The Folk Performing Arts: Traditional Culture in Contemporary Japan

Thornbury (Japanese, Temple U.) looks at the various forms of folk performance in terms of the attention they have recently begun to receive from scholars, governments, and communities. After an overview she discusses the history of scholarship, the Cultural Properties Protection Law, the Festival Law, the several performance venues, the state of performances in five communities, the Saitama Prefectural Folk Cultural Center as a model for a national theater, literary representations, and the future of the arts. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.