Bibliography – Butterfly Project

Today am in need to grasp something solid and immovable, so that I may wake up tomorrow to start my second draft. Maybe.
…so with this in mind, here is the bibliography of draft 1.

Here is the Bibliography for Butterfly Project as of 8 December 2017, upon finishing the first draft of a theatre script, loosely entitled the Butterfly Project:

ABC Radio National, 2010. British Sculptor Antony Gormley, Australia: ABC Radiio National. Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/british-sculptor-antony-gormley/3102230 [Accessed November 20, 2017].

Artemis International, 2015. Inside Australia, Artemis International. Available at: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/insideaustralia [Accessed November 21, 2017].

Attorney-General’s Department, 2015. DISCUSSION PAPER: OVERVIEW The National Opera Review. Available at: https://www.arts.gov.au/sites/g/files/net1761/f/NOR-Discussion-Paper-8-October-2015.pdf [Accessed December 7, 2017].

Australia, N.G. of, OUT OF THE WEST – | | WA Cobb and Co coach at Mt Malcolm. National Gallery of Australia. Available at: http://nga.gov.au/exhibition/OUTWEST/Default.cfm?IRN=209216&BioArtistIRN=38773&MnuID=3&GalID=5&ViewID=2 [Accessed August 14, 2015].

Ballantyne, P., 2002. The fascination with Australian ruins: some other meanings of “Lost Places.” University of Melbourne Postgraduate Association. Available at: http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA152513840&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=fulltext&issn=14472538&p=AONE&sw=w&authCount=1&u=61cranbrook&selfRedirect=true# [Accessed December 1, 2017].

Bonze.com, Map of Butterfly North-South Mine in Western Australia – Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia. Available at: http://www.bonzle.com/c/a?a=p&p=292287&cmd=sp [Accessed August 14, 2015].

Bonzle.com, Map of Butterfly in Western Australia showing Leonora (highlighted in purple) – Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia. Available at: http://bonzle.com/c/a?a=p&p=9400&op=691&cmd=sp&c=1&x=121%252E40191&y=%252D29%252E0522&w=48157&mpsec=0 [Accessed August 14, 2015].

BURROWS, J., 1939. 12 Jan 1939 – OVER THE PLATES. EARLY MT. MALCOLM. Life in the … Western Mail. Available at: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/44792175 [Accessed August 14, 2015].

Commonwealth of Australia, 2016. NATIONAL OPERA REVIEW FINAL REPORT. Available at: https://www.arts.gov.au/sites/g/files/net1761/f/national_opera_review_final_report.pdf [Accessed December 7, 2017].

Correspondent, 1898. An Alleged Capital Offence – The West Australian 8 Oct 1898. The West Australian. Available at: http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3207708?searchTerm=japanese woman gleeson&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc%7C%7C%7Cl-state=Western+Australia%7C%7C%7Cl-availability=y%7C%7C%7Cl-australian=y%7C%7C%7Cl-title=30 [Accessed August 14, 2015].

Correspondent, The Argus 20 Oct 1898. Available at: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/printArticlePdf/9856822/3?print=n [Accessed August 14, 2015].

David Belasco (Founded on John Luther Long’s Story), 1928. Madame Butterfly: A Tragedy of Japan. Available at: http://www.columbia.edu/itc/music/NYCO/butterfly/images/belasco_sm.pdf [Accessed December 6, 2017].

Degabriele, M. & Degabriele, M., 1996. From Madame Butterfly to Miss Saigon: One Hundred Years of Popular Orientalism. Critical Arts: A South-North Journal of Cultural & Media Studies, 10(2), pp.105–114.

Department of Premier and Cabinet, 1981. Government Gazette of WA 1981, Available at: http://www.slp.wa.gov.au/gazette/gazette.nsf/gazlist/1F52798A39F0AEE4C82573D60082F3D9/$file/gg005.pdf [Accessed August 17, 2015].

Footage: Alicia Whittington, P. and W.W.K.J., Desert lakes fill with life — Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa: Martul Cultural Knowledge Program, Australia. Available at: http://www.kj.org.au/news/desertlakesbandedstilts [Accessed November 21, 2017].

Fukui, M., 2013. Madame Butterfly’s revenge. Griffith Review, 40. Available at: https://griffithreview.com/articles/madame-butterflys-revenge/ [Accessed August 9, 2015].

Hayashi, K., 2005. Watashi wa Senso Hanayome desu, Kanazawa: Hokkoku Shinbunsha.

Hayashi, K., Tamura, K. & Takatsu, F., 2002. War Brides Senso Hanayome: kokkyo o koeta onnnatachi no hanseiki, Tokyo: Fuyo Shobo.

Jenkins, Chadwick, C.U., New York City Opera Project: Madama Butterfly. Available at: http://www.columbia.edu/itc/music/NYCO/butterfly/luther.html [Accessed December 6, 2017].

Jones, N., 2002. Number 2 home: a story of Japanese pioneers in Australia, Fremantle: Fremantle Arts Centre Press.

Kaneko, Y., 1992. Baishō no shakaishi, Tokyo: Yuzankaku Shuppan.

Kato, M., 2008. Narrating the Other : Australian Literary Perceptions of Japan, Clayton, Vic: Monash Asia Institute.

Kim, I., 1980., Yujo karayuki, ianfu no keifu, Tokyo: Yuzankaku Shuppan.

Kim, I., 1997. Yujo, karayuki, ianfu no keifu, Tokyo: Yuzankaku Shuppan.

Kurahashi, M., 1990. Karayukisan no uta, Tokyo: Kyouei Shobo.

Lo, J., Diaspora, Art and Empathy. In A. Aleida, ed. Empathy and its Limits. Palgrave MacMillan.

Marinova, D. et al., 2010. Desert Knowledge CRC Working Paper 67 Profile of Leonora: A sustainability case study, Available at: http://www.nintione.com.au/resource/DKCRC-Working-paper-67-Profile-of-Leonora_A-sustainability-case-study.pdf.

Masanao, K., 1990. Karayuki san no uta, Tokyo: Kyoei Shobo.

Mihalopoulos, B., 1994. The Karayuki-san The Making of Prostitutes in Japan : Social Justice, 21(2), pp.161–184. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/29766813.

Mihalopoulos, B., 2001. Ousting the “prostitute”: Retelling the story of the Karayuki-san. Postcolonial Studies, 4(2), pp.169–187.

Mihalopulos, B.V., 2001. Finding Work Through Sex: Transforming pre-war Japanese female migrant labourers into prostitutes 1870-1930. New York University.

Mining Atlas, Map of Butterfly goldmine. Available at: https://mining-atlas.com/operation/Butterfly-Gold-Mine.php [Accessed September 18, 2017].

Miyakoka, K., 1968. Shofu Kaigai Ruroki: mou hitotsu no Meiji, Tokyo: Sanichi Shobo.

Museum Victoria, 1886. Negative – Men at North Star Mine, Mount Malcolm, Western Australia, 1896 – Museum Victoria. Available at: http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/items/767867/negative-men-at-north-star-mine-mount-malcolm-western-australia-1896 [Accessed August 14, 2015].

Nikkei Kokusai Kekkon Shinbokusha Osutoraria Shibu, Nikkei Kokusai Kekkon Shinbokusha Nyusu Reta.

Pedler, R.D., Ribot, R.F.H. & Bennett, A.T.D., 2014. Extreme nomadism in desert waterbirds: flights of the banded stilt. Biology Letters, 10(10), pp.20140547–20140547. Available at: http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/cgi/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2014.0547 [Accessed November 20, 2017].

Schickling, D. & Vilain, R., Puccini’s “Work in Progress”: The So-Called Versions of “Madama Butterfly.” Music & Letters, 79, pp.527–537. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/854624 [Accessed December 1, 2017].

Shoaf, J.U. of F., The stories of Madame Butterfly. University of Florida. Available at: http://users.clas.ufl.edu/jshoaf/Jdolls/jdollwestern/photos/butterrfly.html [Accessed December 6, 2017].

Sissons, D., Japanese in Australia – war brides, Papers of David Sissons, National Library of Australia, Series 27, Box 60 MS3902

Sissons, D., Japanese in Australia – photographs, Papers of David Sissons, National Library of Australia, Series 23, Box 58 MS3902

Sissons, D., Japanese prostitutes in Australia, Papers of David Sissons, National Library of Australia, Series 5, Box 13 MS3092

Sissons, D.C.S. (David C.S., 1977. ’Karayuki-san: the Japanes prostitutes in Australia, 1887-1916. Historical Studies, University of Melbourne, 17(68 & 69).

Sissons, D.C.S. (David C.S., 1990. Japanese Performers in Australia in the Nineteenth Century: The Sakuragawa Troupe (1873-1888). , pp.1–7.

Sissons, D.C.S. (David C.S., 1999. Japanese Acrobatic Troupes Touring Australia 1867 – 1900. Australasian Drama Studies, 35, pp.73–107.

Sissons, D.C.S., 1977. Karayuki-san: Japanese prostitutes in Australia, 1887 – 1916 – I. Historical Studies University of Melbourne, 17(68), pp.323–342.

Sissons, D.C.S., 1977. Karayuki-san: Japanese prostitutes in Australia, 1887-1916 – II. Historical Studies, University of Melbourne, 17(No 69), pp.474–488.

Smith, E., 2008. Representations of the Japanese in contemporary Australian literature and film. New Voices, 2(1978), pp.41–62.

Sone, S., 1990. The Karayuki-San of Asia, 1868-1938: The Role of Prostitutes Overseas in Japanese Economic & Social Development. Murdcoh University.

State Library of WA, Mount Malcolm – Outback Family History. Available at: http://members.iinet.net.au/http://www.outbackfamilyhistory.com.au/records/record.php?record_id=428&town=Mount Malcolm [Accessed August 14, 2015].

State Library of WA, Outback Family History | Home. Available at: http://www.outbackfamilyhistory.com.au/records/town.php?town=Mount Malcolm [Accessed August 14, 2015].

Strickland, B., Antony Gormley’s “Inside Australia” – Lake Ballard. Available at: http://lakeballard.com/ [Accessed December 7, 2017].

Tamura, K., 2001. Home Away From Home: The Entry of Japanese War Brides into Australia. In P. Jones & V. Mackie, eds. Relationships: Japan and Australia 1870s-1950s. Parkville: The History Department, The University of Melbourne.

Tamura, K., 2002. An Ordinary Life? Meanjin, 60(1), pp.127–131.

Turnbull, C.M., 1997. Ah Ku and Karayuki-San: Prostitution in Singapore 1870-1940. Pacific Affairs, 70(2), pp.292–293.

WA Now and Then, GHOST TOWNS | Western Australia. Available at: http://www.wanowandthen.com/ghost-towns3.html [Accessed August 14, 2015].

Walkatjurra Cultural Centre, Aboriginal Australian Art and Culture in Leonora Western Australia. Available at: https://walkatjurra.wordpress.com/ [Accessed August 14, 2015].

Warren, J.F., 1993. Ah ku and karayuki-san: prostitution in Singapore, 1870-1940, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Western Australia News, A Bicultural Future for Leonora Aboriginal Languages. Available at: http://www.ourlanguages.net.au/news/wa/item/1347-a-bicultural-future-for-leonora-aboriginal-languages.html [Accessed August 14, 2015].

Yamada, M., 1992. Joshigun aishi: karayuki, shofu, ito kojotachi no sei to shi, Tokyo: Kojin Sha.

Yamazaki, T., 1973. Sandakan Hachiban Shoukan: teihen joseishi josho, Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo.

 

Report on Japan Study Grant

Read, note take, digest, think, muse, blog, talk, listen, diarise, mind map, dream & imagine to create.

Overview

I spent time researching about the diaspora of Japanese women in Australia at the National Library of Australia 8 Feb – 3 March and 21-23 March 2016 as part of the Japan Study Grant. My research focused on the karayuki san (early Japanese prostitutes) and the senso hanayome (World War II Japanese war brides). The purpose of this research was to write a new Australian play.

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National Library of Australia; photo by Mayu Kanamori

Details of Research Undertaken

WEEK 1: Studies focused on karayuki san in Australia, reading papers by D.C.S. Sissons in the Special Collections. His published works provided an overall understanding of the history of karayuki san, especially in relation to Australia; whilst his original manuscripts provided further information, which led to a specific karayuki san named Okin, and her rape case.

By the end of Week 1, I began to focus on Okin’s case as a starting point for the play. Further on-line research via Trove on this particular case yielded more details.

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My desk at the Asian Collections Room; photo by Mayu Kanamori

Whilst working in the Special Collections, Sisson’s writings on the early Japanese acrobats were investigated. Information in regards to groups of first known Japanese women in Australia, mostly musicians who were part of acrobatic troupes were sifted out of his research material. This aspect of my research had not been originally planned, however, this opportunity provided an interesting insight about early Japanese women in Australia, both karayuki san and musicians as being in professions, which may be described, loosely as it may seem, as in the entertainment industry.

WEEK 2: Study on karayuki san continued on Week 2 by reading books in the Asian Collections. These books were mostly written in Japanese language, and had been referenced by Sissons. These books gave me a broader understanding into the history of prostitution in Japan / Japanese prostitution abroad in historical, economic, social and philosophical contexts. Differing authors provided insights into alternative viewpoints. As a researcher for creative writing, these often opposing perspectives and varying presumptions by the authors have added many philosophical layers of meaning to the material.

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Asian Collections Room; photo by Mayu Kanamori

WEEK 3: Studies of senso hanayome in Australia commenced in this week, reading papers by Sissons in the Special Collections, which gave an overview of Australian government’s policies, directives and decisions in regards to senso hanayome as well as newspaper reports which portrayed specific cases and general attitudes of the time. In the Asian Collections and in the General Collections, books about senso hanayome in Australia as well as in the United States provided specific senso hanayome stories, and its preceding history of post war Allied Occupation of Japan, its policies and public attitudes in regards to fraternisation and resulting marriages / children.

2 March 2016
Mind map draft 1 – Canberra sky and roof of National Library of Australia; photo and mind map by Mayu Kanamori

It was of interest and importance to my playwriting to find linkages and similarities between predicaments and public opinions in regards to senso hanayome to those of karayuki san.

WEEK 4: A detailed study of archived senso hanayome newsletters in the Asian Collection, unfettered by viewpoints of scholars, provided raw voices of senso hanayome themselves, providing invaluable insights into their lives, concerns and aspirations. The week finished with reading of a transcript from the Broome Oral History Project, which referred to a particular karayuki san as well as reading a doctorate thesis on loan through the interlibrary scheme on prostitution in parts of Western Australia, including the goldfields, where Okin’s case had taken place.

Experiences

The opportunity to spend 4 weeks concentrating on intensive research for my play was one of the highlights of my entire career. It was a kind of luxury I had never experienced before, where my entire being was able to fully input (read, take notes), digest, output (blog, conversations, diarise, mind map), dream and imagine the new work I was / am about to create.

The people working in the library were all very knowledgeable, helpful and friendly, making my daily work a joy. My special appreciation and respect goes to Mayumi Shinozaki and other librarians in the Japanese unit and all at the Overseas Collections, who made my research a daily pleasure.

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Asian Collections in the Overseas Collections Management Branch (from Left to Right) Mayumi Shinozaki – Chief Librarian, Japanese Unit, Alex Philp – Director, Overseas Collections Management, Jie Chen – Chinese Unit, Rika Wright – Japanese Unit,n Ji-Yeon Cho – Korean Unit, Chenwilai Hodgins (AKA Jane) – Mainland Southeast Asia (Thai, Burma, Laos), Bing Zheng – Chinese Unit (Contractor), Sophie Viravong – Acting manager of Asian Collections, Chief Librarian, Mainland Southeast Asia (Thai, Burma, Laos) Unit, Yohei Harima – Japanese Unit (Volunteer – until Feb 12), Sumiko Kanazawa – Japanese Unit, Hiroko Golding – Japanese Unit, Lucy Fraser – Japan Study Grant scholar (February 1-12), Xiaoli Li – Chief Librarian, Chinese Unit; (Missing staff) Di Ouyang – Manager, Asian Collections, Jung-Ok Park – Chief Librarian, Korean Unit, Irina Chou – Chinese Unit, Maihua Qi – Chinese Unit; photo by Mayu Kanamori. ***Thank you, Sumiko Nakazawa for assisting me with this photo caption!

It was also of value, the library’s proximity to scholars at the Australian National University, one of whom I boarded with during my 4 weeks in Canberra, and few who I met to discuss my research and play. They all imparted their respective ideas and knowledge in their area of expertise, which widened, deepened, and gave guiding posts to my creative process.

I add that the library’s environment was beautiful and sacred. I had my lunch almost everyday by the Lake Burley Griffin, musing about my work.

2 March 2016 revised
Mind map draft 2 – The National Library of Australia and Lake Burley Griffin; photographed from the Nishi Building, New Acton, Canberra by Mayu Kanamori

About Okin – part 1 (National Library of Australia)

I met Okin for the first time buried inside a folder entitled ‘Violent Crimes’

I met Okin for the first time nestled amongst the original manuscripts of D.C.S. Sissons at the Special Collections reading room in the National Library of Australia (NLA). Okin was buried inside a folder entitled ‘Violent Crimes,’ inside a box full of folders dedicated to karayuki san.[1]

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Some of the boxes containing papers by D.C.S. Sissons at NLA’s Special Collections.

Karayuki, literally means going to China, and is the term commonly used for Japanese women, mostly from Kyushu, who worked overseas for subsistence. According to an article in the Tokyo daily newspaper Kokumin in early 1896, often the women were smuggled outside onboard steamers; usually went to Hong Kong first, where they were found by agents, and sold to brothels including those in Australia. At the time there were about 200 Japanese brothels, perhaps more according to further research by Sissons, operating in Australia. Most Japanese women living in Australia around this time were prostitutes, although various census results showed that they had listed their occupations as seamstresses, laundress, servants and alike. [2]

Around 3pm on the 29th of July, 1898, three men allegedly forced themselves into a house occupied by a Japanese man and several Japanese women in Mount Malcolm (Western Australia). The two of the younger men, William Gleeson and Charles Francis raped Okin in her bedroom whilst the older man, Charles Thomas Edwards, stood guard at the door. The Japanese manager Enaba went to the police for help. When Constable John Donovan arrived on the scene, Edwards was no longer there, but he heard a woman screaming, and he found Okin lying on the bed with Gleeson at the foot of the bed, and Francis standing at her head. Clothing of all three were in disarray. Donovan arrested the two men. The third man Edwards was arrested at a later date. [3]

Francis stated that two days prior to the alleged offence, he had visited Okin and was entertained by her. On the day in question, he visited again in company of his friends. His friends waited in the next room whilst he was with Okin. He called his friend Gleeson for a loan of a pound to offer to her. Gleeson entered the room to lend him the money, whilst Okin replied she had no change. Gleeson was “making overtures ” to her, when the police arrived and arrested them.

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Okin’s case notes found in the original manuscripts of D.C.S. Sissons, NLA Special Collections MS 3092, Box 13 Karayuki, folder entitled: Women violent crimes

Okin’s rape case went to the Criminal Court in Western Australia on 7 October, 1898 before his Honour Justice James and a jury of 12. Francis and Gleeson were charged with “carnally knowing against her will,” and Edwards, for having aided and abetted Francis. The men pleaded not guilty. All women and youths under 18 years of age were ordered out of court.

The Crown Solicitor, R. B. Burnside detailed the case, and stressed the importance of protecting the chastity of women whatever her “colour and creed.” He added that even if she was “only a courtesan, and however low her character, if she did not consent she was entitled to the protection which the law gave to her in common with the most virtuous of women.”

Okin and Enaba gave statements through an interpreter. They both denied that the place they and several other women lived was a brothel, and that Okin had been working there as a laundress. Her hour long cross examination by the defence lawyer Vyner was mostly to elicit facts regarding her mode of living, which at times were delicate, and solicited laughter from the court as well as from the accused.

Justice James summed up the case, referring to the difficulty of obtaining evidence from Japanese witnesses through an interpreter; that there was no evidence that Okin was a prostitute, and on the contrary, the evidence given by Constable Donovan showed that the house where she lived was not known, as usually was, as a brothel; that he agreed with the Crown Solicitor that rape was rape regardless of the reputation of the woman; and that the charge was most serious: rape was a capital offence.

The jury could not agree in the first instance and the court adjourned. [AN ALLEGED CAPITAL OFFENCE. THREE MEN CHARGED. THE JURY UNABLE TO AGREE., 1898]

The jury eventually returned a not guilty verdict and then men were acquitted on 18 October, 1898.[4]

[1] Sissons, D. C. S. & Horwitz, Solis.  1950,  Papers of D.C.S. Sissons, 1950-2006 [manuscript]

[2] Sissons, D.C.S. (1977) ‘Karayuki‐San: Japanese prostitutes in Australia, 1887–1916—       I*’, Historical Studies, 17(68), pp. 323–341. doi: 10.1080/10314617708595555.

[3] AN ALLEGED CAPITAL OFFENCE. THREE MEN CHARGED. THE JURY UNABLE TO AGREE. (1898) The West Australian, 8 October, p. 7.

[4] THE MOUNT MALCOLM CASE. ACCUSED ACQUITTED (1898) The West Australian, 19 October, p. 7.

 

Artists and the Butterfly Trick

Japanese women in Australia, pioneers, artists, entertainers, butterfly, tricks: revealing / concealing in performance

A musician and two dancers were the first Japanese women to set foot on Australian shores, according to records immaculately researched by D.C.S. Sissons.[1] Shamisen player Mitsuko, and dancers Otake and Otome were part of the acrobatic team, Buhicrosan’s Troupe, who disembarked in Melbourne on the 14th of November in 1867 to perform at the Princess Theatre. The first recorded Japanese to ever been born in Australia was the daughter of members of another group of acrobats, the Great Dragon Troupe, aboard the S. S. Penola enroute from Melbourne to Adelaide. Billed as “Iranim Penola the South Australian Japanese,” she was displayed to audiences by her proud grandfather at the Theatre Royal, Adelaide and Port Adelaide Town Hall.[Sissons, 1999]

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This print was found in the Papers of D.C.S. Sissons, NLA MS 3091 Box 2 Folder 14 pertaining to D.C.S Sisson’s Completed Research of Japanese Acrobats in Australia, and although other prints from this folder had been provided with captions, this particular print was not captioned.

These are some of the lessor known historical facts about Japanese women in Australia I am discovering through the Papers of D.C.S. Sissons held at the National Library of Australia’s Special Collections.

The first Japanese women in Australia were artists and entertainers. I am a Japanese migrant in Australia and a performance maker. In the first two weeks of my research residency as part of NLA’s Japan Study Grant, I am beginning to find not only historical records, but threads and motifs that seems to be guiding my next performance work.

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The Manuscript Collection at the NLA I have asked to study during my residency.  Most are from the Papers of D.C.S. Sissons – Photo by Mayu Kanamori

The butterfly motif,  which reference my concerns with the popularity of Puccini’s opera Madama Butterfly (see blog entry You’ve Mistaken Me For A Butterfly) has appeared in history of the Japanese acrobats. The two earliest acrobatic groups to arrive and perform in Australia, the Great Dragon Troupe and the Buhicrosan’s Troupe both showcased as part of their repertoire: the Butterfly Trick (Ukare no Cho / devised by Osaka juggler Tanigawa Sadakichi [Sissons, 1999]in 1820’s[2])

The Bendigo Advertiser’s article about the Butterfly Trick performed by the Great Dragon Troupe, read that one of their jugglers, “… took his seat, tailor fashion, on a table in the centre and back of the stage. Tearing a strip of paper in pieces he took a small piece and twisted it into the shape of a butterfly… (He) took a fan, and waving it with a short and rapid motion, kept the butterfly fluttering in the air like a thing of life, sometimes alighting on his hand, at another time on his fan, and again on a flower. A second butterfly was formed, and two were kept flying about with as much ease as the one… The feat was greeted with great applause.”

Mt Alexander Mail wrote about Buhicrosan’s Troupe’s Butterfly Trick as “… The famous butterfly fanning was neatly done, but the amazement which this feat raises was soon brought to termination by an explanation being given of how the trick, for trick it is, was done…”[Sissons, 1999]

The Butterfly Trick seems to have been performed by men and not the women in the performances… and very curious to know more about how this trick was performed!

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These people are not Japanese women, but unidentified cross-dressed performers. According to D.C.S. Sissons, one of the performers was possibly Katsujiro of the Lenton & Smith Group. Photographer Unknown (Courtesy of Mitchell Library collection, PXA 362-6 item 72); Print courtesy of the Papers of D.C.S. Sissons, NLA MS 3092 Box 2 Folder 14

Japanese women in Australia- pioneers – artists – entertainers – butterfly – tricks which reveal and conceal in performance – are some of the concepts floating around in my mind as I continue the research phase of this undertaking.

[1] Historian and academic. David Carlisle Stanley Sissons was an historian in the Research School of Pacific Studies at the Australian National University where he was a research fellow from 1961-1965 and a fellow from 1965-1990. His principal fields of research were the history of Australia-Japan relations and the Second World War war crimes trials. In 1991, following his retirement from the ANU, Sissons took up a three-year post to establish an Australian Studies Centre at the Hiroshima Shudo University in Japan. Sissons died in Canberra in October 2006. (Mayumi Shinozaki, The National Library of Australia http://alra.org.au/newsletter1307/1307_shinozaki_1.html )

[2] Sissons, D.C.S. (1999) ‘Japanese Acrobatic Troupes Touring Australia 1867 – 1900’, Australasian Drama Studies, 35, pp. 73–107.

[3] Hur, N.-L. (2000) Prayer and Play in Late Tokugawa Japan: Asakusa Sensōji and Edo Society. Harvard Univ Asia Center.

 

 

 

NLA Residency

Studying, learning, researching and discovering about Japanese women in Australia.

As if to carry a red randoseru on my back, I entered the doors of the National Library of Australia (NLA) this week for my residency in our national capitol as part of NLA’s Japan Study Grant Program. Here I will spend the next four weeks studying, learning, researching and discovering about Japanese women in Australia with the view to writing a new performance work.

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Yay! I made it to Canberra! – Photo by Mayu Kanamori
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The Celestial Empire Exhibition is on at the NLA this month. – Photo by Mayu Kanamori

It is such a blessing to be able to work with such experienced and dedicated librarians and archivists at the NLA. I am grateful to be here with them.

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Photo with Mayumi Shinozaki, Senior Librarian, Japanese Unit, NLA (Left) who is hosting my Japan Study Grant. – Photo by Rika Wright

 

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Catriona Anderson from the Pictures & Manuscripts branch, NLA showing me the Special Collections at NLA. – Photo by Mayu Kanamori

 

 

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