- Name：TAKAI, Shiho
- Title：Associate Professor
- Research Field：Premodern and Early Modern Literature, Performing Arts, Adaptation
- Biography：
Shiho Takai’s research focuses on classical and early modern Japanese literature and theater, with interests in the themes of adaptation, gender, performance, and folklore. She has presented in international conferences and published articles on topics including representations of women in early modern jōruri puppet theater, adaptations of medieval myths, and female performers in male-dominant traditional theater. She is particularly drawn to the jōruri theater’s nature as a popular theatrical form in the early modern feudal society, giving voices to women and social outcasts. Early modern literature and theater made significant use of earlier popular tales and legends, and popularized new fantastic stories, including supernatural elements. With this in mind, her research and teaching interest extends to modern and contemporary adaptations of classical Japanese literature, theater, and art — on how classical Japanese sources, ideas, and characters such as the supernatural have been reimagined and reshaped in modern and contemporary works in Japan and abroad.Takai received her B.A. in British Studies from the University of Tokyo, M.A. in Japanese from Washington University in St. Louis, and Ph.D. in Japanese literature from Columbia University. She previously taught at Vassar College (2014-2015) and the University of Florida (2015-2017).
