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

1st Installment From Okamoto Kido’s Talks On Meiji Era Theatre – Under The Lamp

Part 14 The Scene at the opening of the new Kabukiza!

Kabuza Gossip – ‘Heart Warming Historical Tales of Kōmon’ (Zokusetsu Bidan Kōmon Ki) — Scholar, Amateur Kabuki Dramatist and Journalist Fukuchi Ōchi — The Appearance of Kabukiza Banzuke advertising posters – ‘The Fire Brigade Fight’ (Megumi no Kenka)

Tokyo Kabukiza Monthly Kabuki Review 15th April – 1st May 1930 Part Two

Final part of a two-part series by kabuki collector Trevor Skingle!

歌舞伎座劇評集 No. 64 – 昭和5年 4月15日 – 昭和5年 5月1日 (Shōwa 5 nen, 15^th April – 1^st May 1930)

Sugi Nishi Monogatari (aka Ranpu no Moto nite) A Past Story (Under the Lamp) Series Part 12, Okamoto Kidō. page 60

The entire series was published as “Meiji Gekidan Ranpu no Motonite” (On the Theatre of the Meiji Period – Under the Lamp) published by

Okamoto Kidō On The Kabuki Theatre Of The Meiji Period – Part One

First in a four-part series by kabuki collector Trevor Skingle!

Published as a series in 1935 and then in full as “Meiji Gekidan Ranpu no Moto ni te” (On the Theatre of the Meiji Period – Under the Lamp) by Iwanami Shoten in 1993. These extracts are from the serialisation which appeared in the late 1920s early 1930s in the Tokyo Kabukiza Monthly Kabuki Review magazine as