The paper focuses on the relation between two prominent theatre artists – Jerzy Grotowski and Tadeusz Kantor – and the Japanese culture. The text is divided into five parts: 1. On nō theatre and its reception in Poland (including the context of the Euroamerican reception); 2. the visit of Tadeusz Kantor’s theatre ensemble Cricot in Japan in years 1982 and 1990, and its triumphant welcome; 3. Grotowski’s three-day visit in Tokyo in 1973 in the company of Tadashi Suzuki; 4. the symposium Sztuka debiutanta in 1978 in Warsaw and Grzegorzewice; 5. Tokimasa Sekiguchi’ translation into Japanese of Grotowski’s Performer, published in the Polonica journal in 1992.