MIT Global Shakespeares
  • Site Guide
  • About
    • About the Archive
    • People
    • Collaborations and Affiliated Projects
    • Call for Participation and Materials
  • Videos
    • All Productions
    • by Shakespeare Play
    • by Language
    • by Region
  • Education
    • Essays
    • Interviews
    • Scripts
    • Glossary
    • Bibliography
    • Study Modules
  • News
  • Give
  • Site Guide
  • About
    • About the Archive
    • People
    • Collaborations and Affiliated Projects
    • Call for Participation and Materials
  • Videos
    • All Productions
    • by Shakespeare Play
    • by Language
    • by Region
  • Education
    • Essays
    • Interviews
    • Scripts
    • Glossary
    • Bibliography
    • Study Modules
  • News
  • Give

Biwa hōshi

The biwa hōshi are the Japanese traveling performers, called “lute priests”, who earned a living by reciting epic war poems and playing the biwa as accompaniment. They were often blind, shaved their heads, and wore the robes of Buddhist monks. There are repeated images and motifs to the poems because the biwa hōshi used certain formulas to try to remember all of the stories.

Sources Cited:
Wikipedia

Glossary

  • Alexander Technique
  • Biwa (Japanese instrument)
  • Biwa hōshi
  • Bunraku (Ningyo Joruri)
  • Butoh (Japanese Dance)
  • Crosstalk (Xiangsheng, Chinese drama form)
  • Distancing effect (Brechtian Verfremdungseffekt)
  • Gamelan (Indonesian instrumental ensemble)
  • Hanamichi (Kabuki stage design)
  • Hua Ju (Chinese drama form)
  • Jingju (Peking opera, Beijing Opera)
  • Kabuki
  • Karakuri Ningyo (Japanese mechanical dolls)
  • Khon (Thai dance)
  • Kunqu (kunju or kun opera, form of Chinese opera)
  • Kyogen (Japanese theater form)
  • Nihon buyo (Japanese theater dance)
  • Noh
  • Randai (Indonesian folk theater form, uses silat)
  • Shingeki (Japanese ‘new theater’)
  • Sho-gekijo (Japanese ‘Little theater’)
  • Silat (also Pencak Silat, Malaysian martial arts)
  • Super Kabuki
  • Suzuki method
  • Takarazuka Revue (Japanese all-female musical theater)
  • Topeng (Indonesian theater dance)
  • Wayang Kulit (Indonesian shadow puppet play)
  • Yueju



MIT
Global Shakespeare
Project

Add to this Archive!

Collections for other parts of the world are in progress. We are very interested in hearing your suggestions about expanding this archive with additional regions and productions.

Contact Us!

Directors

Peter S. Donaldson
Director & Editor-in-Chief
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Alexa Alice Joubin
Co-Director
George Washington University

© Massachusetts Institute of Technology