Literature × Theatre

My research bridges the two fields of literature and theatre. More specifically, I study plays based on literary works in shimpa theatre, the modern descendant of kabuki, treating such dramatizations as cases of adaptation and media mixing practices. Another branch of my research focuses on the changes in commercial theatre, starting with kabuki, that occurred from the end of the Edo period and throughout the early modern era.
Adaptation, or transposition of certain content into a different
genre or context, has been a standard creative practice in Japan for centuries. Media mixes were ever-present during the Edo period; modern times saw another upsurge in cross-genre re-creation with the proliferation of mass media. The dialogue of old and new imaginations gave birth to new works enjoyed by vast audiences. The history of popular culture is therefore continuous with the culture of today. I am trying to foreground and elucidate such universal human practices that remain unaffected by the course of
time.