Heroes of the Kabuki Stage: An Introduction to the World of Kabuki with Retellings of Famous Plays, Illustrated with Woodblock Prints

Customer Reviews:

Anybody interested in Japanese culture..........2005-06-28

...will find a treasure-trove of information in this wonderful book. The nobles had Noh, the commoners had Kabuki. Noh is tragic, intense, and performed with no scenery. Kabuki is melodramatic (when it isn't funny), diffuse, and depends on elaborate costume and scenery changes, some so entertaining they're done while the audience watches.
On the Left Coast, when most people hear "Japanese Art," they think of the Zen-influenced sumi ink painting, calligraphy, the cha-ya-nu ceremony, and ikebana. A tour through this book shows that much of Japanese art is unrestrained, brash, colorful, and fun.
I'm an old Japanese woodblock print collector and can vouch for the excellence of the prints used to illustrate every story. If you are a Westerner going to see your first Kabuki, this book is the authoritative source for understanding not only 85 separate Kabuki plays, but the whole wonderful set of conventions that have been built up around it.
The publisher has a catalog of Japanese and Asian art books which range from the terrific to the merely splendid.

illustrated study of Kabuki theater.......2005-03-01

The large, coffee-table quality book offers a particularly engaging, different way to learn about the kabuki theater that has long been an integral part of Japanese society. With full-color pictures of Japanese woodcuts on nearly every page, it's really an art book on kabuki. One aspect of the woodcuts relating to the theater are woodcuts of actors. These testify to the important place of kabuki in Japanese society, while they sometimes served as a sort of publicity. Besides offering a multi-dimensional treatment covering origins and evolution, playwrights and actors, the yearly cycle of kabuki, costumes, staging, and music, the work is also a lifelong reference--with its six indexes for instance. The Dutch authors are steeped in the subject from extensive research and attraction to Japanese prints. Thirty-seven kabuki dramas are reviewed with casts of characters, narratives of story lines, appropriate woodcuts, and endnotes and references.

The Stars Who Created Kabuki: Their Lives, Loves and Legacy

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The Stars Who Created Kabuki: Their Lives, Loves and Legacy
Laurence R. Kominz
Manufacturer: Kodansha International (JPN)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 4770018681

Average customer rating:

Tounge in cheek, fun to read, and informative.

Kabuki Theatre (East West Center Book)
Earle Ernst
Manufacturer: University of Hawaii Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0824803191

Customer Reviews:

Tounge in cheek, fun to read, and informative........2002-01-25

This book (written by a Univeristy of Hawaii theater professor) is absolutely brilliant. It's a great, basic primer on the history and world of Kabuki, with fun facts and clever writing to keep it's audience interested. If you're just looking for pictures of the theater, try and pick up the amazingly pricey (but worth it) Kabuki no Sekai (World of Kabuki, with photos of actor Tamasaburo Bando). If you have any interest in learning about Kabuki, pick this up!

The Man Who Saved Kabuki: Faubion Bowers and Theatre Censorship in Occupied Japan

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The Man Who Saved Kabuki: Faubion Bowers and Theatre Censorship in Occupied Japan
Okamoto Shiro
Manufacturer: University of Hawaii Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Masterpieces of Kabuki: Eighteen Plays on Stage (Kabuki Plays on Stage)

ASIN: 0824824415

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Kabuki
Masakatsu Gunji
Manufacturer: Kodansha America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Kabuki Today

ASIN: 0870117327

Average customer rating:

Perfect for beginners!
Excellent Book, Wish it was longer.

Kabuki: A Pocket Guide
Ronald Cavaye
Manufacturer: Tuttle Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Kabuki Theatre (East West Center Book)

ASIN: 0804817308

Customer Reviews:

Perfect for beginners!.......2003-01-31

You can see it on the title. This book by no means tries to be an extended, in-sight investigation of the complex world of the traditional Japanese theatre called "Kabuki". Instead, this pocket guide is more intended for those who, like me, want to make a first approach into the world of Japanese folk theatre. If that is the case, then this is a perfect introduction. It provides the reader not only with a wide view of the history of Kabuki, but actually shares some of the details regarding the minutia of the performance, like rehearsal, acting houses, the stage, the wardrobe and the makeup. Did you know, for example, that acting in Kabuki is not a job you just take, but a skill passed from father to son? Did you know that the Kabuki actor's "autograph" is actually an imprint of his own face? Did you know that Kabuki was originally an all-women discipline and then it turned into an all-men art through the centuries? I didn't know those things! I learned them all here, and that got me hooked up and made me go and look other things about Kabuki.

To round up, if you are already a connoisseur of Kabuki, you may want to skip this book, but if you want to really know the basics and get off to a good start, then look no further.

Excellent Book, Wish it was longer........2000-02-01

I picked up this book a week before going to the Kabuki-za and it greatly added to my enjoyment of the performance. It provides an excellent overview of Kabuki as well as many tiny tidbits that make the reader crave for more without coming across as a dry text book. My only complaint is that it was too short. By the time I was finished with the book, not only did I want to see Kabuki, but I wanted to read more about it!

A Kabuki Reader: History and Performance (Japan in the Modern World)

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A Kabuki Reader: History and Performance (Japan in the Modern World)

Manufacturer: M.E. Sharpe
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0765607050

Masterpieces of Kabuki: Eighteen Plays on Stage (Kabuki Plays on Stage)

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Masterpieces of Kabuki: Eighteen Plays on Stage (Kabuki Plays on Stage)

Manufacturer: University of Hawaii Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0824827880

Book Description

Masterpieces of Kabuki contains eighteen outstanding dramas taken from the landmark four-volume series Kabuki Plays On Stage. Together they cover the entire spectrum of kabuki drama from 1697 to 1905, the period during which kabuki's dramaturgy flourished prior to the onset of Western dramatic influence. Major playwrights, chronological periods of playwriting, and a variety of play types (history, domestic, and dance dramas) and performance styles are represented. All but one are in the current repertory and regularly staged. The volume includes introductions to each play and a new general introduction highlighting kabuki's historical development and relating the plays to their performance context.

Book Description

This book is a feminist reading of the history of gender performance and construction of the female role players, onnagata, of the Kabuki theater. It is not limited to a "theater arts" focus, rather it is a mapping and close analysis of transformative genders through several historical periods in Japan (the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries). In particular, the work focuses on undoing of binary genders, the sensual ambiguity of boy-ness, youth, and female-likeness and the cultural development of the aesthetics of eroticism, nostalgia, and cruelty based in female-like transformative gender acts. The work is also a visual cultures study as it draws not only on literary sources but also prints, photographs, film, and video documentation.

The Grand Kabuki - National Theatre of Japan - Fall 1977 World Tour

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The Grand Kabuki - National Theatre of Japan - Fall 1977 World Tour
Kazuko Hillyer
Manufacturer: Duneetz & Lovett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KDQJCA

Customer Reviews:

Best Book on African Headdress .......2005-12-14

African hats are great! This beautiful, scholarly book shows and tells you why. In conjunction with the grand opening of our Hillcrest, San Diego location in 1997 we presented our first museum-style show where African Hats and Headdress was the theme. This worthy book, along with African Art curator Ian Allen, served as our guide.

Book Description

This volume contains five powerful, classic tales of the assassin Itto Ogami, the Lone Wolf, as he continues his journey to hell. The Yagyu clan, fearful of the growing legend surrounding Lone Wolf, has decided to protect itself by sending its own assassin after him, and later pit the greatest swordsman of a rival clan against him. Also, Lone Wolf must face the leader of a bounty-hunting gang who seeks revenge against Ogami for slaying his young lord years ago, and a master gunsmith who values the art of warfare above all else and will change his life forever. Don`t miss a single volume of the acclaimed epic series that belongs on every bookshelf: Lone Wolf and Cub.

Customer Reviews:

These authors/artists rock.......2007-01-17

I love these guys...the particular copy that I got from amazon had been stolen from a library, but the read was still good and imagine the late fees that the poor sap who sold it to me will have har har har. Seriously, its a good series and you should read it, but don't buy over 10 until I do.

An Important Volume On The Assassin's Road.......2003-05-12

Black Wind is probably the most important volume of Lone Wolf and Cub to date, as we find out the reason why Ogami Itto travels the assassin's road with his son Daigoro. The blueprint for the coming conflict with the Yagyu Clan is laid out, and Itto gains an important new weapon for his quest. As usual, creators Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima create a richly layered story, with dazzling action and deep characterization. Highly recommended!

We learn what Ogami Itto is up to on the Assassin's Road.......2002-10-13

When I read the first story in Volume 5 of the Lone Wolf and Cub by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, I thought that the manga epic had finally started to level off a bit. But "Black Wind" might be the most important volume so far in the series in terms of laying out the larger scope of the story:

(24) "Trail Markers" is much shorter tale than we have been used to of late in this series. The Yagyu have discovered the symbols by which Ogami Itto is contacted by those who wish to hire an assassin and they send the man who was his chief rival for the post of Kogi Kaishakunin. Given this particular part of the epic's backstory that is revealed, I would have thought this would have occasioned a more detailed story, but this one really cuts to the quick.

(25) "Executioner's Hill" has a group of bounty hunters deciding to go after Lone Wolf & Cub. Their leader has a personal score to settle for one of the executions Ogami performed for the shogun and the group decides to capture Daigoro and trade him for his father's fortune. For the first time, we have are given a reason for why Ogami has been collection 500 ryo for each assassination.

(26) "Black Wind" certainly deserves to be the title story of Volume 5. For the first time Daigoro may well be truly happy, for he has a new father who works in the rice paddies planting the crop. The Black Wind is a south wind blowing up during the rainy season, an unusual natural force, that serves as an apt metaphor for Ogami Itto's presence in this pastoral setting. Of course, no good deed goes unpunished in Edo-period Japan.

(27) "Decapitator Asaemon" tends to confirm the hypothesis from "Executioner's Hill" regarding Ogami-Itto's master plan. The Shogunate may well believe the Yagyu set up Ogami because the coveted the post of Kogi Kaishakunin, but they are still offended by Ogami having gone Ronin. The title character of this story holds the post of Kiri-Yaku, who tests the cutting edge of the Shogun's Sashiryo sword. Considered Ogami's equal by his master, Asaemon is dispatched to end Lone Wolf's walk along the assassin's road.

(28) "The Guns of Sakai" marks what may well be an important chapter in the Lone Wolf and Cub epic. The assassin is hired to kill a gunsmith who has been making guns for other clients besides the Shogunate. However, Ogami's victim has a very interesting final request: that he be allowed to pass on his secrets to his apprentices. Ogami's agreement to this request may prove to be very significant down the assassin's road.

So while the first of these five stories is a minor piece, the other four tales supply some of the biggest pieces in the puzzle that is developing. The attention to historical detail continues to become a bigger part of the series while continuing to offers it compelling mix of ultra-violence with deep honor and paternal love. I have been reading a single story each night in an effort to savor each one. "Lone Wolf and Cub" deserves the reputation it enjoys as a classic in its field.

The prologue is over, and it's time for the first act........2001-06-02

Being a fan of samurai epics and manga, I had heard of "Lone Wolf and Cub" over the years and became interested in it. So when it was set to be re-published in the U.S., I wanted to see what all the talk was about. Now after reading up to this volume (and two or three volumes ahead of this one), most of the enclosed stories in this volume start to bring in a major plotline which I'm sure will last throughout the run of the series. For the beginners to the series, it's best to start back at the first volume to see how it all starts. But for those of us who have been reading the series up to this volume, this is where the payoff for the series starts. Filled with lush Black & White imagery and stunning sequences of violence, this is a must for any hardcore Manga fan!

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Lone Wolf and Cub, Vol. 5: Black Wind

Manufacturer: Tandem Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 1417654481

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Cute, a quick read

Hilarious doesn't begin to describe this!!

a must have for new parents

My New Favorite Parenting Book

hilarious!

Eats, Poops & Leaves: The Essential Apologies, Rationalizations, and Downright Denials Every New Parent Needs to Know and Other Fundamentals of Baby Etiquette
Adam Wasson
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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New Parent Apology Cards: 30 Cards

Mama's Got a Brand New (Diaper) Bag (Adult Mad Libs)

Safe Baby Handling Tips

Keeping the Baby Alive till Your Wife Gets Home

Crouching Father, Hidden Toddler: A Zen Guide for New Dads

Accessories:

Health o Meter HDC100-01 "Grow with Me" Teddy Bear Scale for Babies and Toddlers

philosophy hope in a jar daily moisturizer

ASIN: 1400097533
Release Date: 2005-05-24

Book Description

Because What You Don’t Know, Will Embarrass You.

What should you do if your baby shrieks at a wedding or “stealth vomits” on an innocent bystander? How can you use your child to avoid old friends you never liked in the first place? Is there a polite way to encourage cash baby-shower gifts or determine whether or not your babysitter is insane? Are there special rules for parentally impaired drivers?

Eats, Poops & Leaves has the answers to all these questions and more, offering polite yet innovative solutions to the etiquette situations—from the mundane to the bizarre—that confront all new parents, including:

Travel Etiquette: What to do when your baby screams on a plane

Workplace Etiquette: How to use your child (or your friend's!) as an excuse for tardiness and incompetence

Beauty Etiquette: Do strangers confuse your bald baby girl for a boy? We've got solutions.

Lots of books teach you how to change diapers, but this is the first book that will help you trick your spouse into doing it. At last, a hip, hysterical, illustrated etiquette guide to the things new parents really need to know.

Customer Reviews:

Cute, a quick read.......2007-03-19

This would be a great baby gift for new parents-to-be, especially dads-to-be. It really is cute, and occasionally caused me to laugh out loud. I bought it for myself and will pass it on happily to the next set of friends who are expecting, but I wouldn't buy it for myself again.

Hilarious doesn't begin to describe this!!.......2006-12-09

This has got to be the all time funniest thing I have EVER read! And I'm an English/Poetry grad student, I read a LOT!

Besides the humerous stuff worth its weight in gold, it doesn't have to be read straight through, you can just open it to any random page and read something - a little or a lot, it's all good!!

Being a new parent is tough, and a lot of times depressing and demoralizing. This is the PERFECT pick-me-up. It's even more funny-cuz-it's-true when you have more kids!

This book is highly recommended, for you or for anyone you know with babies.

a must have for new parents.......2006-07-26

hilarious book, a great break from the serious parenting books. we laugh so hard we were crying.

My New Favorite Parenting Book.......2006-04-11

I just read this book at a friend's house and ordered several copies to give as gifts for new parents. I laughed to the point of crying, just the thing new parents need to lighten the load of a new baby.

hilarious!.......2005-10-29

I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard! Wasson's parody of parenting strikes at the truth so many times -- I saw reality written all through this satire. Plus, a thought I will often ponder: My parents could have spared me the problem of encountering multiple other Carlies in school by naming me Carlee or, for that matter, Carleeeee. I mean, seriously. Why didn't they think of it? =) Read this book, you just might laugh so hard that people will think you're sobbing.

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