Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"A well-researched and thorough historical study of the artificial and artistic construction of femininity by onnagata that provides a great deal of information as well as many thought-provoking insights."
-- Akiko Kusunoki * Early Modern Women *
"It is an important addition to the study of women performers in kabuki and supports the idea that onnagata is an action or performance"
-- Colleen Lanki * Asian Theater Journal *
"Isaka makes a number of important interventions in understanding how femininity is constructed and presented on the Japanese stage as well as in society as a whole. . . . The book’s exploration of gender performance goes far beyond the worlds of dramatic literature and theatrical performance."
-- Megan Ammirati * Theatre Survey *
"Isaka’s approach enables her to successfully situate onnagata within current discourse on gender identity. . . . Onnagata [is an] important additio[n] to the growing library of kabuki studies."
* Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies *
Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments
Note on Textual Conventions
Part One | Fundamentals: Invitation to Labyrinths of Gendering
Introduction: A Labyrinth of Onnagata
1. Geneses of a Maze: Androgyne Fatale
Part Two | Femininity Inside Out: Onnagata Who Pass
2. Denial of Transience: Forfeiting the Androgynous Charm
3. Prescription for Femininity: Onnagata Who Pass
4. Canonization: Creating Onnagata Traditions
5. Femininity in Circulation: Texts in Kabuki, Kabuki in Texts
Part Three | Marginalized Centers: Bodies and Personnel
6. Naturally Disciplined: Moving Real on Procrustean Beds
7. Female Onnagata in the Porous Labyrinth: The Enunciated Femininity and the Enunciating Masculinity
Part Four | Origins of Onnagata: Modern Reformation
8. Toward Contemporary Onnagata: Art in Their Blood
Epilogue: The Journey Continues
Notes
Bibliography
Index
