Japanese Theatre in Highlight

By Francis Haar, Earle Ernst and Faubion Bowers

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 our armchairs, we can peer at leisure into expertly selected, edited and glossed highlights of the three great classical theatre arts of Japan-Noh, Bunraku and Kabuki.

The Fifty-four ensuing photographs, with their textual commentary, are the equivalent, in my mind, of fifty-four choice seats at some of the best performances in modern Japan and intimate visits backstage.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
• Release date: Nov 10, 2010
• ISBN: 9781462913114

Book preview

JAPANESE THEATRE IN HIGHLIGHT

FRANCIS HAAR is the author of numerous other camera studies, including The Best of Old Japan (Tuttle, Tokyo, 1951) and Japanese Diving Girls (in preparation).

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EARLE ERNST, Ph.D., is the Director of the University Theatre, University of Hawaii.

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FAUBION BOWERS is the author of Japanese Theatre (Hermitage House, New York, 1952).

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JAPANESE THEATRE IN HIGHLIGHT

A Pictorial Commentary

BY

FRANCIS HAAR

TEXT BY Earle Ernst

INTRODUCTION BY Faubion Bowers

Published in Japan by Charles E. Tuttle Company

of Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan

Editorial offices:

Osaki Shinagawa-ku,

Tokyo 141-0032

ISBN: 978-1-4629-1311-4 (ebook)

First published in December 1952

Copyright in Japan by Charles E. Tuttle Co.

All rights reserved

Printed in Japan

by Heiwa Shashin Seihan Insatsu Co., Tokyo

FOREWORD

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 our armchairs, we can peer at leisure into expertly selected, edited and glossed highlights of the three great classical theatre arts of Japan—Noh, Bunraku and Kabuki. The fifty-four ensuing photographs, with their textual commentary, are the equivalent, in my mind, of fifty-four choice seats at some of the best performances in modern Japan and intimate visits backstage.

But this book is not just for the uninformed stranger. It is also for the student, the actor, the artist. I remember vividly one night at the home of the Sixth Kikugoro, a year or so before his death. After