping; 16:55 clip of Ibsen's The Cherry Orchard with Shiraishi Kayoko, including an enka song), Dai San Erotica, Yume no Yuminsha

To access from UCI search lib.uci.edu for "Theater in Japan" and click on first entry, then click on #1 online version. Link at top "Theater in Video via Alexander Stree Press. Restricted to UCI." You need to access on campus or via VPN.

Ôta Shôgo (1939-2007): See Theater in Japan above

The Water Station (Mizu no Eki)

GloPARC site: Interactive Script of Scene 1 of The Water Station (Mizu no Eki)

Scene 1 image slide show

(All Scenes)

Youtube video of full length production

Tale of Komachi Told on the Wind (Komachi Fuden)

Images from 1986 performance of Komachi Fuden by Theater of Yugen, with Yuriko Doi in the lead

background provided for a performance of Komachi Fuden by Theatre Yugen in San Francisco; images of the performance in 1986

images from various versions, including the original 1977 version.

Video: Ota Shoga no Sekai [Library# PN1997 0838 2008] : opening entrance of Komachi (through 9:00); interaction with the young man next door as the Fukakusa Captain (around 22)

trailer of a 2015 production

Suzuki Tadashi (1939-): Scot (Suzuki Company of Toga) site

See above under Theater in Japan

Suzuki Training Method (MIT Global Shakespeares)

Waiting for Orestes: Electra opening

The Bachae from Piercing the Mask@22 climactic death scene done Butoh style with Ashikawa Yoko

Trojan Women (Las Troyanas) full production ]

Suzuki's Creative Trajectory in Toga Documentary about SCOT theater productions; The Tale of King Lear @24

Gabor Victor Kozma teaching Suzuki Method in Europe and discussing it, especially the "invisible body"

Ninagawa Yukio (1935-2016): Hamlet different, less "traditional" version at the Barbican 2015

Mishima Yukio's Sotoba Komachi and Aoi no Ue (excerpts)

Mishima's Sotoba Komachi and Aoi no Ue (full performance)

Maurice Bejart and Bando Tamasburo performing Kurozuka

SHAKESPEARE IN JAPAN

Shakespeare in Asia: collaborative, multilingual online archive of performance materials related to Shakespeare in East and Southeast Asia.

Global Shakespeares: The Global Shakespeares Video & Performance Archive is a collaborative project providing online access to performances of Shakespeare from many parts of the world as well as essays and metadata by scholars and educators in the field. Includes a number of videos of contermpoary Japanese stage productions of Shakespeare, which often include traditional theater techniques and stagecraftMi

OTHER DANCE/THEATER TROUPES

Dumb Type: "Or"

Dumb Type S/N part 1, Part 2 (mixture of clips from performance and interviews with director)