Japanese Ghosts WEEK 4b Outline (Winter 2023)

I. Kamakura-Muromachi Period History -- 13th-16th c. We will NOT go over this section in detail in class! (click here for Kamakura period, here for Muromachi period, and here for a timeline if you need it).

Video: Brief History of Japan (clean edition)

A. End of the Heian period

1. Fujiwara courtiers lose control of court to Taira family (samurai) in 1160

2. Civil war (known as the Genpei war)  between two samurai families, Genji/Minamoto and Heike/Taira ends in 1185 with Minamoto victory
 

 
1. Shogun Minamoto Yoritomo moves capital to Kamakura

2. Development of popular forms of Buddhism (Pure Land, Nichiren, Zen)

3. Women and second sons begin to lose inheritance rights as warriors gain ascendancy, the Heian court marriage system declines

a. primogeniture (one son, usually the first, inherits) becomes the norm, as a way to keep each clan's estate holdings together

1. Ashikaga shogunate moves capital back to Kyoto

2. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (patron of Noh) very interested in developing arts

3. Besides Noh: Tea ceremony, Zen rock gardens, ikebana flower arranging etc.

D. Latter half of Muromachi-Momoyama (1440s-1603)

1. Onin Civil War of 1467-1477 drastically weakens Ashikaga shogunate, and begins the period of "Warring States"(sengoku jidai) in which samurai domainal lords (daimyo) vie for dominance

2. Late 16th c.: power struggle between three major domainal lords: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu.

3. 1600: Tokugawa Ieyasu defeats Toyotomi clan (suporting Toyotomi Hideyoshi's five-year-old son) at Sekigahara

4. 1603: Ieyasu moves government to Edo (now called Tokyo) and sets up the Tokugawa shogunate which lasts until 1868

II. Noh, The Theater of Ghosts

A. Historical Development

1. Heian period: widespread fear of angry ghosts

2. Exorcism specialists developed

a. are supernatural beings visible?

3. When the fear of ghosts waned in the 11th century, what happens to these specialists?

4. First forms of theater: theatrical representations of famous exorcisms (12th-13th centuries)

a. ghost or deity appears "in person"

b. plots change from simple exorcisms to more complex stories

c. reenactment of past events

5. What does the appearance of ghosts on stage, telling their story and reenacting important moments in their life and death, lead to?

a. C.f. "Suicide of the Protector of Etchû" from the Taiheiki

B. Effect of patronage shifts on content (goals) of Noh plays

1. EARLY: Patronage by Buddhist temples and Shinto Shrines, popular audience

a. Hereditary relationships develop between five main troupes of noh actors and certain temples and shrines, whereby they are paid to perform plays semi-annually at religious festivals.

1) Effect on composition of troupes:

a) all male or all female troupes

b) audience:

2) effect on content and style

a)

b)

3) typical plot structure

2. MIDDLE (ZEAMI): patronage by aristocrats and samurai with pretentions to aesthetic sensitivity (elite literary tastes)

a. 1375: Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (18) meets the Kanze troupe actor Zeami (11-12 years old) and his father Kan'ami

1) effect on content and style

2) typical plot structure ("dream vision Noh")

3. LATE: samurai with less interest in literary aesthetics or Buddhist didacticism, more interest in dramatic action

a. 16th century civil war: warlords who love Noh

1) Samurai shoguns Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu are major patrons of Noh (Hideyoshi commissions plays celebrating his exploits in war)

2) effect on content and style

3) typical plot structure

C. Examples: Aoi no Ue (EARLY style), Yashima, Nonomiya (ZEAMI style); Adachigahara (LATE style)

Period	1100-1185  Late Heian	1185-1330  Kamakura  1330-1380  Early Muromachi	1380-1470  Middle Muromachi	1470-1603  Late Muromachi
Events End of rule by Aristocracy		1180-85 Heike/Taira-Genji/Minamoto Civil War  1185 Minamoto move capital to Kamakura  Development of popular Buddhism  1333 Ashikaga move capital back to Kyoto	Ashikaga begin patronage of arts	"Warring States" period; Ashikaga lose power and other samurai families struggle for dominance
Culture	Didactic Buddhist Tales (Setsuwa)	War Tales  (Tale of the Heike, Taiheiki [1330-1370])  Early Noh  Kannami (1333- 1384)  Temple/shrine  patronage	Middle Noh  Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu becomes patron of  Zeami (1363-1443)	Late Noh  Patronage by less-cultured Samurai
Qualities of Noh		Spectacular exorcisms; demonic spirit is pacified	Concealed shamanic exoricisms; sometimes pacified, sometimes not	Spectacular exorcisms return (and other kinds of plays); demonic spirit often not pacified
Plays	Dôjôji setsuwa ("Red Heat")	Aoi no Ue  Raiden  Ama  Kanemaki (early version of Dôjôji)	Nonomiya  Yashima Atsumori  Tadanori	Adachigahara Dôjôji (revised version)

Video: "Tradition of Performing Arts in Japan: Noh" includes performance of "Kurozuka" (aka "Adachigahara")

III. Structure and content of Noh

A. Noh Ghosts and Hungry Ghosts (class discussion)

1. How are Noh ghosts different from Hungry Ghosts?

a. Visual differences?

2. How the same?

b. Who do they appear to?

3. If Noh is supported by Buddhist temples why are Noh ghosts different from Buddhist hungry ghosts?

a. genre/performative issues:

b. goal:

4. Why so embodied?

B. Five categories of Noh (plus Okina) and their relationship to kami and ghosts:

Okina (Venerable Old Man)
1. God Noh (waki nô or kami nô)
2. Warrior Noh (shura-mono)
3. Woman Noh (kazura-mono)
4. Miscellaneous Noh (genzai-mono or yonbanme mono)
5. Demon Noh (kiri nô)

Each categories' relationship to kami and ghosts:

Okina as origin of Noh theater

a. Nishiki-jô

b. Kokushiki-jô

c. Okina performance

Video: Nomura Mansai performing the first (maskless) section of the Sanba-sô dance from Okina


1. God noh (waki nô)  

a. Basic Plot

b. Patronage

c. Basic Types

1) Warai-jô (laughing old man)
2) Ô-Tobide (bulging eyes) and Ô-Beshimi (clenched mouth) masks for powerful kami and ferocious demon guardians of Buddhism
3) Kantan Otoko: used for vigorous young gods
4) Shôjô: sprite

2. Warrior Noh (shura-mono)

a. Basic Plot: stories from Genpei wars (mostly about warriors on the losing, Heike, side)

b. Why would warriors need pacifying? Where would they end up in the Rokudô? (Japanese shura = Sanskrit ashura)
 

c. Basic Types

1)  Jûroku Chûjô (Sixteen-year-old Middle Captain) and Chûjô (Middle Captain)

2) Yorimasa as an e.g. of an older warrior who is being tortured in Mayhem (Ashura)


d. What contradiction are these plays trying to resolve?

e. Patronage:
 

3. Woman Noh (kazura-mono)
 

a. Basic Plot

b. New kind of ghost? Why?

c. Patronage:

d. Basic Mask Types:  

1) Ko-omote and Magojirô

2) Zo-onna

3) Fukai

4) Ryô no onna


4. Misc. Noh (genzai-mono or yonbanme-mono)
 

a. Misc. stories: mother driven mad by loss of child to slavers; revenge stories (eg. Soga Brothers take revenge on their father's murderer); bandits

b. Often "present time" (genzai ??) rather than "dream vision" (mugen ??)

c. Patronage:


5. Demon Noh (kiri nô)

a. Basic Plots

1) Female ghosts/demons: women who become (or transform themselves into) angry ghosts or demons (Aoi no Ue, Dôjôji, Kanawa )

2) Male ghosts/demons: men who become (or transform themselves into) angry ghosts or demons (NOT warriors)

3) Demonic by nature? (Adachigahara, Yamamba)

b. Authorship, Patronage, Audience

1) tend to be written early or late in development of Noh (pre- and post-Zeami)

c. Masks of Female ghosts/demons
 

1) Deigan: woman who is hiding her true demonic nature

2) Hannya, Shinja: demonic "serpent" women
 

a) Conscious: woman from Kanawa who uses black magic to become a demon and get revenge on her husband

b) Unconscious: woman from Dôjôji who is transformed into a fire-breathing serpent because of her lustful jealousy

3) Visual signs of carnal attachment in costuming and mask

a)

b)

c)

d)

e)

f)


4) Yamamba (mountain hag): part demon, part earth mother goddess
 

d. Masks of male ghosts/demons (other than warriors)
 
1) Omoni Akujô: old man transformed into an angry ghost

2) Tenjin (ghost of Sugawara no Michizane)

e. In Noh masks and costuming we see the collapse of demons and angry ghosts into one category visually

[The rest of this lecture is thepre-recorded lecture 5 on the relationship of Noh and Shamanism. See outline here.]

We are going to do an in class discussion on the differences between Tale of Genji and the Noh play Aoi no Ue next Tuesday. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO READ AOI NO UE BEFORE CLASS ON TUESDAY]