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Latest from the Blog
Talk at the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures
Pernille Rudlin gave a talk on September 16th 2023 on the Japanese performers who came to Norwich in the 19th and 20th centuries at the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures in Norwich, as part of the national Heritage Open Days. The talk explored the lives of the sometimes overlooked individuals who performed…
Another Norwich/Japan connection: Dr Herbert Blackburn
Dr Herbert Blackburn (1862-1902) was director of the Nagasaki hospital from 1892 to 1895. He married Emily May Sutton at the Congregational Church in Prince’s Street, Norwich on the 10th September 1890. He was working in Hong Kong as a medical practitioner at the time, so we can assume that Emily traveled to Hong Kong…
The origins of acrobatics (karuwaza) in Japan
Karuwaza is a general term covering what in the West would be called acrobatics – such as juggling, wire walking and perche acts. Karu 軽 means light, or agile, waza 業 is trick or business. A secondary meaning is “risky business”. Acrobatics are said to have been brought to Japan from China in the seventh…
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