Description
Book SynopsisKabuki is well known for its exaggerated acting, flamboyant costumes and makeup, and unnatural storylines. The onnagata, usually male actors who perform the roles of women, have been an important aspect of kabuki since its beginnings in the 17th century. In a labyrinth of gendering, the practice of men playing women's roles has affected the manifestations of femininity in Japanese society. In this case study of how gender has been defined and redefined through the centuries, Maki Isaka examines how the onnagata's theatrical gender impersonation has shaped the concept and mechanisms of femininity and gender construction in Japan. The implications of the study go well beyond disciplinary and geographic cloisters.
Trade 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
