Butoh originated in Japan in the 1950’s at a time when the country was struggling for its
cultural identity: the massive destruction during WW2, the ensuing occupation accompanied
by unbridled commercialism, the discredit attached to the rigid hierarchical values of traditional Japanese society all contributed to the rise of a culture of resistance and street
protest and had repercussions in new developments in theater, film, photography and performance.
This can be compared to the birth of Surrealism and Dada out of the ashes of the First World War and many connections exist: Kazuo Ohno and Tatsumi Hijikata, the originators
of Butoh trained in the Neue Tanze tradition born in Germany and the experimental culture
in Tokyo was very much aware of French culture, particularly the work of Jean Genêt and Antonin Artaud. Their first Butoh performance in 1959 caused a scandal and got them promptly expelled from the All-Japan Modern Dance Association.
Like the proverbial elephant described by blind men, Butoh must be experienced to be grasped; its creators were seeking a new form of expression yet they used elements form
peasant life, from Noh theater and other traditional sources. Butoh is neither theater not dance; it uses evocative images to express ideas and feelings that were too complex for traditional dance forms.
A few quotes on Butoh:

“The dance must be absurd” Tatsumi Hijikata

“The more people try to understand Butoh, the less they understand, but that doesn’t matter.
There are things like the stars and the Moon which you can’t reach. Nothing is so beautiful, so marvelous as the intangible, the incomprehensible.” Min Tanaka

“The Butoh costume is like throwing the cosmos on one’s shoulders. And for Butoh, while the costume covers the body, it is the body that is the costume of the soul.” Kazuo Ohno

“Hijikata was neither modern nor primitive, he was both as the same time” Min Tanaka

“Did I create this piece or did this piece create me? We superimpose the world of reality
over the surreal world. Aren’t the void and the reality one and the same?” Kazuo Ohno

“Butoh belongs to both life and death. It is the realization of the distance between a human being and the unknown. It also represent man’s struggle to overcome the distance himself and the material world. Butoh dancers’ bodies are like a cup filled to overflowing, one which
cannot take one more drop of liquid – the body enters a state of perfect balance.”
Ushio Amagatsu