Japanese Drama

Tourist Library 6

Japanese Drama
by B. T. I. (Board of Tourist Industry)

Tourist Library 6
Board of Tourist Industry, Japanese Government Railways, 1935

TOURIST LIBRARY

Volumes already published

1. TEA CULT OF JAPAN By Y. Fukukita, A. B.
2. JAPANESE NOH PLAYS By Prof. T. Nogami
3. SAKURA (Japanese Cherry) By Dr. M. Miyoshi
4. JAPANESE GARDENS By Prof. M. Tatsui
5. HIROSHIGE AND JAPANESE LANDSCAPES By Yone Noguchi
6. JAPANESE DRAMA By B. T. I.

Volumes in preparation

JAPANESE ARCHITECTURE By Prof. Dr. H. Kishida
WHAT IS SHINTŌ? By G. Katō, Lit. D.
CHILDREN’S DAYS IN JAPAN By T. Iwadō, M. A.
JAPAN, LAND OF HOT SPRINGS By Dr. K. Fujinami
CASTLES IN JAPAN By Prof. S. Ōrui, Lit. D.
and Prof. M. Toba
KIMONO (Japanese Dress) By Kenichi Kawakatsu
FLORAL ART OF JAPAN By Issōtei Nishikawa

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Tall colored print crowded with people, in bands from top to bottom. A black band across the top carries large white characters. Below it a building with a steep gabled roof stands at the right, with a railing and a raised floor in front where several people in long robes kneel and sit close together, hung and stacked objects on a rack behind them; at the left a hanging curtain and a dark door stand beside people in robes, one holding a long red banner and one wearing a tall hat. Next a large floor seen from above is packed with people sitting close together, divided into blocks by raised boards, with a long open strip along the left where a few people in robes stand and a small cart loaded with red flowers is at its lower end. A large round crest of leaf shapes on a white square hangs above a tiled roof, and under it a long row of framed panels holds small figures and columns of writing. At the bottom a street crowd of people in robes, some carrying baskets and boxes, fills the lowest band, with a closed box with lattice sides at the lower left. — STAGE, AUDITORIUM, AND OUTSIDE OF THEATRE, EDO (about 1764 A.D.)
Note the striking posters over entrance and Hana-michi (flower-way) on left in auditorium

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JAPANESE DRAMA

BOARD OF TOURIST INDUSTRY
JAPANESE GOVERNMENT RAILWAYS

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The original of this brochure was prepared by the National Committee of Intellectual Co-operation of the International Association of Japan. In order that its precious record might not be lost to the world, a request was made to have it translated into English and published as a volume of the Tourist Library. In the course of publication it was felt that some revisions would be advisable, and these were therefore made. The Theatre Guide and Bibliography were also added.

We are indebted to Mr. Yoshio Yoshikawa for the revised original, and to Professors I. Matsuhara and E. T. Iglehart of Aoyama Gakuin for the translation. We must express our special gratitude to the translators for having duplicated their labours, and to Mr. A. F. Thomas for his general supervision.

Board of Tourist Industry

April, 1935

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Page

I. Earliest Period of the Japanese Drama... 11

II. Final Form of the Ancient Drama ...... 15

III. Development of the Kabuki Drama ...... 19

IV. First Creative Period ................... 30

V. Puppet Drama ............................ 37

VI. Second Creative Period .................. 45

VII. Music of the Theatre ................... 52

VIII. Age of Full Development ............... 56