Butoh: 5 Things to Know About the Japanese Dance of Darkness

by David McElhinney | LIFESTYLE

Butoh is perhaps one of Japan’s more bizarre artistic endeavors, and certainly one of its hardest to define. Starting in post-war Japan as an avant garde dance form which ran counter the prevailing performance arts winds, butoh has since spread its tendrils across the globe and is now performed and adored worldwide.

What is butoh? It’s usually characterized by dancers covered head-to-toe in white body paint, slow and arrhythmic body contortions expressing a confluence of anguish and rapture, and a dedication to form and improvisation that is deeply connected to the nature of being.

If that has piqued your curiosity, read on for everything you need to know about Japanese butoh.

1. Where Does Butoh Come From?

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, as Japan was slowly dragging itself out of the World War II wreckage, choreographer Tatsumi Hijikata and renowned dancer Kazuo Ohno began questioning the nature of dance. At this time of social upheaval, the two artists believed Japan had been enthralled by a century or so of Western imitation and developed their new style as a way of reasserting Japan’s sense of self through art. Initially Hijikata called it ankoku buyoh, meaning “dance of darkness”, before settling on the more prosaic – not to mention easier to pronounce – butoh, a defunct word referring to European ballroom dancing.

To distinguish itself from the western and then-modern dance themes Hijikata and Ohno were trying to create an antidote to, butoh focused on the expression of the Japanese body. As abstract as this may sound, in simplified terms it meant the expressionism and movements employed by dancers would reflect the traditional Japanese commoner: their intrinsic connection to nature; the movements of a person accustomed to sleeping on futons, sitting in seiza style on tatami flooring, praying at shrines and alters, and toiling in arable fields.

Butoh also began to focus on themes of the grotesque, of darkness and struggle, and of taboo subjects. The first ever butoh performance, “Kinjiki” (Forbidden Colors) in 1959, looked at homosexuality and ensured the director, Hijikata, was persona non grata at the festival at which it was held. But it was continued collaboration with Ohno, a maverick in his own right who’s often regarded as “the soul of butoh”, that really helped put their new style on the world map. Winning Japan's prestigious Dance Critics' Circle Award in 1977 for his solo performance of La Argentina Sho, and performing butoh across Europe and North America in subsequent decades, he remains to this day the most famous of all butoh dancers over 10 years since his death at the ripe old age of 103.

2. What are the Key Elements of a Butoh Performance?

© Carlos de las Piedras / Creative Commons, Butoh Performers

The fact that butoh is essentially unclassifiable means it’s not easy to dissect its composite parts either. There are common occurrences, such dancers moving slowly in the fashion of the walking dead, white body paint and (sometimes) shaved heads, background music to set and direct the scene, movements expressing raw and untapped emotions, and when performed well, a sense of palpable unease rippling through the audience. That butoh is without dialogue is also a great leveler, meaning its accessible to audiences of all stripes irrespective of their Japanese language proficiency.

The white paint, and/or white clothing, associated with butoh is supposed to reflect a childlike purity in the performers, stripping away all potential preconceptions of the dancer(s) in question. For Hijikata, initially it was more a question of necessity: having little money when he started out as an artist, he realized that white paint or gofun (chalk) was a cost-effective way to dress up.

Improvisation, particularly with respect to the speed and form of movements, is also key to butoh. Rather than typical Western choreography, where each dance sequence needs to be drilled until it’s second nature for the performer and in sync with accompanying soundscapes, butoh is more about touch, feel and capturing a specific mood.

If your interested in Japanese performance art, don’t forget to check out everything you need to know about Noh, Kabuki, and Bunraku too!

3. What are Common Themes/Stories in Butoh?

Aside from aforementioned themes of darkness and desire, butoh also focuses on transformation. Performances often give the impression of person being born, becoming something new, or going through a painful evolution. As such, butoh dancers will often begin a routine in a fetal or prostrate position before rising and contorting their bodies into wider or more upright stances.

Of course, all forms of expressionism tell a story, but much like the craft itself, the stories in butoh aren’t so easily defined. Rather the most important aspect of butoh is that the performer’s movements invoke a specific reaction, usually one of melancholy, in the audience. Butoh is about tapping into emotions unexplored in most people’s daily lives, and for a routine to be successful it must convey this to those who experience it.

4. Who Are the Most Famous Butoh Performers?

© William Klein, 1960, Kazuo Ohno, Yoshito Ohno & Tatsumi Hijikata

Ohno and Hijikata, butoh’s founding fathers, remain its two marquee names. Hijikata died prematurely of liver failure in 1986. He was only 57. Ohno, however, still performed in some capacity until 2007, the same year he would celebrate his 100th birthday. The most acclaimed butoh performer’s today owe their lineage to these pioneering artisans.

Tadashi Endo, who resides in Germany, performs and directs butoh across Europe and the rest of the world. A student of Kazuo Ohno, Endo has been integral in spreading the butoh gospel beyond Japan.

Jay Hirabayashi was born in Seattle, but is a global citizen in every sense having spent his childhood in Beirut, Cairo, and Edmonton, Canada. Hirabayashi has choreographed over 100 butoh-inspired dance works, has delivered over 1000 performances globally, and has taught butoh since 1995. He also oversees the Kokoro Dance butoh troupe which he formed with his wife in 1986 and the annual Vancouver International Dance Festival.

The Sankai Juku group – meaning “Sea and Mountain Lodgings” – are the manifestation of classic butoh performers: a group of skinny, shaved-headed dancers, who clad themselves in white body paint for live routines. The troupe started in Japan in the 1970s under the tutelage of visionary choreographer Ushio Amagatsu. His aim was to spearhead a “second-generation” butoh style, which focuses on the dancers’ battle with gravity. Sankai Juku also performs all over the world.

5. Where to See Butoh In and Outside Japan?

Butoh performances occasionally take to Japan’s streets, in what might be called a “guerilla-style tactic”. And while Japan’s only dedicated butoh theater, the Kyoto Butoh-kan, ceased operations in 2021 (potentially with scope to reopen in the future), there are theaters, museums, festivals and playhouses which put on occasional performances.

These include the Tokyo Tokyo Festival, Studio Terpsichore in Tokyo, The Tokyo Real Underground Festival, and Tokyo Teien Art Museum. The Dairakudakan and Sankai Juku troupes’ websites, are also good resources for keeping tabs on live butoh performances in Japan.

Beyond Japan, the aforementioned Kokoro Dance and the World Mime Organization put on performances globally.