ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the deep influence of Antonin Artaud on Hijikata, his butoh, his writing, and his role as an intellectual, an influence to define as foundation and filiation. By foundation the creation of a method, the theorizing, the fine tuning of the language and the literature that relate to butoh: a set of proficiencies that spawns not just a new style but a new dance culture. Filiation then comes to stand for the transmission of human legacy, where technique is used to transfer a tool for the transformation of one's body and conscience. In this case the filiation is active in two directions, towards the past with the acknowledgement of the voice of the "fathers," and towards the future with the transmission of this voice to the "sons." During Artaud's time in the Rodez psychiatric hospital, he was subjected to more than 50 electroshocks, described by him as repeated deaths in which he lost his body and his memory.
