Review: November 2019 – the Festive Annual Kabuki Kaomise

PART ONE

The start of the Kabuki season, around November each year, is marked by what is referred to as the Kaomise (lit. face showing) performances. This is the time when the pre-eminent actors are seen on stage during performances intended to show off their skills. It has been a very important event in the Kabuki calendar in Edo, Osaka and Kyoto during and since the

Review: January 2019 New Year Kabuki: Part Two – Asakusa Kokaido Public Hall and the Kabukiza

Part two of a two part review!

Asakusa Kokaidō Public Hall Shinshun New Year Kabuki

The matinee kicked off with an Otoshidama – Nenshi Goaisatsu, a special kōjō (ceremony), for new year greetings during which one of the company appears on stage, on this occasion Onoe Matsuya, dressed in formal Edo era attire during which he described some of the conventions of Kabuki, highlights to watch out for in the upcoming performances and which are his favourite local hang outs.

…and of course the ever popular famous thief Ishikawa Goemon made his appearance with the first performance of the matinee in the very entertaining Edo style dance drama ‘Modorikago Iro ni Aikata’ (The Returning Palanquin). The two palanquin bearers, Yoshirō (Nakamura Tanenosuke), the chic one who is

Book Review: Samurai Revolution By Romulus Hillsborough

The Dawn of Modern Japan as seen through the eyes of the Shōgun’s Last Samurai!

This book, based on twenty-five years of research by Romulus Hillsborough who spent sixteen years living in Japan, joins his growing portfolio of his other works on the pivotal characters and themes of the Bakumatsu Period and the Meiji Restoration bringing many of them together in a welcome work that covers the pivotal period that heralded the end of the Japanese feudal era and the beginning of the industrial and political modernisation of Japan.

Something of a tome ‘Samurai Revolution’ is written as two books. The first covers the conflicting interests of the Tokugawa Bakufu in Edo (modern day Tōkyō) and the Imperial Court in Kyōto and the inter clan alliances which had been forged nearly three hundred years before in the triumphs and

Sumo: The Traditional National Sport Of Japan

An introduction into the world of Japan’s oldest martial art!

The Founding of Sumo

Nomi no Sukune was a potter from Izumo and ancestor of Sugawara no Michizane. His famous fight with Taima no Kehaya under the patronage of Emperor Suinin resulted in the death of Taima no Kehaya and the founding of Sumo, the traditional national sport of Japan. An influential figure Nomi no Sukune also proposed to Emperor

Film Review: Uzumasa Limelight (Uzumasa Raimuraito)

A homage to Charlie Chaplin’s LIMELIGHT!

Winner of the Cheval Noir Award and Best Actor Award at the 2014 Fantasia International Film Festival, the Audience Award at the 2014 New York Asian Film Festival and the 2014 Camera Japan Festival, and the official selection at both the 2014 Hawaii International Film Festival and the 2014 Shanghai International Film Festival. 

Book Review: The Art Of The Japanese Sword: The Craft Of Swordmaking And Its Appreciation

Like people and snowflakes, no two Japanese swords are the same!

Written by Yoshindo Yoshihara (a third generation swordsmith) with Leon and Hiroko Kapp, The Art of the Japanese Sword is a beautiful large format book (effectively printed on glossy black paper with white text) that focuses on the production and understanding of the symbolic steel weapon once used by samurai and now admired by art collectors all round the world as an object of perfection, although many people use them to practice traditional Japanese martial arts like Iaido (the art of drawing the sword).

Art Exhibition: “Ukiyo-e Pop” – Ukiyo-e & Contemporary Japonism At ICN Gallery London

Location: ICN gallery 96-98 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4RH

Date: 5th July – 8th September 2012

Traditional ukiyo-e woodblock prints and contemporary manga illustration combine for a must-see exhibition at the ICN gallery in London.

A fabulous selection of works from the masters of landscape printings

Otsuka Green Tea Co., Ltd Announces New Harvest

Flavour and fragrance with a touch of loving care!

Otsuka Green Tea Co., Ltd in Kakegawa City, Shizuoka has just announced the beginning of a new harvest with fresh tea plucked by hand ready soon.

The company has been cultivating tea since the Edo period and produces some of the finest in Japan, rich in taste and flavour, and has acquired a mass of awards for their