THE CONVERGENCE OF POETRY AND JAPANESE AVANT-GARDE CINEMA

Since poetry held a central position in the cultural life of the Japanese nation since the earliest times, the elements of poetic expression naturally grew into the spiritual space of the early Japanese films. This contribution seeks to analyse the insufficiently examinedphenomenon of convergence of avant-garde poetry and "unconventional" or experimental cinema in the post-war period. Owing to, inter alia, the interdisciplinary work of the Experimental Workshop, an artistic collective inspired by European culture - active during the fifties of the past century - the poetic impulse continued to permeate the artistic climate in the next decade. Although the cinematic language of the next generation of artists owes more to the influence of American cultural models, the intertextual experiments by such avant-garde luminaries as the poet Terayama Shūji successfully transcended the limitations of particular artistic disciplines, creating an authentic expression on the intersection of literature, theater and film.