Today we have a special guest post from Florentyna Leow on the world’s first theatre expressly devoted to regular Butoh performances. Butoh is an avant-garde dance style originating in Japan. First developed by Kazuo Ono and Hijikata Tatsumi in the 1960s, one of the central features of Butoh is its very indefinability - it is difficult to attach a definition or set of … [Read more...]
A First View of Kabuki
My latest article for Inside Kyoto is about a visit to Kyoto's Minamiza Theater to see a kabuki show. Going to see kabuki is one of those things I have long wanted to do, but somehow I had never gotten around to - until now. I had strong doubts before going about whether I could enjoy it, as I knew that the language would be archaic and difficult to understand. In the event I … [Read more...]
‘Introduction to Noh theatre’ begins at Impact Hub Kyoto this Spring
‘Introduction to Noh theatre’ by The International Noh Institute (INI) is a 6-session course at Impact Hub Kyoto, aimed at Kyoto residents, exchange students, or any other English-speaker who would like to take a closer look at Noh theatre’s tradition. Details at the LINK! … [Read more...]
World Heritage Kyoto by John Dougill
Our good friend, John Dougill, recently published a wonderful (and beautifully illustrated) book on Japan's World Heritage Sites. Today he has been good enough to write a guest post on the many World Heritage properties of Kyoto, with some excellent personal recommendations. To research my book on Japan's World Heritage Sites, I travelled the length of Japan from … [Read more...]
Noh by Torchlight – Takigi Noh
I just got tickets for the torchlight Takigi Noh performance at Heian Jingu this Sunday. Since March Mewby and I have been occasionally attending Noh performances at the Kanze Kaikan. Noh is of course notorious for sending people off to sleep, but our experience is that if you have a script to read along then it can be enthralling. Fortunately I was able to find the scripts for … [Read more...]
Charity Noh Performance for Tohoku Disaster Relief at Kyoto Kanze Kaikan 3/11
Next week Kyoto Kanze Kaikan is holding two charity Noh performances to raise funds for victims of the 2011 Tohoku Disaster. They will be held on the morning and evening of March 11th - the anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami. If you aren't familiar with Noh, it's best to take a script with you. There is a lot of talking in Noh plays, they are speaking medieval … [Read more...]
