Overview

• Title
• Performer
• Year

• 서울 (Seoul) Erotica – Ajumma’s Breast and Shape of a Peninsula

  Since time immemorial, many white shadows have haunted the Japanese people. The moment we set foot in the Korean peninsula, they begin to shine brightly. These shining white shadows are not angry. We just want to quietly listen.
  
  - Participated in the 2nd OSAKA DANCE EXPERIENCE
  - Kan Katsura & Sultan Bank Butoh Performance
  

  

  Performer(s)

  TORII HALL

  Director/Choreographer

  Kan Katsura

  Venue

  TORII HALL

  Year performed

  1996

• Sea of Time

  Koichi Tamano, who studied under Tatsumi Hijikata at Asbestos-kan from 1964 and was nicknamed by him as 'Nijinsky with crab legs', formed the Harupin-ha group in 1972, before moving to San Francisco in 1979 where he helped establish butoh in the USA. He continued to perform many times in Japan after emigrating, as a guest performer in Dairakudakan performances and working with the composer Kitarō on tours of Japan. 'Sea of Time' is his own piece, presented in Osaka, which included participation by some of his students from the USA.
  
  - Koichi Tamano Butoh Performance
  

  Performer(s)

  TORII HALL

  Director/Choreographer

  Koichi Tamano

  Venue

  TORII HALL

  Year performed

  1996

• The Sea of Memoriz

  When we die, we are divided into two types of people: those who leave this world with hatred, and those who let bygones be bygones and are left surrounded by pleasant memories. It seems people can in fact rewrite their memories. Two people who rewrite the memories of a bad separation can fill the hole left in their hearts, and when they leave this world, their ill feelings disappear.
  
  - Participated in the 12.Int Tanztheaterfestival Graz

  

  Performer(s)

  Kanazawa Butoh Kan

  Director/Choreographer

  Moe Yamamoto, Kei Shirasaka

  Venue

  Theater im Palais (Austria)

  Year performed

  2003

• The School of Hard Knocks

  The film travels through the urban canyons, parking decks and rooftops of New York, where choreographer Yoshiko Chuma and actor John Nesci explore the textures and architecture of the city through engagement with movement and objects. Finally, the journey leads to the natural landscape of Maine where Jacob Burckhardt’s camera captures the movements of leaves, water, light, and a raft floating in the fog. Created in 1980.

  

  Performer(s)

  Yoshiko Chuma

  Director/Choreographer

  Yoshiko Chuma

  Year performed

  1980

• Sasara mo Sara

  "Sasara-mosara" means "mess" in the Hiroshima dialect. Hiroshima was destroyed by an atomic bomb in 1945. A single flash of light changed everything, as if causing an extinction. The theme of the piece is 'The past, present, and future of the atomic bomb'. The work does not depict the atomic bomb itself, but rather presents the complex emotions of sadness, hatred, fear and anger caused by the bomb, and the absurd, ongoing historical and global situations as a universal image.

  

  Performer(s)

  Yuko Kawamoto

  Director/Choreographer

  Yuko Kawamoto

  Venue

  d-soko Theater

  Year performed

  2016

• Dance Oral History: Reflections on Fuji Mieko’s “Kakekomi”

  An oral history of dance in which participants recount their experiences while viewing archival footage. The speaker in this video, Hikari Baba, studied under Mieko Fuji from a young age, and participated in overseas tours with the Mieko Fuji Dance Company. She later worked in New York, and since returning to Japan has worked on choreography for operas. In 2001, she was taught the choreography for Fuji's solo masterpiece “Kakekomi (Rush)” by Mieko Fuji herself.

  

  Performer(s)

  NPO Dance Archive Network

  Year performed

  2026

• Rush

  This solo piece by Mieko Fuji portrays the inner turmoil of a woman in anguish and her resolve to escape toward freedom. It premiered in 1962 and is inspired by Tōkeiji Temple in Kamakura, historically known as a refuge for women seeking release from oppressive marriages. Based on a text by Takuo Endo and music composed by Enza Tsuruzawa, the work is narrated by Sumitayū Takemoto (then known as Mojitayū Takemoto), now recognized as a Living National Treasure. The dance unfolds through the scenes “Ancient Well,” “Path,” “Drought,” “Rain,” “Wind,” and “Snow.” This video documents a performance from Mieko Fuji’s dance recital in March 1968.
  
  - The image quality is poor due to the deterioration of the half-inch magnetic tape on which the footage was recorded.

  

  Performer(s)

  Mieko Fuji Dance Company

  Director/Choreographer

  Mieko Fuji

  Venue

  National Theatre of Japan: Small Theatre

  Year performed

  1968

• Rotation

  “Rotation” arose from a desire for true peace, and was created with a heart that values and cherishes human life.
  A flock of ungendered, neutral “humans” appears. Humans who, when facing crisis, draw upon their inner reserves like a phoenix to survive. This dance portrays the rotating nature of humans through scenes of progress, peace, joys and sorrows, crisis, pain and progress again. The work premiered in November 1967.
  
  - The image quality is poor, due to the deterioration of the half-inch magnetic tape on which the footage was recorded.

  

  Performer(s)

  Mieko Fuji Dance Company

  Director/Choreographer

  Mieko Fuji

  Venue

  National Theatre of Japan : Small Theatre

  Year performed

  1968

• Rosentanz: Critique of Pure Sexualization

  Held over three days as part of the 60th anniversary programme of the Goethe-Institut Tokyo, this event offered a 21st-century reinterpretation of Tatsumi Hijikata's legendary "Rose-Coloured Dance" (1965) viewed through a camp lens overflowing with charged, often erotic imagery. The performance featured guest artists Yohani Kibe, Namiko Kawamura, and Noriko Sunayama, each taking turns to perform on different days. A film screening programme curated by Akihiro Suzuki was also held in conjunction with the performances, aiming to broaden the context of "Rose-Coloured Dance".

  

  Performer(s)

  Takao Kawaguchi

  Director/Choreographer

  Takao Kawaguchi

  Venue

  Goethe-Institut Tokyo

  Year performed

  2022

• The Room

  In the spring semester of 1970, a new Department of Dance was established at California State University, Fullerton through the efforts of Masami Kuni, who was teaching at the university at the time. This work was a new piece by Kuni, presented as the department's first performance. Exploring the transformation of space, the piece lasts 66 minutes and consists of eight scenes: "Vacancy," "Motion," "Bliss," "Affliction," "Meditation," "Ecology," "Rest," and "Vacancy." The footage is likely part of the dress rehearsal including "Motion," "Bliss," "Affliction," and "Meditation". Originally scheduled to be performed from May 7 to 10, the performance was postponed when then-California Governor Ronald Reagan ordered the university closed in response to escalating student protests.

  

  Performer(s)

  Kuni Institute of Creative Dance

  Director/Choreographer

  Masami Kuni

  Venue

  The Little Theatre at California State University, Fullerton

  Year performed

  1970

• Ridges in a Field under Moonshine

  By moonlight I stand
  The life of the seed, the seed of life / Will surely be sealed
  At night, butterflies / cross the channel
  It is not that I dance, but that / my body is invited to dance
  As though there is an endless exchange between the countless full moons and blood
  This is how the butoh should be danced.
  (Bishop Yamada, The Butoh Chronicles III)
  
  - Hoppo Butoh-ha Performance

  

  Performer(s)

  Hoppo Butoh-ha

  Director/Choreographer

  Bishop Yamada

  Venue

  Sapporo DOSHIN HALL

  Year performed

  1982

• Return to the Village

  My ballet instructor in New York once crumpled up a piece of paper and tossed it in the air saying 'this is ballet'. The falling of nature itself. We used to dance in front of the Opera House fountain on the way home from lessons. The flautist was a naturalist, who lived day to day with no job or home. But if his life were natural, it is too heavy. Can we marvel at beauty and let it soften our hearts without understanding it? I want to dance a dance without having to try too hard. Is that natural, or unnatural?
  
  - Participated in the ACA National Arts Festival 1976 Excellence Award
  - Awarded the ACA National Arts Festival 1976
  - A full-length video of the rehearsal. The performance took place on 8 November 1976 at the Yomiuri Hall.

  

  Performer(s)

  Wakamatsu Miki & Tsuda Ikuko Free Dance Performance

  Director/Choreographer

  Miki Wakamatsu, Ikuko Tsuda

  Year performed

  1976

• Resonance: A Return from Chaos

  Goro Namerikawa Dance Art Recital. Namerikawa creates an impressive stage environment by incorporating the audience as part of the set. In this solo performance, the audience was given short iron bars named "tetsubiko" [iron vibrations] upon entering the venue, which they strike in unison midway through the performance. The stage floor is covered with metal plates, and Namerikawa’s body interacts and resonates with various stage props, including a motorised top that emits noise as it spins, as well as silver springs and steel plates that are suspended from above.
  
  The flyer reads: "Resonance is the path that leads from chaos to the creation of all life and matter in this world..."

  

  Performer(s)

  Goro Namerikawa/Austro Arts Association Co.,Ltd.

  Director/Choreographer

  Goro Namerikawa

  Venue

  Tochigi Education Center Main Hall

  Year performed

  2003

• Rent a Body- The Last Night of Ballhaus

  A site-specific performance held through the whole of the Ballhaus Theater in Berlin just before the fall of the Wall, where tensions were rising on a daily basis.
  Anzu Furukawa was invited as director and choreographer to realise Delta RA'i's idea of transforming the entire venue into a dance space. With 46 dancers chosen through audition, performances went ahead after a month of rehearsals. The shows were packed out every day, and it became a legendary piece that became a talking point among Berlin artists for a while.
  
  -Butoh dance/theatre project
  -51 performers in total

  

  Performer(s)

  tatoeba

  Director/Choreographer

  Anzu Furukawa

  Venue

  Ballhouse Naunynstrasse (Berlin)

  Year performed

  1989

• Renge Village

  Light movements are gradually overlaid with Indian music and skillful use of props. This work is a perfect example of Katsuko Orita's own characteristics in movement.
  
  -Presented at the Modern Dance May Festival.
  -In 1985, the work was presented to the Korean Dance Association and Korean dancers.

  

  Performer(s)

  Midori Ishii and Katsuko Orita Dance Studio

  Director/Choreographer

  Katsuko Orita

  Venue

  Toyoko Theater

  Year performed

  1984

• Recorded prior to Europe (1971), and in Düsseldorf (1979)

  A digitised compilation of 8mm film reels of Mitsutaka Ishii, one which appears to have been taken in 1971 in Chigasaki, and another taken in 1979 at a gallery and on the streets on Düsseldorf. Ishii was the first butoh dancer to travel to Europe in 1971, performing in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany.

  Performer(s)

  Mitsutaka Ishii

  Director/Choreographer

  Mitsutaka Ishii

  Year performed

  1969

• REBIS – Flowers are fragrant in the incense burner

  Performed by Yamada Setsuko and Kamiryo Kunishi, on a set of log turrets and stones set in mud which resemble an ancient ritual site. Kamiryo's animalistic movements intersect Yamada's sacrificial butoh. This work by two former students of Tenshikan (run by Kasai Akira), is imbued with the connections made in Tenshikan between dancing and mysticism. After performing in Tokyo, this work was invited to the Festival d'été de Châteauvallon in France.
  
  - Yamada Setsuko and Kamiryo Kunishi Butoh Performance
  

  

  Performer(s)

  Setsuko Yamada

  Director/Choreographer

  Setsuko Yamada, Kunishi Kamiryo

  Venue

  Institut français de Tokyo

  Year performed

  1984

• REACHING FOR INSPIRATION: Butoh and Performance

  Through Hijikata, to beyond Hijikata. Through myself, to beyond myself. The place of butoh, the presence of butoh, resides here within my body. - Nobuo Harada (from the flyer)
  
  - Akiko Motofuji's first performance in Kyushu
  - Related event: "Butoh no Genba '98 Second Project NON-STOP-BROWING" at Kego Park (24 October 1998)
  
  -GENERATIVE BUTOH 98 in KYUSHU
  -HIJIKATA TATSUMI '98

  

  Performer(s)

  Butoh Seiryukai

  Director/Choreographer

  Nobuo Harada

  Venue

  NTT Yume Tenjin Hall

  Year performed

  1998

• Rashamen Tempura, Part 3

  Work by the Fukuoka-based theatre company Shanghai Noodle Factory, featuring Mitsuyo Uesugi who choreographed and performed her own solo parts. The performance was presented as part of the ASIA TRI programme, an Asian focussed portion of the Kazuo Ohno Festival. Uesugi even appeared in a wheelchair, evoking an image of her teacher, Kazuo Ohno.
  
  -Asia Tri
  -Kazuo Ohno Festival 2012

  

  Performer(s)

  Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio

  Director/Choreographer

  Mitsuyo Uesugi, Azuma Shinkai

  Venue

  BankART Studio NYK

  Year performed

  2012

• RAPSODY

  News of Kisaragi Koharu's death reached Hitsujiya Shirotama in December 2000 while she was on a residency in New York. Subsequently, a request was made to revive Koharu's 'DOLL', and, 20 years after its first performance, 'DOLL' was revived by Yubiwa Hotel under the name 'RAPSODY'. The girls who disappeared in the sea in 1983, reappeared on a roof-top tennis court in 2003. Koharu's 'DOLL' dealt with the suicide of high school girls, and this work attempts to embrace Koharu's themes of the death of young women and raise it to new heights as 'feelings of life'.

  

  Performer(s)

  YUBIWA Hotel

  Director/Choreographer

  Shirotama Hitsujiya

  Venue

  Rosa Kaikan's roof tennis court

  Year performed

  2003

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