In a scene from The Five Rings, an actor with a chalk-white face, his hair arranged in an elaborate traditional Japanese style, looks out at the audience. His eyes are slightly squinted, his teeth bared, his tongue sticking out far from his mouth. He meets the world salivating, spit running down his chin and mixing with the white paint, his eyes staring. It is almost difficult to welcome a person with such extremity, such brutal singularity. This overt challenge to the viewer is part of what makes butoh such a compelling theatrical form. Appearing in Japan at the end of the 1950s, butoh thrives on mystery, provocation and primal energy. The word butoh means “trampling dance” or “earth dance”. It is taken from a Japanese word, butohkai, originally applied to Western ballroom dances. The connotation of the word today differs from the old definition; While there was an idea of ​​rising and falling in ancient dances like the waltz, butoh in its current sense remains completely grounded, often descending as far as it can go. Hijikata Tasumi, the founder of butoh, wanted his dance to show the darker side of human nature, our deepest instincts. So, ankoku, the word often used with butoh, translates to “black darkness.” Butoh is an ever-evolving examination of what it means to be human, born from a time of rigid uncertainty in Japan. Its creators, Hijikata mentioned above, as well as Kazuo Ono, wanted to construct a form that would guide Japanese artists towards a unique creation. Rather than copying the innovations of the country's past or those of the West, Butoh would make a bold effort to find a movement totally different from anything seen, and at the same time rooted in the spirit of the world. older. It exists from ...... middle of paper ......www.contemporary-dance.org/butoh.html>.Dunning, Jennifer. “Kazuo Ohno, founder of Japanese butoh, dies at 103.” The New York Times June 1, 2010. Print. Kim, Jaie Jiae. “The Butoh of Min Tanaka.” Theme. 2006. Internet. December 20, 2011. .Leavitt, Dustin W. “KJ Interviews and Profiles: Dance Kitchen.” » Kyoto Journal 58 (2004). Kyoto Journal - Perspectives from Asia. 2004. Internet. December 20, 2011. .Fraleigh, Sondra Horton. Dancing in the Darkness: Butoh, Zen and Japan. Pittsburgh, PA: Univ. of Pittsburgh, 2010. Print. Dance of Darkness. Real. Edin Vélez. Independent, 1989. Online video. Yeung, Bernice. “Dance with the masters of Butoh.” San Francisco Weekly. July 17, 2002. The web. December 20. 2011. .