Kabuki Heroes on the Osaka Stage, 1780-1830

by Timothy Clark, C. Andrew Gerstle

Kabuki Heroes is about collective participation in urban culture--on the stage, in poetry salons, in art studios, and in fan clubs. Focusing on the culture of Kabuki theater in Osaka and Kyoto, the book illustrates the passionate hero worship of actors by all levels of society. Just as now we worship celebrities both in private and in public--at concerts, theaters, and sports events--so too did eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Kabuki fans celebrate their stage idols. Most importantly, after the spread of new color woodblock printing technology in the late 1760s, a golden age of popular Kabuki culture was promoted far and wide with beautifully colored prints and books. The over 300 fine examples brought together in this catalogue reside in leading public and private collections in Europe and Japan and evoke a fascinating period when theater, art, and poetry were essential elements of social and cultural life.

Genres: Japan

304 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2005

About the author

Timothy Clark is a British curator and scholar specializing in Japanese art. He served at the British Museum from 1988 to 2019, including many years as Head of the Japanese Section overseeing a vast collection. An expert on Edo and Meiji period paintings and prints, he has curated major exhibitions and authored numerous studies. He later became an Honorary Research Fellow and received Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun for promoting Japanese culture in the United Kingdom.