Kabuki's Forgotten War: 1931-1945

James R. Brandon

Published by University of Hawaii Press 2009

Kabuki's Forgotten War

1931-1945

James R. Brandon

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824863210

Overview
Contents

About this book

According to a myth constructed after Japan’s surrender to the Allied Forces in 1945, kabuki was a pure, classical art form with no real place in modern Japanese society. In Kabuki’s Forgotten War, senior theater scholar James R. Brandon calls this view into question and makes a compelling case that, up to the very end of the Pacific War, kabuki was a living theater and, as an institution, an active participant in contemporary events, rising and falling in consonance with Japan’s imperial adventures.

Drawing extensively from Japanese sources—books, newspapers, magazines, war reports, speeches, scripts, and diaries—Brandon shows that kabuki played an important role in Japan’s Fifteen-Year Sacred War. He reveals, for example, that kabuki stars raised funds to buy fighter and bomber aircraft for the imperial forces and that pro-ducers arranged large-scale tours for kabuki troupes to entertain soldiers stationed in Manchuria, China, and Korea. Kabuki playwrights contributed no less than 160 new plays that dramatized frontline battles or rewrote history to propagate imperial ideology.

Abridged by censors, molded by the Bureau of Information, and partially incorporated into the League of Touring Theaters, kabuki reached new audiences as it expanded along with the new Japanese empire. By the end of the war, however, it had fallen from government favor and in 1944–1946 it nearly expired when Japanese government decrees banished leading kabuki companies to minor urban theaters and the countryside.

Kabuki’s Forgotten War includes more than a hundred illustrations, many of which have never been published in an English-language work. It is nothing less than a com-plete revision of kabuki’s recent history and as such goes beyond correcting a significant misconception. This new study remedies a historical absence that has distorted our understanding of Japan’s imperial enterprise and its aftermath.

Author / Editor information

Brandon James R. :

James R. Brandon is emeritus professor of Asian theatre at the University of Hawai‘i.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Part 1: Kabuki’s Foreign Adventure: 1931–1939
Chapter One. Prelude to War Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
Chapter Two. Kabuki and the Manchurian and Shanghai Incidents 1931–1934 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
Chapter Three. Kabuki and the Marco Polo Bridge Incident 1937–1938 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
Chapter Four .The Darkening Storm 1939 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	94
Part 2: Fruits of Victory: 1940–1942
Chapter Five. Kabuki and 2,600 Years of Imperial Rule 1940 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
Chapter Six .Confrontation with America and Britain 1941 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	156
Chapter Seven .Japan and Kabuki at the Zenith 1942 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	188
Part 3: Defeat and Survival: 1943–1945
Chapter Eight. Kabuki and Japan’s “Decisive Battle” 1943 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
Chapter Nine. Kabuki Is a Luxury 1944 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	262
Chapter Ten. The Agony Ends 1945 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	296
Chapter Eleven. War Plays in Kabuki — a Retrospection August 1945 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	320
Part 4 :Kabuki Outlasts the Occupation: 1945–1947
Chapter Twelve. Inventing Classic Kabuki 1945–1947 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	345
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	357
Sources Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	417
Index of Play Titles in English and Japanese Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	439
Index of Kabuki Actors’ Names in the Text Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	449
index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	453

Language: English
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 480
Illustrations
- Other: 130 illus.

eBook

Published: October 31, 2008
ISBN: 9780824863210