Noh Plays
Part of the University of Virginia’s Japanese Text Initiative, this includes a
glossary of terms and English translations of several plays
Background to
Noh-Kyogen
Comprehensive overview of the elements of Noh drama: actors, music, dance, masks
etc.
Noh Masks
Masks used in Noh, including Hannya, Beshimi and Okina
The Bunraku
Comprehensive site on the classic puppet theater.
The Doll Theater:
Bunraku Puppets in the Whitman College Collection
Collection of the heads of bunraku puppets, each face made for a particular
role
The Shinnai Project
In an era of class repression, musical drama gave the common people a voice. Available
via the Internet Archive since the page creator moved.
What is Kabuki?
Some cultural perspective, and what an Edo-era playgoer could expect to experience
when attending a performance.
The Kabuki Story
Teachers’s resource site on history, social context, and structure of
kabuki.
Kabuki for Everyone
Introduction to kabuki; one of the contributors to this page is an actor.
Chushingura Text
An act-by-act summary of the best-known kabuki play, the story of the 47 loyal
retainers
Jeff Blair’s
Kabuki Page
Text summaries of plays presented at Misonoza in Nagoya
Books on Japanese Drama:
Halford, Aubrey S. and Giovanna M. Halford. The Kabuki Handbook. Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1976. ISBN 0-8048-0332-3
Ueda, Makoto, tr. The Old Pine Tree and Other Noh Plays. University of Nebraska Press, 1962.
Waley, Arthur. The No Plays of Japan. Grove Press.
Keene, Donald, tr. Chushingura: The Treasury of Loyal Retainers. Columbia University Press, 1971. ISBN 0-231-03531-4
Sakanishi, Shio, tr. The Ink-Smeared Lady and Other Kyogen. Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1961.
Mishima, Yukio. Five Modern No Plays. Tr. by Donald Keene. Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1980. ISBN 0-8048-1380-9.
Sekine, Masaru. Ze-Ami and his Theories of Noh Drama. Colin Smythe, 1985. ISBN 0-86140-214-6.
Robertson, Jennifer. Takarazuka: Sexual Politics and Popular Culture in Modern Japan. University of California Press, 1998. ISBN 0-520-21151-0