Japanese Butoh Dance Theater and Zen Buddhism Cover Image

Japoński teatr tańca butō a buddyzm zen
Japanese Butoh Dance Theater and Zen Buddhism

Author(s): Michał Sokołowski
Subject(s): Theatre, Dance, Performing Arts, Theology and Religion, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: Japan; Zen; dance; butoh;

Summary/Abstract: Butoh is, created in the late 1950s, a Japanese avant-garde dance theatre. Its main representatives were Hijikata Tatsumi (1928–1986) and Ōno Kazuo (1906–2010). Hijikata criticized the rigid division into theater and dance, denied any form of strict codification of dance, and also rejected the concepts of technique and methods. Also for Ōno rigid frame of existing dance genres turned out to be insufficient and he created his own dance, based on structural improvisation. They both started with contemporary dance, fascinated by its possibilities, and finally created their own form. Intuition, spontaneity and the ability to transformation were the key to their dance. Some researchers connect butoh with Zen, seeing it as a meditation in motion, involving cleansing of motions from intentions and release from oneself. The position that links butoh with Zen is sometimes criticized and presented as its unjustified stereotypization. The aim of the article is to look at the similarities and relations between butō and the philosophy of Zen Buddhism.

  • Issue Year: 8/2018
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 57-76
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: Polish