Dai Rakuda Kan: The Five Rings (Program Book)
Tokyo: Dairakudakan, 1987. Softcover. Large, oatmeal-colored, stapled wraps with Japanese lettering on front and color illus. on back. Elephant folio. 14x20 inches. Will require extra postage. Extra articles laid in: reviews from the NY Times of April 9th and April 19th, 1987; a review from The NY Times Magazine, November 1, 1987; and a bw-illustrated promotional flyer. VG+ content but with general shelf wear to covers (fading at very top edge, some soiling, rubbing to spine, a few chips, 3 tiny tears). Item #154420
Enormous program/souvenir book from the April 1987 Canada/US tour of the Japanese Butoh troupe, Dai Rakuda Kan. Performances were held in New York and the City Center theater; UCLA; Northeastern University; and the National Arts Center. This particular booklet includes an interview of the troupe's founder and head, Akaji Maro, by Wahei Tatematsu (in Japanese and English) and quirky photos, data, and essays, Chaos with Ghosts, Logs of the Battleship (including 900 litres of sake...), reviews, poetry, a two-page calligraphy by Maro, advertisements, and general acknowledgments (The Rockefeller Foundation, Nippon Cultural Centre, The Japan Foundation, and others). Most text in Japanese; a large part also in English. "Dai Rakuda Kan, whose name means ''Great Camel Battleship,'' is deliberately grotesque - anti-establishment in its stance and in its play upon Kabuki's traditional spectacular effects. The 20 performers are said to have a communal life style. It was not surprising to see both male and female members of the troupe make their first appearance in G-strings and gray or white body makeup. Mr. Maro's theater is a protest theater - exemplifying a love-hate relationship with current Japanese values, or with the West's corruption of those values. It is also a visionary theater, sometimes quite wonderful, often incomprehensible and occasionally pretentious". (ANNA KISSELGOFF, Special to the New York Times Published: July 12, 1982) Full of color and bw illustrations of all sorts that "stretch" the imagination.
Price: $300.00