New Kabuki Encyclopedia: A Revised Adaptation of UKabuki Jiten / Edition 2

by Samuel Leiter

Overview

Kabuki has been a part of Japanese culture for nearly four centuries. The plays performed today are generally selected from a classic repertoire that gradually ceased to develop once Japan broke the chains of its isolationist policy and began the surge toward Westernization. The plays largely reflect the values of feudal Japan, and they portray a world of noble samurai overcoming evil adversaries, adulterous lovers overcoming their dilemmas through double suicide, parents sacrificing their children in the name of loyalty to a superior, and children giving up their lives for the sake of their parents. Productions typically contain spectacular sets, elaborate costumes, and colorful makeup. Though kabuki is so essential to the heritage of Japan, it still remains largely a beautiful mystery to the West. This reference book is a comprehensive guide to the fascinating world of kabuki.

An extensive revision and expansion of the 1979 Kabuki Encyclopedia, this volume is the most comprehensive guide to Japan's kabuki theatre in any language other than Japanese. The present volume includes many new illustrations, a lengthy and detailed index, thorough cross-referencing, greatly expanded descriptions of plays, an extensive bibliography of English-language and Japanese sources, and more than 400 new entries. A major feature is the inclusion of Japanese characters for all main entry terms, titles, and names. The entries are arranged alphabetically, and the volume's appendices include a chronological table of kabuki history, a list of all major or formal play titles, a list of all variant or popular titles, genealogical charts, and a list of all major actors' stage nicknames (yago) currently in use.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313292880
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/30/1997
Series:	Culture
Edition description:	REVISED
Pages:	840
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 1.75(d)

About the Author

SAMUEL L. LEITER, Professor of Theatre at Brooklyn College, CUNY, and the Graduate Center, CUNY, has been editor of Asian Theatre Jourbanal since 1992. He is the author or editor of ten previous books, including the three-volume The Enyclopedia of the New York Stage, 1920-1930 (1985), 1930-1940 (1989) and 1940-1950 (1992), From Belasco to Brook: Representative Directors of the English-Speaking Stage (1991), and From Stanislavsky to Barrault: Representative Directors of the European Stage (1991), all published by Greenwood Press. His articles have appeared in publications such as Literature East and West, Educational Theatre Jourbanal, Drama Survey, Theatre History Studies, Players, Theatre Crafts, and Asian Theatre Jourbanal. He is also an actor and director.

Table of Contents

Preface
The Encyclopedia
Appendix I: Brief Chronology of Kabuki
Appendix II: Major Plays
Appendix III: Popularized or Alternate Play Titles
Appendix IV: Actors' Genealogies
Appendix V: List of -Yago in Use Today
Selected Bibliography
Subject Guide to Main Entries
Index

Editorial Reviews

A comprehensive reference on the Japanese drama form, revised from the 1979 "Kabuki Encyclopedia", an English version of the Japanese work. With at least 95% of the text rewritten, the new edition corrects errors of fact or printing, updates the material to the middle of 1996, expands entries on the basis of subsequent research, lengthens play synopses from Japanese sources, and identifies the many actors and playwrights who shared the same name. Includes both the Pinyin and Japanese characters for article titles but not elsewhere. Moderately illustrated with drawings and black-and-white photographs, and very thoroughly cross-referenced. Appended are a brief chronology, major plays, popularized play titles, actors' genealogies, and "Yago" in use today. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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