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...

Words cannot explain to an outsider the sight and feel of the Japanese stage. And definitions and descriptions do not convey an exact image to people brought up on a concept of the theatre that differs so greatly from the Japanese as ours. In seeing something foreign, too, our eyes must be guided carefully, so that we know what we are seeing and how to look at it profitably.All of us are to be grateful for this book, because now, without leaving our countries, or for that matter ou...

A highly distilled form of Japanese poetry, haiku consists of seventeen syllables, usually divided among three lines. Though brief, they tell a story or paint a vivid picture, leaving it to the reader to draw out the meanings and complete them in the mind's eye. Haiku often contains a hidden dualism (near and far, then and now, etc.) and has a seasonal tie-in, as well as specific word-images that reveal deeper layers in each poem.This unique collection spans over 400 years (1488–190...