Remembrance: Kara Jūrō, 1940–2024

Abstract: When Kara J ūr ō passed away earlier this year, we lost a principal instigator of Japan's angura (underground) theatre revolution. His Red Tent performances, informed by a native Japanese spirit, were among the first in Japan that could no longer be regarded merely as epigonic of Western theatre. Rather, his plays grew quite naturally from his shitamachi (downtown) Tokyo upbringing, including old-style yose halls, with spectators packed into small spaces, regaled with pun-filled, slapstick repartée. He was convinced that his stage evinced a latter-day look and feel of kabuki. The writer here recalls aspects of his long acquaintance with Kara.