Title: Puppets of nostalgia
First published: 1997
Description: Jane Marie Law describes the "life, death, and rebirth" of awaji ningyo shibai, the unique form of puppet theater of Awaji Island that has existed since the sixteenth century. Puppetry rites on Awaji helped to maintain rigid ritual purity codes and to keep dangerous spiritual forces properly channeled and appeased. Law conducted fieldwork on Awaji, located in Japan's Inland Sea, over a ten-year period.

In addition to being a detailed history and ethnography of this ritual tradition, Law's work is, at a theoretical level, a study of the process and meaning of tradition formation, reformation, invention, and revitalization. It will interest scholars in a number of fields, including the history of religions, anthropology, cultural studies, ritual and theater studies, Japanese studies, and social history.

Focusing on the puppetry tradition of Awaji Island, Puppets of Nostalgia describes the activities of the island's ritual puppeteers and includes the first English translation of their performance texts and detailed descriptions of their rites. Because the author has lived on Awaji for extended periods of research, the work includes fine attention to local detail and nuanced readings of religious currents in Japan that affect popular religious expression.
Subjects: Performing arts, Puppet theater, Religious aspects, Religious life and customs, Religious aspects of Performing arts, Puppet theater, history and criticism, Japan, religion, Japan, social life and customs
Places: Awaji Island, Japan
LC classification: PN1978.J3 L39 1997