This lecture traces the startling genealogy of training the nō body from demons to cyborgs. It offers a radical new framework for understanding the body in Japanese performance, while opening fresh dialogues with contemporary debates on embodiment, agency, and posthumanism.

Professor Tarō Yokoyama, of the Department of Body Expression and Cinematic Arts, College of Contemporary Psychology, Rikkyo University, specializes in Theatre Studies and Body Culture Studies. His main research interests include historical transformation of physical expression in Nō and the reception of Nō in modern and contemporary times.