Japanese Ghosts WEEK 5a Outline (Winter 2014)

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).

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 Genji (Minamoto) victory
     

B. Kamakura period (1185-1333) : The start of the Shogunate (bakufu)
     
    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

C. Muromachi period (1333-1573)

    1. After a brief period in which Emperor GoDaigo attempts to take back power from the Shogunate, a new samurai clan, theAshikaga, takes over the government

    2. Ashikaga shogunate moves capital back to Kyoto

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

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

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

1. Onin Civil War of 1446-67 drastically weakens Ashikaga shogunate

2. Power struggle between three major domainal lords: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu.

3. 1600: Tokugawa Ieyasu defeats Toyotomi Hideyoshi at the battle of 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 (Review)

1. Heian period: widespread fear of angry ghosts

2. Exorcism specialists developed

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. moves from simple exorcism 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: 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

2) effect on content and style

3) typical plot structure

2. MIDDLE (ZEAMI): 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) and his father Kan'ami

1) effect on content and style

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

3. LATE: samurai patrons with less interest in aesthetics, more interest in dramatic action

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

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

2) effect on content and style

2) typical plot structure

 

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
 
 

 

      
Plays  Dôjôji setsuwa
("Red Heat")		 Aoi no Ue 
Raiden 
Ama 
Kanemaki (early version of Dôjôji)

Nonomiya 
Yashima
Atsumori 
Tadanori

Adachigahara

Dôjôji 

III. Structure and content of Noh

    A. Noh Ghosts and Hungry Ghosts

    1. How are Noh ghosts different from Hungry Ghosts?

    2. How the same?

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

    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, Present-time Noh (genzai-mono or yonbanme mono)
      5. Demon Noh (kiri nô)

      Okina as origin of Noh theater

      a. Nishiki-jô


      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

        b. Why would warriors need pacifying? Where would they end up in the Rokudô? (translation of "shura")
         

        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 hell


        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 Types:  

          1) Ko-omote and Magojirô (young plump beauty)

          2) Zo-onna (slightly older, thinner face, more aristocratic; often used for female deities)

          3) Fukai (grieving mother or wife)

          4) Ryô no onna (woman suffering in hell)

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

        a. Misc. stories:

        b. Often "Present time" (genzai) rather than "Dream vision" (mugen)

        c. Patronage:


      5. Demon Noh (Kiri nô)

      a. Basic Plots

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

        2) 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) Signs of carnal attachment

              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. Collapse of demons and angry ghosts into one category visually

 

IV. Comparison of Noh and Shamanism

A. Basic Plot Structure
 

      1. Demon plays: basic plot as overt shamanic exorcism

      a. appears to priest/shaman in vision or in human disguise

      b. returns in true form (in real time) and battles with priest(s)

      c. priest(s) convert or at least defeat demon

      d. simple theatricalizations of shamanic exorcisms

      1) eg. Aoi no Ue (early); Adachigahara (late); Dojoji (late)

      2. Warrior and Woman Plays: basic plot as concealed shamanic rituals

      a. ghost appears to priest as ordinary human being, usually to Buddhist priest

      1) why do ghosts appear?

      b. reveals true identity and promises to return in true form in return for prayers

      c. returns in true form (in dream vision) and re-enacts traumatic events from life

      d. most often receives enlightenment and release from being a ghost

      1) what is the cure?

      e. eg. Nonomiya, Yashima

    3. God Plays: basic plot as concealed shamanic ritual

    a. deity appears as ordinary human being, usually to Shinto priest

    b. reveals its true identity as a deity and promises to return

    c. returns in true form (in a dream vision) and dances in celebration of peace, fertility, longevity etc. in the realm

    d. relation to shamanism:

B. Religious Elements as content
 

      1. elements of shamanism/possession in plot

      2. allusion to or use of religious texts:

        a. Lotus Sutra (especially Parable of the Burning House)

        b. mantras (esoteric magic formulas for meditation and exorcism)


C. Visual and Musical Elements

      1. Masks:

      2. Dances:

      a.

      3. Music (Catalpa Bow, p. 31)

      a.

      b. kakegoe (calls by the drummers)

      4. Props: torimono (the use of a long, thin object held in the hands to pull the spirit into the shaman)

      5. Stage:

        a. Pine tree (a yorishiro, dwelling place for the kami) Catalpa Bow, pp 38-39, 107

        b. Bridge (hashigakari)


D. Other points

      1. emphasis on place

      2. ghosts' embarrassment about being seen