Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Translator’s Introduction: From the Ground Up xiii
4. Prologue 1
5. Scene I: 1971–1973 The First Period
6. 1. A Drifting Commune. Diary Of A Voyage To The West 17
7. 2. The Red Tent in Good Health. A Tale of Two Cities 21
8. 3. A Logic Surpassing Any Declaration of Determination. When We Go Down That Heartless River 24
9. 4. Those Slight Stirrings of the Man in the Wind. A Tale of the Smallpox 29
10. 5. A Ghastly Masterpiece with Cruel Intentions. The Great Doctor Yabuhara 32
11. Scene II: 1974–1979 Tsuka Kòhei and After
12. 6. The Intoxication of a “Myth” That Soars. The Kara Version: Matasaburò of the Wind 37
13. 7. The Appearance of a New Talent. The Legend of a Flying Dragon: And Then a Crow 42
14. 8. Minus Dynamics, All Scooped Out. Chairs and a Legend 46
15. 9. The Crouch as a Critique of the Modern. The Trojan Women 49
16. 10. An Obstinacy Well Worth Mentioning. Tosa Genji 53
17. 11. A Drama of a New and Fanciful Geography. Knock 56
18. 12. Harvest: After a Year and a Half. The Comic World of Shòwa 60
19. 13. A First Trip to a Distant Village. A Night’s Feast 64
20. 14. A Question to the Man Who Blew the Flute. The Rats of Hamelin 68
21. 15. The Nò Stage, Newly Activated. The Legend Of Komachi 71
22. 16. Making The Connection: Killing the Beggar. Thirty Days Hath September 77
23. 17. A Humble Self-Examination. The Dressing Room 80
24. 18. A Scene of Ripening. The Bacchae 83
25. 19. A Critique of Miyazawa Kenji as a Tableau Vivant. Directions to Servants 88
26. 20. The Conflagration of an Exploding Lemon. Lemon 91
27. 21. The Whirlings of a World at Birth. A Tale of the Original Japanese 94
28. 22. Laughing Okinawa. Anthropology Museum 97
29. 23. A Ripening of Melody. Shanghai ’Vance King 101
30. 24. Yohei Who Lives On. Double Suicide, after Chikamatsu 104
31. 25. A Play Goes on “Outside The Walls”. Lemmings 109
32. 26. Obstacles to Abandonment. Two Women 112
33. 27. In the Midst of a Weakened Art. The Lady of the Camellias 115
34. Scene III: 1980–1987 The Period of Metatheatre
35. 28. Macbeth in a Forest of Cherry Trees. Ninagawa Macbeth 125
36. 29. A Duck with Two Different Wings. The Seagull 129
37. 30. A Diffused Reflection. Travel of Twenty-seven Thousand Light Years 136
38. 31. Deciphering Miyazawa Kenji with Criticism and Sympathy. The Theatre Train of Iihatòbo 139
39. 32. The Bachelors Who Continue on. That Raven, Even 142
40. 33. Dreams That Are Ruffians. A Tale of Mannen-Town in Shitaya 146
41. 34. Two Blanches. A Streetcar Named Desire 150
42. 35. The Magic of Assorted Mirrors. Run, Merusu—A Girl’S Lips Are Dynamite! 157
43. 36. Signposts along the Way. A Legend of Fish: A Teacher Kills His Student at Rikkyò University 162
44. 37. A Snack Bar in the Woods of Athens. A Midsummer Night’s Dream 165
45. 38. Laughter in a Gothic Musical. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street 168
46. 39. The Power of the Older Sister, The Power of the Mirror. Night Shadows—A Gentle Ghost Story 172
47. 40. Dining and a Sense of Freedom. Bubbling and Boiling 178
48. 41. A World in Which the Composition is Now Complete. Song of Praise and Thanksgiving 180
49. 42. A Shock from Below the Belt. The Song of a Strange Family—the Case of the On-Line Fraud of Itò Motoko 182
50. 43. Tsuka Kòhei’s “Staircase”. The Kamata Marching Song 186
51. 44. The Power of Imagination Lavished on a House. Melancholy When the Flowers Bloom 189
52. 45. Malcontent Passions. Radical Party 192
53. 46. A Painful Sense of Distance. Afternoon of a Man and Woman 195
54. 47. Mankind, and Those Theatrical Slippages. Man of La Mancha 198
55. 48. A World in Which That’s All We Can Do. Memories of the Little Finger 202
56. 49. The Basic Principles of a Vision Already Experienced. Rules For Sleeping in the Universe 205
57. 50. A Fight Against Fixed Forms. Japan Wars 208
58. 51. The Sympathies and Disjunctures of Nostalgia. Tango at the End of Winter 211
59. 52. A Tale After the Myths Have Crumbled. Genocide 215
60. 53. Twenty-Five Hundred Years: Gazing at a Scrap Pile. Earth Station 218
61. 54. A Time Before Everything Dissolves. Taking along a Sunset Like the Morning 221
62. 55. The Jigsaw Puzzle of Sex. Cloud 9 224
63. 56. Surprising Things Happen. Comet Messenger Siegfried 228
64. 57. The Dilemma of a Drama With a Chorus. Chorus Line 231
65. 58. The Adventures of Nostalgia. Children of Night 235
66. 59. Medieval Preaching in an Outdoor Space. Oguri Hangan and Princess Terute 239
67. 60. The Results of Practical Romance. I Bit The Green Seed 242
68. 61. A Crime Explained, a Crime Unexplainable Memo from the Aliens 245
69. 62. A Quick Glimpse of the Meaning of the World. Wind Station 250
70. 63. A Nest of Boxes at the Edge of Waking. The Tempest: A Rehearsal on a Nò Stage on Sado Island 253
71. 64. Closing in on the Self: Zeami As “Performer”. Zeami 257
72. 65. The Dynamism of “The City Multitudes”. Les Misérables 260
73. 66. That First Kiss with the Taste of Radioactivity. Godzilla 266
74. 67. A Refreshing Wind Surpasses Its Domain. Alejo—to Praise the Wind 270
75. Epilogue 275
76. Appendixes 277
77. Index 299
78. About the Author 307
79. About the Translator 307