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Description for Onnagata
Hardback. Num Pages: 272 pages. BIC Classification: 1FPJ; AN; HBJF; JFSJ5. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 5817 x 3887 x 18. Weight in Grams: 522.
Kabuki is well known for its exaggerated acting, flamboyant costumes and makeup, and unnatural storylines. The onnagata, usually male actors who perform the roles of women, have been an important aspect of kabuki since its beginnings in the 17th century. In a “labyrinth” of gendering, the practice of men playing women’s roles has affected the manifestations of femininity in Japanese society. In this case study of how gender has been defined and redefined through the centuries, Maki Isaka examines how the onnagata’s theatrical gender “impersonation” has shaped the concept and mechanisms of femininity and gender construction in Japan. The implications of the study go well beyond disciplinary and geographic cloisters.
Product Details
Format
Hardback
Publication date
2016
Publisher
University of Washington Press United States
Number of pages
272
Condition
New
Number of Pages
272
Place of Publication
Seattle, United States
ISBN
9780295995106
SKU
V9780295995106
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 15 to 20 working days
Ref
99-16
About Maki Morinaga
Maki Isaka is associate professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Literatures and affiliate faculty in the Department of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Minnesota. She is the author of Secrecy in Japanese Arts: “Secret Transmission” as a Mode of Knowledge.
Reviews for Onnagata
"A well-researched and thorough historical study of the artificial and artistic construction of femininity by onnagata that provides a great deal of information as well as many thought-provoking insights."
Akiko Kusunoki
Early Modern Women
"It is an important addition to the study of women performers in kabuki and supports the idea that onnagata is an action or performance"
Colleen Lanki
Asian Theater Journal
"Isaka makes a number of important interventions in understanding how femininity is constructed and presented on the Japanese stage as well as in society as a whole. . . . The book’s exploration of gender performance goes far beyond the worlds of dramatic literature and theatrical performance."
Megan Ammirati
Theatre Survey
"Isaka’s approach enables her to successfully situate onnagata within current discourse on gender identity. . . . Onnagata [is an] important additio[n] to the growing library of kabuki studies."
Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies
Akiko Kusunoki
Early Modern Women
"It is an important addition to the study of women performers in kabuki and supports the idea that onnagata is an action or performance"
Colleen Lanki
Asian Theater Journal
"Isaka makes a number of important interventions in understanding how femininity is constructed and presented on the Japanese stage as well as in society as a whole. . . . The book’s exploration of gender performance goes far beyond the worlds of dramatic literature and theatrical performance."
Megan Ammirati
Theatre Survey
"Isaka’s approach enables her to successfully situate onnagata within current discourse on gender identity. . . . Onnagata [is an] important additio[n] to the growing library of kabuki studies."
Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies