War stories in performance

The Tale of the Heike: story, performance and versions

Japanese biwa: instruments for ensemble and storytelling

Atsumori: a former enemy asks for continued prayers

Zeami’s Noh play Atsumori brings a monk called Renshō, formerly the warrior Kumagai Naozane, back to Ichi-no-Tani. There he encounters the past of the young man he killed, first through a grass cutter and then through Atsumori’s returning spirit.

Mujō: change and impermanence

The Buddhist understanding that conditioned things do not stay unchanged, expressed in particular ways in Japanese religious teaching and literature.

Nenbutsu: recollection, recitation and different traditions

Nenbutsu can broadly mean recollecting or contemplating a Buddha. In Japanese Pure Land contexts it commonly refers to reciting Namu Amida Butsu. The same invocation is interpreted within different teachings, rituals and forms of daily life.

Pure Land traditions in Japan: nembutsu, birth and different schools

Pure Land teachings seek birth in a buddha-land as a path toward awakening. In Japan, the term usually centres on Amida Buddha and his western Pure Land of Bliss. It describes practices across Buddhist traditions as well as distinct institutions such as Jōdo-shū and Jōdo Shinshū.

Noh masks: roles, expression and the work of copying

A Noh mask, called omote by performers, is a carved and painted wooden face used to embody a role. Types indicate age, status and character, while movement and viewing angle give the fixed form a changing presence on stage.

Ichi-no-Tani Battlefield一ノ谷古戦場

The Battle of Ichi-no-Tani in February 1184 was a broad engagement across the narrow Kobe corridor, not a duel fought at one surviving fort.