Glossary of course

Exploring Japanese Avant-garde Art

Through Butoh Dance

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Glossary of the Course - Terms & Events 

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 

A 

● Admiring La Argentina (ラ・アルヘンチーナ頌): Kazuo Ohno’s solo butoh work 

directed by Tatsumi Hijikata [1.5][3.8][4.4] 
● Akita (秋田): One of the prefecture of the Tohoku district, Japan. The area of 
approximately 90% of prefecture inlands is appointed in particular in the heavy 
snowfall area. [1.5],[1.9],[1.17],[1.20] [2.6],[2.9],[2.10][2.11] [3.10] 
● Ankoku butoh (暗黒舞踏): Begins to refer his avant-garde dances as “Ankoku butoh 
Group”. Meaning ‘dark’ butoh in Japanese [1.6] 
● Anma, Masseur (あんま): Tatsumi Hijikata’s butoh work performed in 1963.[1.5] 
● Ariadone Dance Company (アリアドーネ): dance company produced by Ko 
Murobushi [4.2][4.3] 
● art informel: Art theory imported to France from France in 1957 [1.6],[1.9],[1.14],[1.20] 
● Asbestos Hall (アスベスト館): the site of Tatsumi Hijikata’s endeavors 
[1.5][1.10][1.15] [2.5],[2.10],[2.11] [3.4],[3.6],[3.9],[3.10] [4.2],[4.8] 
● Astrorama (アストロラマ): It is a composite word of Astro (celestial bodies) and 
drama (play), and it is a super-stereoscopic whole skylan peripheral image. It is 
different from the “seeing movie” so far “participating movies”, the world’s first visual 
expression. [2.1],[2.2] 
● Avalanche Candy (Nadare-ame), (なだれ飴): one of Hijikata Tatsumi’s butoh works 
[2.6] [3.2] 

B 

● Ballet Russes: Russian ballet company from 1909 to 1929 [1.4] 

● Barairo dansu, Rose-coloured Dance (バラ色ダンス): Tatsumi Hijikata’s butoh work 
performed in 1965. []1.16 
● Bijutsu techō (美術手帖): contemporary art magazine which covered a wide range of 
art, both Japanese and European, from the Old Masters to the contemporary [3.2] 
● Birth (誕生): Tatsumi Hijikata appeared in—was shown at Midori-kan (Green 
Pavilion), Japan World Exposition, Osaka 1970.[2.2],[2.4] 
● blind female strolling musician (瞽女): A Japanese woman blind entertainer. Before 
the early modern era, she played almost nationwide. 
[1.10],[1.12],[1.13],[1.15],[1.16],[2.6],[2.10],[2.11] 

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● butoh notation, dance notation (舞踏譜): Note music of the dancing, for recording 
movement of the dancing using a sign in the space 
[1.1],[2.5],[2.6],[2.7],[2.10],[2.11],[2.15],[3.1], 
[3.2],[3.3],[3.4],[3.5],[3.6],[3.7],[3.8],[3.10],[3.12] 

C 

● Costume en Face, Shōmen no ishō (正面の衣裳): A part of the series of Hakutōbō 

performances at Asbestos Hall in 1976.[3.5] 
● creative dance (創作舞踊): After the war, a new dance of miscellaneous dance born 
by the opportunity of the entertainment festival sponsored by the local newspaper 
company taking in the style of classical dance. Inquiring into the world the art of the 
individual, creative dance of new work is still being created still to inherit the 
tradition. [1.4][1.9] 

D 

● Dairakudakan (大駱駝艦): A Butoh group in Japan [2.14][4.3] 

● Dead Sea (死海): Performance of Kazuo Ohno Choreography, directing Tatsumi 
HIjikata [3.8] 
● Dissolute Jewel (Susamedama) (すさめ玉): One of Butoh’s works of Tatsumi Hijikata 
[2.6] 
● Divine: Character of work “Notre Dame of the flower” of Jean Genet [1.10] 
● Doya gai (ドヤ街): A city where many day laborers live [1.8] 

E 

● Eguchi takaya-Miya misako buyoudan (江口隆哉・宮操子舞踊団（江口・宮舞踊

団）): the troupe formed by Eguchi Takuya and his wife, Misako Miya, after studying 
at the Marie · Wigman dance school in Germany [1.7] 
● Engeki center 68/71 (演劇センター68／71): Japanese performance group founded in 
1968, and renamed in accordance with the year every year [2.3] 
● Engekijikkenshitu Tenjousajiki (演劇実験室・天井桟敷): An underground troupe that 
once existed in Japan. A theatrical group who advocated the theater laboratory 
presided over by Shuji Terayama. [2.3] 
● Ethnography: Kind of the description to express the qualitative explanation of the 
phenomenon of the human being society based on fieldwork. [2.10][2.11] 
● expressionist dance: German expressionist dance, also known as Neue Tanz 
[1.4],[1.5], [3.17] 

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F 

G 

● Geisenjō no okugata, Lady on a Whale String (鯨線上の奥方): A part of the series of 
Hakutōbō performances at Asbestos Hall ing 1976.[3.6] 
● Gekidan gendaijin gekijou (劇団現代人劇場（後の櫻社）): Japanese performance 
theater established in 1968 [2.3] 
● Gekidan tenkei gekijou (劇団転形劇場): Organized around Shogo Ota of 1968 
director / playwright. In 70 years, full-fledged activity started based on the Tokyo 
Theater Akasaka Theater Workshop. [2.3] 
● Gekidan waseda shougekijou (劇団早稲田小劇場): The Waseda Small Theater 
(Toshoda Shogyojo) is the name of the theater company / theater which can be said 
as the symbol of the first generation of the small theater movement, born from 
Waseda University’s student theater. [2.3][4.9] 
● gidayū (義太夫): a type of joruri begun by Yosuke Takemoto of Osaka in the early 
Edo period [2.6],[2.10],[2.11] 
● Group Ongaku (Group Music) (グループ音楽): A group that began improvising music 
by electronic musical instruments or non-musical instruments that did not start with 
musical idioms for the first time in Japan [1.14] 
● Gutai (具体): Japanese artist group aimed for producing the works with physical 
actions, longing for the release from just pictural objects. [1.6] 

H 

● HAKUTOBO (白桃房): butoh group that inherits Tatsumi Hijikata’s butoh method 
organized in 1987 [4.5] 
● Hansen’s disease, Leprosy (業病（ハンセン病）): an infectious disease caused by 
macrophage infestation in the skin of Mycobacterium leprae which is a kind of 
acid-fast bacteria and infestation in peripheral nerve cells [2.7] 
● Happenings: a type of performance art also called “artist dramas” for their fusion of 
dramatic performance with visual art exhibitions [1.6] [1.14] [1.15], [1.16] 
● Heso kakka, White Serpant: Tatsumi Hijikata appears in the film in 1969. Directed by 
Takayuki Nishie. [2.4] 
● Hi Red Centre (ハイ・レッド・センター): An avant - garde art group formed in 1963 
by three people, Jiro Takamatsu, Akase Kawaharahei, Natsuki Nakanishi. [1.6],[1.14] 
● Hitogata, Human Shape (ひとがた): butoh work with ever-transforming dance 
performed by Yoko Ahikawa in 1976. [1.5][3.6] 
● Honegamitoge hotokekazura: Tatsumi Hijikata performs in the play in 1970.[]2.4] 
● Horrors of Malformed Men (恐怖奇形人間): Tatsumi HijikataAppears in the film in 
1967. Directed by Teruo Ishii.[2.4] 

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● Hōsōtan, Story of Smallpox (疱瘡譚): butoh work of Tatsumi Hijikata.Tatsumi 

Hijikata’s butoh work performed in 1972. [1.2], [2.5], [2.6], [2.7],[2.9] 

I 

J 

● Japan World Exposition, Osaka 1970 (大阪万博（EXPO’70）): Japan’s first 

international exhibition held in Suita City, Osaka Prefecture in 1970 [1.5],[2.1],[2.2] 
● Jikken-kobo(Experimental Workshop) (実験工房): the pioneer of the intermedia in 
Tokyo. [1.6] 
● Joukyou Gekijou (状況劇場): Japanese theater company. In 1963, with the 
restoration of actors and “privileged flesh theory” raised, Juro Kara and others 
formed. [2.3] 

K 

● Kabuki (歌舞伎): One of the traditional performing arts in theater unique to Japan. 
[1.5] [2.3], [2.6],[2.9], [3.9] [3.10] [3.17] [4.2][4.9] 
● Kamaitachi (鎌鼬): Work by the collaboration of the world photographer Hosoe and 
the founder of Butoh · Hijikata Tatsumi [1.5][1.17] [2.9] 
● Kansai (関西): the district of Japan. the area of four prefectures of 2 prefectures 
around Osaka and Kyoto [1.6][2.1] 
● Keijijougaku, Emotion in Metaphysics (形而情學): Tatsumi Hijikata’s butoh work 
performed in 1967.[1.16] 
● Keimusho e (or “To Prison”), (刑務所へ): essay by Tatsumi Hijikata [1.10] 
● Kinjiki,Forbidden Colours (禁色): Tatsumi Hijikata’s butoh work performed in 1959. 
[1.5],[1.9],[1.10],[1.13] 
● Kinjiki, Revised version Forbidden Colours (禁色ディヴィーヌ抄): Tatsumi Hijikata’s 
butoh work performed in 1959.[1.9],[1.10] 

L 

● L’Après midi d’un faune (牧神の午後): Ballet Russes’s work of the ballet [1.4] 
● Labanotation: a notation system for recording and analyzing human movement that 
was derived from the work of Rudolf Laban [3.12] 
● Le Dernier Eden(Last Eden):Porte de l’au-dela(最後の楽園─彼方の門): In 1978, she 
performed with Ko Murobushi and Carlotta Ikeda in “Le Dernier Eden”, Europe’s first 
Butoh performance in Paris.[4.5],[4.9] 

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● Le sacre du printemps (春の祭典): Ballet Russes’s work of the ballet [1.4] 

M 

● MA: Espace-Temps du Japon: An exhibition introducing contemporary Japanese 

culture held in Paris in the Louvre Decoration Museum in October 1978 [4.2],[4.9] 
● memoir: Noun to mean a “memory” in French. [2.10][2.11] 
● Minamata byou (水俣病): disorder of human’s toxic central nervous system caused 
by methyl mercuric compounds (organic mercury) from industrial activity [2.3] 
● Mizue (みづゑ): contemporary art magazine which covered a wide range of art, both 
Japanese and European, from the Old Masters to the contemporary [3.2] 
● Mono-ha (もの派): a major trend of Japanese contemporary art that started in the 
late 1960s and continued until the mid 1970s. Materials such as stone, wood, paper, 
cotton, iron plate, paraffin, etc. are used alone or in combination. [1.6] 
● My Mother (私のお母さん): Kazuo Ohno’s butoh work directed by Tatsumi Hijikata 
[3.8] 

N 

● Navel and A-Bomb (へそと原爆): a documentary film that premiered in October 1960 
[1.5] [1.12] 
● Neo-Dada organisers (ネオ・ダダ・オルガナイザー): Japanese avant-garde art 
group formed in 1960, which had been active for about half a year [1.6],[1.14] 
● Noh farce (能): A field of Noh music, a Japanese traditional art. [2.3] 
● notational butoh (舞踏譜の舞踏): Tatsumi Hijikata’s butoh work completed in 1976 
and recognized as a revolutional dance creation [1.1] [2.6], [2.10] [3.3], [3.4], [3.5], 
[3.6], [3.8], [3.10], [3.17],[4.2] 

O 

P 

Q 

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R 

● Rose Color Dance (バラ色ダンス): Tatsumi Hijikata’s representative butoh work in 
early 1960’s [1.5][1.16][3.12] 

S 

● Sannohashi (三之橋): A steel bridge built in March 1968, having a length of 16.7 m 
and a width of 7.5 m. [1.5],[1.8] 
● Seeweed Granny (Gibasan), (ギバサン): one of Tatsumi Hijikata’s butoh works [2.6] 
● shingeki (演劇誌「新劇」): a drama magazine from Hakusuisha publishing company 
issued from 1954 [1.5][2.3][2.10][2.11] 
● Shushi (種子): one of Tatsumi Hijikata’s early butoh works [1.13] 
● Soushin jogakkou (捜真女学校): Private girls’ junior high school · senior high school 
in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture. [1.9] 
● Soyuz: a one - three - person spacecraft of the Soviet Union and the Russian 
Federation [2.1] 
● surrealism: Thought activities advocated by Reims poet André Breton. Generally it is 
understood as one form of art form, assertion. [1.6] [1.15] 
● surrealist: persons having thought, surrealism [3.2] 

T 

● Tatsumi Hijikata and the Japanese: Rebellion of the Body, Hijikata Tatsumi to 
nihonjin—nikutai no hanran (土方巽と日本人――肉体の叛乱): one of Tatsumi 
Hijikata’s butoh works performed in 1968.[1.2], [1.15],[3.2],[3.6] 
● The Nude (The Nude ): Kenneth Clark’s annotated art critical book [3.2] 
● The Old Man and the Sea: short story by American writer Ernesto Hemingway. It was 
written in 1951 and published in 1952. [1.9] 
● The Thief’s Journal (泥棒日記): French novelist Jean Genet’s work [1.9] 
● Thoughts on an Insulator (Gaishikō), (碍子考): one of Tatsumi Hijikata’s butoh works 
[2.6] 
● Tohoku (東北): local district of six prefectures of the East Japan [1.5],[2.3],[2.12],[4.3] 
● Tokkenteki nikutairon (The Theory of the Privileged Body), (特権的肉体論): Juro 
Kara’s theory of the theater drama [2.3] 
● Tōkoku Kabuki Plan (Tōhoku kabuki keikaku) (東北歌舞伎計画): four performances in 
a series presented by Tatsumi Hijikata. Tahoku Kabuki Plan 4 which becomes his 
last work in 1985. [3.9], [3.10], [3.17] 
● Tomato (トマト): one of Tatsumi Hijikata’s butoh works. Tatsumi Hijikata’s butoh 
work performed in 1966. [1.16] 

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● Tower of the Sun (太陽の塔): art work by Taro Okamoto [2.1], [2.2] 
● Tsugaru-jamisen (津軽三味線): Shamisen music established in the Tsugaru region 
(present Aomori prefecture western part). [2.6],[2.9] 
● Twenty-seven Nights for Four Seasons, Shiki no tame no nijūnanaban (四季のための
二十七晩): Tatsumi Hijikata’s butoh work performed in 1972.[2.6],[2.7] 

U 

● Underground performance drama (アングラ演劇): trend of performance expression 

(mainly drama) in Japan from the mid-1960s to the 70’s.19] [2.3] 
● Underground Theatre (アングラ劇場): Theater where Underground performance 
drama was danced around the letter half of the 1960s [2.3] 

V 

● Vietnam War: generic name of the war that occurred in the divided north and south 
Vietnam [1.18], [2.3] 

W 

● Witch Dance: German expressionist dance performed by Mary Wigman [1.4] 

X 

Y 

● Yameru maihime, Ailing Dancer (病める舞姫): Tatsumi Hijikata’s serialized literary 

work in the theater magazine Shingeki (New Theater).This work compiled as a book 
and gets published in 1983. [2.11] 
● Yomiuri Independent (読売アンデパンダン展): The art exhibition from 1949 to 1963 
organized by Yomiuri Shimbun publishing company exhibited without examination 
[1.6], [1.14] 

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Z 

● Zero Jigen (Zero Dimension) (ゼロ次元): Avan-garde performance art group that was 
active from the 1960’s to the early 1970’s. [1.6], [1.14] 

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