Hijikata Tatsumi and Butoh Dancing in a Pool of Gray Grits

Hijikata Tatsumi's explosive 1959 performance Forbidden Colors sparked a new genre of performance - butoh: an art form of contrasts, by turns shocking and achingly serene. Since then, interest has grown by leaps and bounds, and now people all over the world are drawn to butoh's ability to enact paradox and contradiction. However, knowledge of butoh's founder has lagged behind. Hijikata Tatsumi and Butoh traces the rollicking history of the creation and initial maturation of butoh, and locates Hijikata's performances within the intellectual, cultural, and economic ferment of Japan from the sixties to the eighties.

Bruce Baird is Assistant Professor of Asian Language and Literature at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, USA.

1. Introduction: And, And, And  
2. Outline of the Book  
3. Forbidden Eros and Evading Force: Hijikata's Early Years  
4. A Story of Dances that Sustain Enigma  
5. Pivoting Panels and Slashing Space: Rebellion and Identity  
6. My Mother Tied Me on Her Back: Story of Smallpox  
7. The Possibility Body: Embodying the Other, Negotiating the World  
8. Metaphorical Miscegenation in Memoirs: Hijikata Tatsumi in the Information Age  
9. Epilogue: The Emaciated Body in the World