Body (of) Knowledge

Women, the Body, and Dance in Postwar Japan

Bibliographic Data

ID3621658
AuthorsAlice Bethany Susan Baldock (0000-0001-9492-6370, University of Oxford, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume81
Issue2
Pages365-379
Publication date2022-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Asian Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-9118 • E-ISSN: 1752-0401
PublisherDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/s0021911821002266
OpenAlexW4212789999
LanguageEN
References cited23

This study examines the revolution of ideas surrounding the body in 1950s Japan from the perspective of two women dancers, Noh dancer Tsumura Kimiko (1902-74) and butoh dancer Motofuji Akiko (1928-2003). By contrasting one mid-twentieth-century view-that the postwar era offered a chance to "liberate" individual bodies-with the backdrop of continued control over bodies exercised by large institutions, I first show that this perceived rupture was not as stark as it initially appears. Moreover, I show how Tsumura and Motofuji rejected popular ideas about the body's purpose to forge their own. This allowed them to critique and confront the issues that popular views presented, particularly for disabled or gendered bodies. These issues involved increasing urbanization and the treatment of bodies based upon their desirability. This article argues that Tsumura's and Motofuji's conceptions of "body" challenged gender norms and presented new ideas about how to live

Aesthetics · Art · Dance · Economic growth · Economics · Literature · Perspective (graphical) · Sociology · Urbanization · Visual arts · Diversity and Impact of Dance · Gender Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · History · Japanese History and Culture

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