The first major exploration of circus arts in Japanese and Western visual culture to open in the Anglosphere. 

Spectacular Japan: From Misemono to Big Top accompanies an exhibition opening at the John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art at Florida State University. This will be the first comprehensive exploration in the Anglosphere to examine the circus as a theme in both Japanese and Western visual culture.

Spectacular Japan articulates the impact of circus on the visual and performing arts in Japan and the West. The book brings together Japanese woodblock prints, kimono, costume, circus posters, and archival film that visualize Japan’s history of street theater, sideshows, and circus. These works of art are drawn principally from the Ringling’s internationally renowned circus and Asian art collections, with loans from other internationally renowned institutional and private collections. This six-part catalog contains essays and a chronology.