Here, again courtesy of Japan's Shakespeare Century 日本のシェイクスピア１００年, is a picture of international geisha of mystery Sadayakko as "Orie" (おりゑ, corresponding to Ophelia) in the first Japanese production of Hamlet ever, which was produced in 1903 by her husband KAWAKAMI Otojirō's avant-garde theater company....

Just noticed this at the Kindai Digital Library site: a page linking to parodies of Sōseki's I Am a Cat....

TSUBOUCHI Shōyō's 1884 translation of Julius Caesar is notable for two things: (1) being the first ever translation of a full Shakespeare play into Japanese, and (2) being rendered jōruri-style, right down to the title: Shiizaru kidan: Jiyū no tachi, nagori no kireaji 該撒奇談 自由太刀餘波鋭鋒, that is "The Curious Tale of Caesar: The Swords of Freedom, and the Keenness of their Wake."...

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: the West!...

The traditional shakuhachi creation myth begins in 9th-century China, with a fellow named Pǔhuà 普化, pronounced "Fuke" in Japanese. Pǔhuà didn't even play the flute, and for centuries after his death was known primarily for his bizarre guest appearances in the records of Línjì "Shouting and Hitting" Yìxuán (a.k.i.J.a. Rinzai). Nevertheless, the wandering shakuhachi-playing monks and rascals of medieval Japan deemed him the founder of the Fuke sect to which they claimed allegiance, and this has remained the official story ever since, notably recorded in the Fuke sect's Edo-period Kyotaku denki 虚鐸傳記 ("Transmitted record of the empty bell"). ...

I have a new piece up at Néojaponisme: Haters gonna hate: Mori Ōgai on translation. The comments have turned into an argument about fansubbing (featuring haters)....