Japan in Todays World Program, Spring 2012 Performing Japan: Embodied Cultural Patterns Friday 4th period; 4:40-6:10;

May 18-July 6 Instructor: Tamah Nakamura, Professor Chikushi Jogakuen University 2-12-1 Ishizaka Dazaifu-city, Fukuoka 818-0912 818-0192 2 12-1 Email: tamah@chikushi-u.ac.jp

Course Overview and Objectives In this half-term survey course we will look at how Japan is embodied through various performance modalities. We will start by looking at the historical development of theatre performance from street theatre into national theatre. Then, the obsessional art period of the 1950s-1960s will help us to understand how artists transformed the body and performance art. We will look at examples such as Butoh, street theatre, as well as local Fukuoka artists of the time. Moving into the 1980s-1990s, the economic climate encouraged Obsessional artists to go mainstream (international museum exhibitions), and also look at performance groups such as Dumb Type which created performances using modern technology and the body in society. Finally, Superichiza performance group will help us to see how the original peoples street style Kabuki continues even today. The overlapping of the national body with the peoples body will be looked at through readings, discussions on readings, viewing materials, and a multicultural experiential workshop. Requirements and Evaluation Readings; in-class discussion on readings Workshop participation Final reflection paper 1-2 pages & presentation 35% 35% 30%

Session 1 May 18 Introductory session Overview of syllabus; evaluation criteria, class procedure. Historical background lecture: Kabuki - street/peoples theatre/Japanese national body (Tschudin, J. (1999). Danjuros katsureki-geki (realistic theatre) and the Meiji Theatre Reform movement. Japan Forum, 11 (1), 83-94). Homework Reading: Japanese Theatre and Performance, Leah Olsen, ISP

Session 2 May 25 Obsessional Art Period (1950-1970) View: Body on the Edge of Crisis (butoh video -70 minutes) Homework Reading (selected pages from the Guggenheim Art Museums exhibition catalog/book and Tamahs book: 1) Munroe, A. (1994). Revolt of the flesh: Ankoku Butoh and obsessional art. In A. Munroe (Ed.), Scream against the sky: Japanese art after 1945 (pp. 189-201). New York: Harry N. Abrams. 2) Hijikata Tatsumi and Ohno Kazuo by Sondra Fraleigh and Tamah Nakamura, Routledge, 2006 Session 3 June 1 From Gutai to Guggenheim; 1980s-1990s Atsuko Tanaka, Dumb Type, etc. Homework Reading (selected pages from the Guggenheim Art Museums exhibition catalog/book: Munroe, A. (1994). Scream against the sky: Japanese art after 1945 (pp. 189-201). New York: Harry N. Abrams. Session 4 June 8 Fukuokas Obssessional Art Movement & Current Art Scene Kyushu-ha (exhibition catalog; news articles) Kazekura Sho (performance video) Readings: 1) In Search of a Specific School of Art in Fukuoka, newsletter article by Fukuoka Asian Art Museum. 2) Fukuoka City Art Museum exhibition art in 1980-1990s curators article and catalog Session 5 June 16 Saturday 1-4 p.m. (1.5 classes = June 15th and 1/2 class July 6th) International Hall Experiential workshop: butoh, eurythmy, Indonesian dance and Gamlan instruments; Performances by practitioners/instructors. Session 6 June 22 Keeping peoples theatre performance alive Superichiza- Osu Opera; Rock Kabuki; Shakespeare at the shrine

Session 7 June 29 Final written reflections & presentation of reflections Readings of potential interest but not required: Dasgupta, Romit. Globalisation and the Bodily Performance of Cool and Un-cool Masculinities in Corporate Japan. Frost, Dennis. Seeing Stars: Sports, Celebrity, Identity and Body Culture in Modern Japan. Hendry, Joy. Wrapping of the Body. In Wrapping Culture. Kasulis. The Body Japanese Style. In Self as Body in Asian Theory and Practice. Kelly. Sense and Sensibility in the Ball Park. In Fandom. Kondo, Dorrine. Orientalizing: Fashioning Japan. In About Face: Performing Race in Fashion and Theater. Mackie, Vera and Stevens, Carolyn. Globalisation and Body Politics. Miller, Laura. Beauty Up Spielvogel, Laura. Working Out in Japan "The Intangible Warrior Culture of Japan: Bodily Practices, Mental Attitudes, and Values of the Two-Sworded Men from the Fifteenth to the Twenty-First Centuries." Ph.D. dissertation; Dr. Anatoliy Anshin (Moscow International Higher Business School MIRBIS /Russian State University for the Humanities) Performing Globalisation, Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific, edited by Vera Mackie and Mark Pendleton, January 2010. <http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue23_contents.htm> Special Issue on Globalisation and Body Politics, Asian Studies Review, edited by Vera Mackie and Carolyn Stevens, September 2009. <http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~db=all~content=g913863920 <http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title%7Edb=all%7Econtent=g913863920>>