1 post tagged “japan”

Video: Show us some amazing costumes from a TV show, film, music video or performance.

I can't show you anything better than Kabuki. I never saw any Kabuki before a few years ago, when I caught a lengthy special that was shown on either Ovation or Trio (and which I haven't seen since). Something about its strange beauty clutches at my throat.

Outside of Japan, YouTube may actually be the best place to see Kabuki. The public library in my area has been voted the best in the country several times, including last year, but they have almost no recordings of Kabuki aside from a few minutes shown in a half-hour special on Japanese culture, which also covers Noh and Bunraku. Noh kind of creeps me out, but Bunraku is interesting if you give it a chance.

I've been meaning to post the following for a few days, and since it's marginally related (there are samurai in Kabuki, right?), I'll make it part of this post. Blame Colbert.

 

Samurai Song

When I had no roof I made
Audacity my roof. When I had
No supper my eyes dined.

When I had no eyes I listened.
When I had no ears I thought.
When I had no thought I waited.

When I had no father I made
Care my father. When I had
No mother I embraced order.

When I had no friend I made
Quiet my friend. When I had no
Enemy I opposed my body.

When I had no temple I made
My voice my temple. I have
No priest, my tongue is my choir.

When I have no means fortune
Is my means. When I have
Nothing, death will be my fortune.

Need is my tactic, detachment
Is my strategy. When I had
No lover I courted my sleep.

- Robert Pinsky