Start here · Essential guide
Japanese Poetry: Waka, Haiku and the Art of Brevity
A plain-language guide to short Japanese poetic forms such as waka, tanka and haiku, and how a few lines can carry deep feeling, season and silence.
Arts and Crafts
Poetry and Theatre
Waka, haiku and the stage arts of noh, kabuki and bunraku.
Bunraku Puppet Theatre and Its Narrators
How bunraku puppeteers, a chanter and a shamisen player combine voice, music and movement into one performance, and how the art grew in Osaka.
Haiku: Form, Season Words and Cutting Words
What makes a haiku: the 5-7-5 sound pattern, the seasonal reference, and the cutting word that creates a pause and sets two images side by side.
Kabuki: Spectacle, Costume and Role Types
How kabuki grew from a lively street performance into a popular stage art, with bold makeup, layered costumes, specialized role types and inventive stagecraft.
Noh Theatre: Masks, Slow Movement and Ghost Stories
The stage conventions of noh, from masks and the bridge to the chorus and the deliberate pace, and why so many plays center on ghosts and memory.
Rakugo and the Art of the Seated Storyteller
How a single seated performer with only a fan and a cloth plays every character in a comic story, and how rakugo grew in the cities of the Edo period.
The Tale of Genji and the World of Heian Court Fiction
A cultural overview of The Tale of Genji, its author Murasaki Shikibu, its Heian court setting, and the ways it has shaped Japanese art and storytelling.
Traditional Instruments: Shamisen, Koto and Shakuhachi
An introduction to the shamisen, koto and shakuhachi: how each is built and played, where it appears in Japanese music, and what its sound is known for.
Waka and the Court Poetry of the Heian Period
How waka were exchanged, collected and judged at the Heian court, from love notes and poem contests to the first imperial anthology, the Kokinshu.
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