Bye-Bye Butoh

Thus far in my research I have been able to find no more than two to three books on the subject of Butoh. Even through the internet I have been unable to locate any new information beyond what I have already found. There seems to be so little known about this theatrical tradition, and even less on that infamous production of Yukio Mishima’s Forbidden Colors. At my wit’s end, I have decided to simply change my research investigation to a topic that is more accessible—K’unshan theatre, a prelude to Peking Opera. Though I will still be approaching the investigation from a director’s standpoint, I have decided to focus upon the aspects of music and movement that are so integral to any form of Chinese Opera. My new question will ask as follows: “How would a director use music and movement in a production of the K’unshan play Fifteen Strings of Cash? So far I have been able to find a knowledgeable literary resource. There is, however, a certain amount of confusion with the theatrical tradition of K’unshan. The entire culture of Chinese opera is somewhat of a mélange of operas differentiating from whatever region they originated from. For this reason, it is difficult to accurately pinpoint where exactly K’unshan falls into the greater scheme of Chinese Opera.