Manifestation of the Kabuki actors’ gender in woodblock prints of the Edo Period

The connection between Kabuki theatre and Japanese woodblock prints of the Edo period (1603–1868), especially in their portraits of actors called yakusha‑e, offers an exceptional opportunity to analyse perceptions of the sex of the actor: as the hero of the drama, as well as the character performed on the stage. Both phenomena flourished in the Edo period and had a crucial impact on the visual art of the time, inspiring pictures of the Floating World (Jap. Ukiyo‑e). The images on Ukiyo‑e woodblock prints serve as a pretext for approaching the matter of whether to portray an actor as a performer (a man) or as the character performed by him (which could also be a woman, as in the case of the onnagata actor). The author focuses on the actors’ identification with their own sex (only men appeared on the Kabuki stage) and on cases of breaking the convention between the real actor and his stage emploi. In the first part, the paper discusses the historical background of Kabuki theatre, which was invented by a woman (Izumo‑no Okuni) and then after a few government edicts, was allowed to be performed on the stage only by adult men. Since the Kabuki tradition has successfully continued until today, apart from surveys of theatrical archives, the author supports her arguments by also referring to contemporary phenomena, especially the Kabuki performances she has watched in Japan (in such theatres as: Kabuki‑za, Minami‑za, the National Theatre in Tokyo, and Zenshin‑za), and through interviews with actors and people of the theatre. In parallel, Ukiyo‑e images of the Edo period are studied, with core research from the National Museum in Kraków, Poland, and its collection of Japanese woodblock prints (including over 4600 original works from the Edo Period), and with special attention paid to the yakusha‑e portrait by Utagawa Kuniyoshi

Lesbians and Transgenders in Japanese Media

Japanese GLBT appear to have always held a place in national media. From the the Edo period to the modern age, the Japanese people have constantly been exposed to different types of GLBT society, whether or not they realized it at the time. In this paper, I explore the representations of lesbians and transgenders during the Edo period (1600 to 1860) and in the modern and post-modern era (1868 to the present). I look at ukiyo-e from the Edo period and then Western-style theatre and newspaper stories from the modern era to grasp how lesbians have been portrayed through the years. Then I look at onnagata of Kabuki and modern-day new half in order to show how the concept of a transgender has changed over time in the media. Just how has the Japanese perspective changed after the mass introduction of Western culture and ideals during the Meiji period

Management of functional neurological disorder.

Functional neurological disorder (FND) is a common cause of persistent and disabling neurological symptoms. These symptoms are varied and include abnormal control of movement, episodes of altered awareness resembling epileptic seizures and abnormal sensation and are often comorbid with chronic pain, fatigue and cognitive symptoms. There is increasing evidence for the role of neurologists in both the assessment and management of FND. The aim of this review is to discuss strategies for the management of FND by focusing on the diagnostic discussion and general principles, as well as specific treatment strategies for various FND symptoms, highlighting the role of the neurologist and proposing a structure for an interdisciplinary FND service

Looking and listening : music and sound as visual trope in Ukiyo-e

The word ukiyo-e comes from a combination of “Ukiyo” , which means “floating world,” and “e” , which means picture or image. So, ukiyo-e offer both a description of the world of Edo (present-day Tokyo)—in particular the pleasures, foods, daily life, and culture on offer there—and the heavy bustle of the city, at that stage the largest and most densely populated in the world (with over a million inhabitants by the eighteenth century). These prints present fantastical exaggerations of life and often insert historical and mythical characters into contemporary contexts. Ukiyo conjures up a sense of the cultural pursuits, pastimes, and pleasures that grew up to serve a growing merchant class. Furthermore, ukiyo contains within it the idea of a carefree existence; of living for the moment and relishing the aesthetic aspects of life. This attitude, prevalent in the urbane richness of Edo, is encapsulated in the dominant aesthetic known as “iki” . It was hedonistic and largely indifferent to status or rank, though the city itself was governed elsewhere by strict hierarchy. The “floating world” was also a world of the theater and of music, but, crucially, this was a world accessible though money. This aesthetic, then, and the ways in which it was embedded within daily life and attitudes to nature, is central to the identity of the pictures that imagined ukiyo. Referring to a set of new fashions and voguish practices—urbane and cultured—ukiyo-e thus characterize the ways in which music, among many other themes, figured in Edo life

〔資料紹介〕梅村豊撮影歌舞伎写真

This paper provides an inventory of 841 kabuki photographs taken by UMEMURA Yutaka (1923. 6. 15_2007. 6. 5), who was a photographer at Engeki Shuppansha. He took many kabuki photographs for a kabuki journal “Engeki-kai” for as long as 57 years. Umemura kept a long-term watch on kabuki theatre since 1950 and his photographs describe the history of kabuki theatre since World War II. In 2007, a collection of kabuki photographs taken by UMEMURA was endowed to the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, by his wife, UMEMURA Noriko. The actual investigation of the collection started in April 2008 and the overall view of the collection has become clear. Included in the collection are 84,666 black-and-white negatives taken between 1956 and 2007. The negatives listed here are 841 dating between August 1956 and June 1960. Although they are only a part of the enormous works by UMEMURA, it is sure that they are valuable records of kabuki performances around 1960

Finding a Style for Presenting Shakespeare on the Japanese Stage

Japanese productions of Shakespeare’s plays are almost always discussed with exclusive focus upon their visual, musical and physical aspects without any due considerations to their verbal elements. Yet the translated texts in the vernacular, in which most of Japanese stage performances of Shakespeare are given, have played crucial part in understanding and analysing them as a whole. This paper aims to illuminate the importance of the verbal styles and phraseology of Shakespeare’s translated texts by analysing Nakayashiki Norihito’s all-female productions of Hamlet (2011) and Macbeth (2012) in the historical contexts of Japanese Shakespeare translation

Perbedaan Tata Busana Dan Tata Rias Antara Pertunjukan Ketoprak Dan Kabuki

Kabuki and ketoprak are two art performances that are still growing and liked by their supportive society. Some elements of kabuki and ketoptrak making us easy to recognize what performance is being played, beside the actors and actresses get dressed and make up. The actors and actresses of kabuki and ketoprak must know how to get dressed and make up. Things the actors and actresses should consider in making up the face are the face, characters, and the actors face shape. While the actors and actresses of kabuki wear kimono