A fascinating look at Japanese drama, old and new
These plays, by one of Japan's leading intellectuals and most enigmatic figures, are 20th century reinterpretations of dance dramas from the 14th-16th centuries. The originals focus on the characters' spiritual crises, often manifest as spirits who have yet to cross over to the next plane of existence, who are released from their earthly bonds by prayer or exorcism. In Mishima's plays, he modernizes the settings and situations, while keeping basic plot and characters intact, in order to expose the dangers plaguing post-War Japan in the 1950s and 1960s. He warns against losing touch with one's traditions and spiritual center, and his spirits creep into modern offices and hospitals to haunt the souls of fashion designers, businessmen, and poets, as a reminder of the past. Mishima is an under-appreciated playwright in the West, known more for his novels and his sensational suicide in 1970, than for his numerous plays. This volume is an excellent introduction to his work as a dramatist, and I would highly recommend buyers supplement it with Donald Keene's excellent "20 Plays of the No Theatre."