ABSTRACT
In the 1980s and 1990s, if you had asked someone what the most important modern Japanese contribution to the world of performing arts was, you would likely have gotten the answer: the theater of Suzuki Tadashi and Terayama Shuji. Suzuki’s physical training method caught the attention of some highly influential people in the Western theater world. He directed major productions around the world, founded the Suzuki Company of Toga (SCOT), and co-founded the Saratoga International Theater Institute. Similarly, Terayama was the darling of certain sectors of avant-garde theater in Europe. However, if you asked the same question today, you might get this answer: “Undoubtedly, modern Japanese theater’s greatest legacy to the world is butō,” because that is precisely what a leading theater scholar wrote (Poulton 2014, 320).
