Japanese Acrobats as Athletes on the Victorian Stage: The Victorian Reception of Japanese Acrobatic Troupes, 1867–70

Abstract

This article positions Japanese acrobats as athletes—rather than just performers—in the context of the rise of sports and athletic competitions in England, arguing that displays of Japanese athleticism onstage complicated Victorians’ sense of superiority over non-Western peoples. As the first Japanese people with whom many Britons at home had close encounters, Japanese acrobatic troupes shaped Victorian perceptions of Japan. This survey of Victorian periodicals unpacks how the Victorian reception of Japanese acrobatic troupes in the late 1860s refracted British beliefs about themselves in relation to the Japanese people.