Kabuki's Forgotten War: 1931-1945 (review)

The popular image of kabuki in the West is of a classical Asian dance form that emphasizes performance over text. Kabuki is perceived to be unchanging, with a fixed repertory of traditional plays and acting styles; it is seen as a valued "living" relic of the Tokugawa era and not as a part of the modern Japanese theatre world. One of the great joys of reading James Brandon's Kabuki's Forgotten War: 1931-1945 (and there are many) is how Brandon, by thorough research in Japanese sources, puts this dubious idea to rest. In this magisterial history of kabuki during Japan's Asian and Pacific wars, the author not only illustrates the connections between the theatre and Japan's military and political activities, but also provides a new perspective on the historical construction of kabuki as a purely "classical" art form.

Before tracing the history of kabuki performance during Japan's Fifteen-Year War against China, Britain, and the United States, the book begins with a brief history of kabuki before 1931, including theatrical responses to Japan's early twentieth-century wars—the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars. The book then looks at how kabuki troupes wrote and staged plays about the events of the 1930s, especially those involving Japan's war with China. Brandon delineates three categories of the new kabuki military plays that appeared during this time. The new works are categorized as ichiyazuke ("overnight pickle plays"), which were works written about recent events and rushed into production "like hastily pickled radishes" (4). He also discusses a subset of these plays called bidan, or "beautiful tales," which featured stories of heroic battles. Other forms of military kabuki were the shinjidaigeki, or "new history plays," which reimagined classical Japanese history that extolled Imperial loyalty. The third category (discussed as a subset of shinjidaigeki), plays set in the Meiji era, also emphasized Imperial loyalty and praised the early founders, statesmen, and soldiers of the Meiji state. Some of the plays discussed include Three Heroic Human Bombs, a bidan ichiyazuke about the death of three soldiers in China, and Kiyomasa at Urusan Castle, a shinjidaigeki play in which a medieval Japanese army defeats a larger Chinese force to take control of Korea. Brandon examines these and many other texts, illuminating not only the plays' content and audience appeal, but also their influence on and resonance in Japanese culture.

The next section of the book follows events in Japan and developments in kabuki from 1940 to the height of Japanese power in 1942, including some fascinating work on kabuki performers' participation in Japan's celebration of 2,600 years of Imperial rule, the tripartite pact with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, and the creation of kabuki as a cultural icon for "Greater East Asia." Brandon describes wartime kabuki in great detail, discussing propaganda and morale tours undertaken by acting troupes, as well as the ichiyazuke and shinjidaigeki plays written about the war in the Pacific. An interesting element in this section is the Japanese government's concern about the level of "decadence" (taihaiteki) seen in classic kabuki. Through an analysis of transcripts and memoranda, Brandon reveals government efforts to move kabuki away from themes of hedonism and love and toward patriotism and propaganda.

The final two sections of the book explore kabuki during Japan's defeat. As the reader might surmise, the number of kabuki performances and productions decreased as the tide of war turned against Japan. Brandon explores how writers dealt with the change in war fortunes, the response of the government and censors, and the effect that bombing and air raids had on kabuki theatres and acting companies. Most fascinating is how the affairs of war had an impact not only on the art form, but on individual actors as well. Brandon also illustrates how rationing, air raid warnings, and civil defense policies forced changes in performances. In a broad overview of kabuki during the war, he shows how the perception of kabuki as a...