Hijikita: Revolt of the Body examines the life and work of Tatsumi Hijikata (1928-86), who invented a revolutionary performance art and dance known as Ankoku Butoh, or 'Dance of Darkness'. The Butoh style of performance and movement premiered in Japan in 1959 and developed in subsequent years in response to the student riots and the 1960s protest movement. Based on extended interviews with Hijikata's family and all of his surviving collaborators, this is the only book to focus exclusively on Hijikata and his work, including his interest in European art and figures such as Genet, Artaud, Sade, and Lautreamont, as well as the Japanese Surrealist movement.