Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy

Stanleigh H. Jones Jr. is professor emeritus of Japanese at Pomona College. He studied Japanese at International Christian University in Tokyo and completed his Ph.D in Japanese literature at Columbia University. He is also the editor and translator of Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees and the author of The Bunraku Puppet Theatre of Japan: Honor, Vengeance, and Love in Four Plays of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.

• Acknowledgments Introduction Dramatic Personae Prologue Act I Scene 1. The Imperial Palace Scene 2. The Bank of the Kamo River Scene 3. The Transmission of the Secrets Scene 4. Before the Gate Act II Scene 1. The Journey-Sweet Words Exchanged Scene 2. Yasui Beach: Awaiting the Tide Scene 3. The Chastising Scene 4. The Crowing of the Cock Scene 5. Sugawara's Farewell Act III Scene 1. Tearing the Carriage Apart Scene 2. Sata Village Act IV Scene 1. Mount Tenpai Scene 2. North Saga Village Scene 3. The Village School Act V Scene 1. Tumult in the Palace A Note on the Puppets Bibliography

More than readable and accurate... the reader can even sense the different linguistic appeals that the narrative and dialogue portions of the play have for Japanese readers and spectators. Monumenta Nipponica Jones's Sugawara... reveals a rare love and understanding of the bunraku puppet theatre, coupled with careful scholarship and an imaginative realization of the author's aims. Asian Theatre Journal