Tatsumi Hijikata

Hijikata, Tatsumi (b Akita, 9 Mar. 1928; d 21 Jan. 1986).Japanese performer and choreographer who created the form butoh dance. He studied at the Ando Mitsuko Modern Dance Institute and joined Ando's company in 1953. In 1959 he created his first work Kinjiki (Forbidden Colours), based on the work of Genet. It is commonly regarded as the first example of butoh, although Hijikata did not coin the term ankoku butoh until 1961. His early works, influenced by the novelist Mishima, frequently centred on homoerotic sadism and subversive political imagery. In his middle period, termed Hijikata butoh, his works began to feature female as well as male performers and expanded to larger-scale productions whose imagery reflected the natural world and Japanese traditions. In his final period he began to incorporate elements from kabuki.