Masterpieces of Kabuki contains eighteen outstanding dramas taken from the landmark four-volume series Kabuki Plays On Stage. Together they cover the entire spectrum of kabuki drama from 1697 to 1905, the period during which kabuki’s dramaturgy flourished prior to the onset of Western dramatic influence. Major playwrights, chronological periods of playwriting, and a variety of play types (history, domestic, and dance dramas) and performance styles are represented. All but one are in the current repertory and regularly staged. The volume includes introductions to each play and a new general introduction highlighting kabuki’s historical development and relating the plays to their performance context. As the subtitle implies, the plays are translated as if "on stage." Stage directions indicate major scenic effects, stage action, costuming, makeup, music, and sound effects. In some cases, complex stage actions such as stage fights are given in detail. The plays collected here are all marvelous examples of dramatic writing, intended to be acted on the stage before audiences. They reveal kabuki’s eras of brilliance and bravado, villainy and vengeance, darkness and desire, and restoration and reform. All continue to stir audiences to admiration and excitement.

From the 17th through the 19th century, artists in Kyoto and Edo (now Tokyo) captured the metropolitan amusements of the floating world (ukiyo in Japanese) through depictions of subjects such as the beautiful women of the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters and performers of the kabuki theater. In contrast to ukiyo-e prints by artists such as Katsushika Hokusai, which were widely circulated, ukiyo-e paintings were specially commissioned, unique objects that displayed the maker’s technical skill and individual artistic sensibility. Featuring more than 150 works from the celebrated Weston Collection, the most comprehensive of its kind in private hands and published here for the first time in English, this lavishly illustrated and meticulously researched volume addresses the genre of ukiyo-e painting in all its complexity. Individual essays explore topics such as shunga (erotica), mitate-e (images that parody or transform a well-known story or legend), and poetic inscriptions, revealing the crucial role that ukiyo-e painting played in a sophisticated urban culture.

An illustrated survey of Japanese prints at London's Victoria and Albert Museum. Each colour plate is supported by notes together with standard specifications and provenance. The book also includes introductory chapters on the ukiyo-e genre, and the history and character of the Museum's collection. Ever since Japan opened its doors to the West in the latter half of the nineteenth century, Westerners have been fascinated by the exquisite art forms that flourished during the previous two hundred years of self-imposed isolation. Among the most

Historical Dictionary of Japanese Traditional Theatre is the only dictionary that offers detailed comprehensive coverage of the most important terms, people, and plays in the four principal traditional Japanese theatrical forms—nō, kyōgen, bunraku, and kabuki—supplemented with individual historical essays on each form. This updated edition adds well over 200 plot summaries representing each theatrical form in addition to: a chronology; introductory essay; appendixes; an extensive bibliography; over 1500 cross-referenced entries on important terms; brief biographies of the leading artists and writers; and plot summaries of significant plays. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Japanese theatre.

120 full-page plates of magnificent, elaborately carved, museum-quality masks worn by actors playing gods, warriors, beautiful women, feudal lords, and supernatural beings. Captions.