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Nomai Dance Drama A Surviving Spirit of Medieval Japan
(Click to Enlarge)
Susan M. Asai
ISBN: 0-313-30698-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-313-30698-3
280 pages
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 11/30/1999
List Price: $119.95 (UK Sterling Price: £82.95)
Availability: Print on demand
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
Description: N=omai dance drama, an artistic expression combining sacred, communal, economic, and cultural spheres of community life in the district of Higashidorimura, is a performing tradition that provides an identity to agriculturally based villages. It has retained features characteristic of the music, drama, and sacred practices of medieval Japan. N=omai singing exhibits traits linked to Buddhist chanting. The instrumental music originates from folk Shinto. This study highlights the social and cultural value n=omaii has for the residents in villages that perform it by providing the historical context in which it is examined, as well as its current performance practices.

As this work explores the aspects of agricultural Japanese society, revealed through a dance drama, it will appeal to music and drama scholars as well as students of Japanese culture and history. After establishing the historical lens from which to view n^D=omai drama, the theatrical and musical aspects are discussed in detail. Photographs and musical examples enhance this thorough, well-organized study.
Table of Contents:
  • Preface
    Introduction
    Historical Background
    Artistic Growth Fueled by the Emerging Warrior Culture and Popular Buddhism: Cultural Antecedents
    Shamanic Beginnings: Dramatic Antecedents
    Shugend=o Religion and Folk Dance Drama: Religious Antecedents
    N=omai Theater
    Keepers of a Tradition: Performers and Cultural Setting
    A View from Within: Performance Practices
    Sacred Chronicles, Tales of Valor, and Humorous Yarns: Repertoire
    N=omai Music
    Drums, Cymbals, and Flute
    Poetry and Narrative in Song
    Epilogue: Musical N=omai in the 20th Century--Balancing Tradition and Change
    Appendix: Transcriptions
    Glossary of Japanese Terms
    Bibliography
    Index
About the Author: SUSAN M. ASAI is a music professor at Northeastern University in Boston. She received her Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from the University of California at Los Angeles.
LCC Class: 895
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