Special Japan Theater Programming
This talk will explore the sharp satire of Tokugawa-period politics and society cleverly disguised in Honzō Mōmoku, a work of comic fiction compiled and published in the second half of the eighteenth century. While narrating the entertaining story of Haraga Bannai’s descent to the Underworld and his encounter with Enma, the King of Hell, this work alludes to period gossip on politics and economics. Making use of contemporary sources, I shall unravel the plot of Honzō mōmoku, demonstrating that the events narrated therein made a mockery of the bakufu administration and, in particular, of...
An introduction to the performance styles of modern kabuki stars Sakata Tōjūrō and Bandō Mitsugorō X. Performer and scholar Nakamura Gankyō offers a lecture comparing the kata and kaishaku, or “form” and “interpretation,” of famous scenes in the play Maiden at Dōjoji Temple (Musume Dōjōji). The lecture will conclude with a dance-performance. Nakamura Gankyō was born and raised in Southern California. He started his Nihon Buyō (Japanese Classical dance) training at the age of three from the Bandō School of Japanese Classical dance. As a young performer, Gankyō traveled through out the United...
