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UMass Libraries > Research by Subject > UMass East Asian Collection > East Asian Studies Class Guides

The Performing Arts in Japan

a Library Guide for Japan 297A

Finding Library Materials

Library Catalog

You can use the library catalog to identify books and journals that are available in the library at UMass Amherst.

Use any of the following subject headings to find books in both English and Japanese on the performing arts in Japan. You may want to start with a very broad search such as:
Performing arts Japan
and then look at the bibliographies or handbooks to get more information.

On the other hand, you may want to begin with a tighter focus on your search such as:
Kabuki, No, Kyogen, Bunraku
Please also keep in mind when you are doing a search that the subject heading Kabuki is about the performance, while Kabuki plays is about the text of the play.

If you are skillful at using the catalog, you will come across other subject headings such as:
Kabuki in art (in the Four College catalog), which will give you access to beautiful art catalogs of woodblock prints showing kabuki actors in full regalia.

By restricting your searching (again in the Four College catalog) to the Film and Video subset of the catalog, a search on kabuki will bring you to videos about applying stage makeup or doing traditional dance steps.

Call Number Locations

If you prefer the tactile sensation of actually touching books while you think about your topic, you can also browse the shelves in these locations:
    NE1326.5.K3    --    Kabuki in art
    PN1978.J3        --    Bunraku
    PN2924.5.K3    --    Kabuki
    PN2924.5.K9    --    Kyogen
    PN2924.5.N6    --    Noh theatre

Indexes

Once you have located some books to help you begin your research, you should look at journal articles as well. The most efficient way to identify relevent articles is by using one or more of the online indexes that are available in the library or through authenticated login.

MLA Bibliography
The Modern Language Association Bibliography is an indexing and abstracting service. Coverage is from 1963 to present. Journals, monographs, dissertations, and conference proceedings covering language, literature, theatre, and many other fields are indexed in this database.

International Index to the Performing Arts
200 journals are abstracted and indexed in this database.

Bibliography of Asian Studies
The Bibliography of Asian Studies (BAS) is an index to books and articles written in Western languages on Japan. Coverage is 1970 to present. BAS does not include full-text or abstracts, it just provides citations. While there is considerable overlap with the more mainstream indexes (MLA Bibliography, etc.) BAS will include more obscure Western language journals published in Asia.

There are 499 articles on Japan -- Arts -- Theater, so you will want to be more specific once you have found a topic.

Electronic Journals

JSTOR
Most people fall in love with JSTOR the first time they try it. JSTOR stands for Journal Storage and contains the full-text of journals going back fifty years. For East Asian Studies scholars it is particularly wonderful, since it includes Monumenta Nipponica, Journal of Asian Studies, etc.

Project Muse
Project Muse is another online collection of journals but it doesn't have the same depth of coverage as JSTOR. Still, you will want to check it because Asian Theatre Journal and others are available.

Internet Links

Noh Plays in Translation
http://www.meijigakuin.ac.jp/~pmjs/biblio/noh-trans.html
Michael Watson maintains a checklist of Noh plays that are available in translation.

English Noh Page
http://www.homepage.montana.edu/~patkins/eni/index.html
Paul Atkins also maintains a list of plays available in English translation.

Full-text on the web

Japanese Text Initiative at the University of Virginia
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/
The Japanese Text Initiative includes selections of Kabuki plays and full plays like Kanadehon Chushingura. There is also a resource list for futher study.

Kabuki for Everyone
This website is maintained by Ichimura Manjiro, an onnagata kabuki actor. See video clips of performances, an up-to-date bibliography, and other information. Available in both English and Japanese.

An Introduction to Bunraku
This website is maintained by the Yomiuri Shinbun Osaka.See how puppets are assembled and a gallery of puppet heads.

Gallery of Kabuki Ukiyoe Prints at Waseda University
http://www.waseda.ac.jp/enpaku/gallery/e_gallery.html
You need to be able to read Japanese to take full advantage of this site, but the prints are superb.

Use Google to search for other keywords covering your topic.

Style Guides

You must follow a standard style guide when you write a research paper. There are a variety of guides in existence, which differ according to the needs of the displines. The best known are MLA (Modern Language Association), APA (American Psychological Association), and Chicago. The Turabian Guide is based on the Chicago guide and more appropriate for undergraduates.

Author             Gibaldi, Joseph, 1942-
Title                MLA handbook for writers of research papers / Joseph Gibaldi
Publisher         New York : Modern Language Association of America, 1995
Edition            4th ed
LOCATION        CALL #                                         STATUS
UM/Univ Lib      LB2369 .G53 1995 c.2           CHECK SHELF
UM/Univ Lib      LB2369 .G53 1995                  CHECK SHELF

Title                      Publication manual of the American Psychological Association.
Publisher              Washington, DC : American Psychological Association, c2001.
Edition                 5th ed.
LOCATION                                       CALL #                                 STATUS
UM / RESERVE                     BF76.7 .P83 2001                            CHECK SHELF
UM/Ref.                                 BF76.7 .P83 2001                             AT REF DESK

Author          Turabian, Kate L
Title            A manual for writers of term papers, theses, and dissertations / Kate L. Turabian
Publisher     Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1996
Edition         6th ed. / rev. by John Grossman and Alice Bennett
    UM/Morr. Ref.          LB2369 .T8 1996
    UM/Phys Sci Reserve   LB2369 .T8 1996
    UM/Univ Lib       LB2369 .T8 1996
    UM / RESERVE         LB2369 .T8 1996
    UM/Ref.         LB2369 .T8 1996 Shelved at Reference Desk

Others may be found by using the Library Catalog and searching with the subject heading Report Writing Handbooks Manuals Etc

One example of a general guide to writing research papers is:
Author     Dees, Robert.
Title       Writing the modern research paper / Robert Dees.
Publisher          Boston : Allyn and Bacon, c2000.
Edition         3rd ed.
Descript     xii, 404 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.

UM/Ref. LB2369 .D44 2000

Style Sheets
http://www.newark.ohio-state.edu/~osuwrite/
Ohio State University has compiled online guides for three different formats: MLA, APA, Turabian.

Now that you have done your background work, you will likely have some specific questions for me. Please feel free to contact me by phone (545-2728) or better yet by email (sdomier@library.umass.edu) for a personal research consultation. Please be prepared to tell me how much preliminary research you have done (read which books or articles, your research question/topic, and search strategies to this point) so that we won't need to waste any time.

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Produced and maintained by the UMass Amherst Libraries, comments to: Sharon Domier
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