Hausu. Uzumaki. Ringu. Godzilla. Across various types of media, Japan has produced some of the most influential, iconic horror to ever grace the genre. That’s no surprise given that the island nation has been in the horror game since well before the proliferation of celluloid film and Stephen King. Staging the Supernatural: Ghosts and the Theater in Japanese Prints, an exhibit featuring more than 50 items from the collections of the National Museum of Asian Art, will explore how the traditional Japanese theater styles of Noh and Kabuki portrayed ghosts and ghouls between the 18th and early 20th centuries. Included in this treasure trove is “The Ghost of a Fisherman,” a print that portrays a figure from Noh theater who rises from his watery grave to tell the story of how he was executed for fishing sacred waters. On the Kabuki side, the exhibit will feature “Ghost of Oiwa and Ghost of Kobotoke Kohei,” a “trick print” which portrays a stage technique that allowed one actor to play two undead characters at the same time. Kit Brooks, one of the exhibit’s curators, is looking forward to displaying Noh and Kabuki artifacts side-by-side. “I can’t think of another instance in which these kinds of prints have been shown together,” Brooks tells City Paper. “Visitors can walk through the two halves of the exhibition and compare how ghosts are represented in these two different traditions and the very different moods that they create… We have some examples where the same character or the same mythical figure is represented in both traditions.” There is a distinct difference between Noh and Kabuki, explains Frank Feltens, Brooks’ co-curator. “Noh is historically earlier and is generally associated with a more elite form of theater,” says Feltens. “Kabuki developed in the early 17th century, but it’s more associated with a commoner audience. It’s… intended to be a very fashionable, lively type of theater.” The museum’s film curator will also present programming that highlights how archetypes seen in Noh and Kabuki have persisted across decades to influence contemporary pop culture and art. This fascinating glimpse at the source-code of modern horror will arrive October 28, just in time for Halloween weekend. Staging the Supernatural: Ghosts and the Theater in Japanese Prints was rescheduled from fall of 2023 to March 23, 2024, through Oct. 6, 2024 the National Museum of Asian Art. asia.si.edu. Free. —Will Lennon
Staging the Supernatural, March to Oct. 6, 2024
