Japan boasts one of the world's oldest, most vibrant and most influential performance traditions. This accessible and complete history provides a comprehensive overview of Japanese theatre and its continuing global influence. Written by eminent international scholars, it spans the full range of dance-theatre genres over the past fifteen hundred years, including noh theatre, bunraku puppet theatre, kabuki theatre, shingeki modern theatre, rakugo storytelling, vanguard butoh dance and media experimentation. The first part addresses traditional genres, their historical trajectories and performance conventions. Part II covers the spectrum of new genres since Meiji (1868–), and Parts III to VI provide discussions of playwriting, architecture, Shakespeare, and interculturalism, situating Japanese elements within their global theatrical context. Beautifully illustrated with photographs and prints, this history features interviews with key modern directors, an overview of historical scholarship in English and Japanese, and a timeline. A further reading list covers a range of multimedia resources to encourage further explorations.

Winner, 2017 Choice Outstanding Academic Title

'… a massive undertaking and a much-needed addition to current scholarship on Japanese theater … this is a wonderful overview of a rich theatrical world, a book with something for both specialists and generalists …'

C. Lanki Source: Choice

'A History of Japanese Theatre edited by the kyôgen scholar Jonah Salz is a comprehensive reference book covering the development of the major classical, modern and contemporary theatres in Japan … Working with a team of eight contributing editors and fifty-eight individual contributors, Salz has produced a diversely situated guide to theatre in Japan that is more comprehensive than any previous volume of this kind … A History of Japanese Theatre is a considerable achievement. It features detailed yet succinct discussions on the key forms and periods of theatre and, through interludes, it opens the reader to diverse commentaries and reflections. It offers key examples and discussions of representative works that expand our understanding and will be helpful in teaching. I especially enjoy the diversity of approaches that offer a way to think about history in the plural.'

Peter Eckersall Source: Asian Theatre Journal

'There have been numerous articles and books on Japanese theatre, but this is the book to own. Even if Japanese theatre is not an individual’s area of research, the reader will value this book’s interesting presentations of the development of performance, and the relationship between performance and society. If Japanese theatre is one’s primary research area, the reader will be delighted with the depth and breadth found in A History of Japanese Theatre.'

Deidre Onishi Source: Theatre Topics

'The accessibility of information, the breadth of coverage, and the variations in style make this an ideal reference work for anyone seeking to comprehend the basics (and then some) of the Japanese dramatic tradition.'

Erik R. Lofgren Source: Japanese Studies

'… Salz has succeeded in choreographing a delicate balance between scholarly innovation and sophistication on the one hand, and convenient structure and accessibility on the other.'

William D. Fleming Source: TDR: The Drama Review