Japanese Ghosts Week 7b Outline

I. Foxy Women

A. Women as foxes take two main forms:

1.
2.

B. Questions for analysis of medieval stories (#81, 82, 207, 125)

1. How do foxes affect men and women differently?
2. What happens to men?
3. What happens to women (in #125, the Empress)?

C. Analysis

1. "The Loving Fox" (#81)

2. "Touched in the Head" (#82)

3. "Singed Fur" (#207)

4. "A Memorable Empress" (#125)

D. Summary:

1. Gender difference

2. Comparison of female Serpents and female Foxes

E. The Legend of Tamamo no Mae

1.Set up of story: Kuzunoha (Kudzu Leaf), fox married to Abe no Yasuna; according to legend she is the mother of Abe no Seimei (921-1005) the onmyoji yin-yang master, which explains his magical powers.

a. Animal spouse theme, like "Loving Fox"

Kabuki version: the fourth part, "Kuzunoha" or "The Fox of Shinoda" from the five-part Ashiya Doman Ouchi Kagami (A Courtly Mirror of Ashiya Doman).


2. Tamamo no Mae, the nine-tailed fox, exorcised by Abe no Yasunari  (sometimes Abe no Seimei, but dates are wrong).

a. Basic Story: A nine-tailed fox, appearing as a beautiful woman, causes havoc in the imperial courts of China and India, before appearing in Japan as a court lady who becomes a favored concubine of Emperor Toba. She causes him to be extremely ill, but is discovered by Abe no Yasunari (sometimes Yasuchika) during a special yin-yang ritual using a mirror that reflects her true identity. She leaps up on to the altar in the palace, and then flies off to Nasuno moor. She is chased down by two warriors, Kazusanosuke and Miuranosuke, who shoot her down with arrows. She falls to the earth, and where she dies the Sesshô-seki (Death Stone) appears. Anything that comes close to it dies. Years later the Zen priest Gennô is wandering by and the fox spirit appears to him, breaking the rock in two. He is able to exorcise and pacify the spirit.

b. Images:


D. Gender politics of female foxes:

    1. Real life situation behind The Death Stone

        a. Retired Emperor Toba (1103-1156, r. 1107-1123)

        1) Becomes emperor at age 4, abdicates at age 20 and then as Retired Emperor controls from behind the throne (Fujiwara in decline)

        b. Toba's son Emperor Sutoku (1119-1164, r. 1123-1142)

        1) Follows similar trajectory to his father: emperor at age 4, forced to abdicate at age of 20; becomes Retired Emperor and begins vying for power with his father (who is only 15 years older)

        c. Toba's son Emperor Konoe (1139-1155 r. 1142-1155)

        1) Dies at age 17 and precipitates succession crisis

        d. Toba's son Emperor Go-Shirakawa (1127-1192, r. 1155-58)

        1) Sutoku expected his son to be next emperor, but Toba puts another of his own sons on the throne

        e. Emperor Toba dies July 20, 1156.

        f. Hogen Rebellion (July 28-August 16, 1156)

        1) Sutoko rebels against accession of Go-Shirakawa.

        2) Minamoto and Taira warrior families ally with the two sides (setting stage for later Genpei Civil War 1180-1185 between the two clans).

        3) Sutoku's forces beaten by Go-Shirakawa's forces.

        4) 1156 Sutoku is banished and dies in exile, becomes a tengu or onryo (next big onryo after Michizane)

        2. Role of Fujiwara Tokuko (concubine of Retired Emperor Toba)

        a. After Emperor Toba abdicated (at the age of 20), he had added considerably to the number of his concubines. One in particular, Fujiwara no Tokuko, said to have exercised a powerful, malignant influence over him, encouraging the political intrigues that caused so much trouble during his time.

        She may be the source for the image of a supernatural woman who gets control of the Emperor and causes trouble. In The Death Stone, the trouble is merely that the Emperor becomes ill; in real life, there were much more serious problems which eventually lead to the Genpei Civil War.

    3. General point:

    a. Women who confine themselves to domesticity are good; foxes who do so are also good.

    b. Women who intervene in politics are bad. They are:

    1) discounted (if they are successful)

    2) demonized as femme fatales (if they are unsuccessful).

    a) If the latter, their apparent political power is treated as a function of their seductive beauty, which causes chaos and destruction, and which is often seen as supernatural (in the examples for today, women as foxes).

II. Tsurigitsune (The Fox and The Trapper)

 

A. Comparison with other Kyôgen plays: what is funny here?

B. How is this play similar to a Noh play?

C. What is the attitude toward Buddhism conveyed by story and characters?

    1. The fox

    2. The trapper

    3. Who are we supposed to empathize with?

D. How does this fox compare to other foxes we've seen?

"Saigo no Kitsune": Nomura Mansaku's last performance of Tsurigitsune

Tsurigitsune second act: video 1 (fox returns in true form and tries to decide whether to eat the rat in the trap or not NOTE: sound on this is messed up, need to mute); video 2 (fox escapes from hunter).

Tradition of Performing Arts in Japan (Kabuki): section from Act 4 of Yoshitsune senbon zakura(Yoshitsune and the 1000 Cherry Trees), performed by Ichikawa Ennosuke as the fox Genkuro who has been impersonating the retainer Tadanobu as he escorts Shizuka Gozen back to her lover Minamoto Yoshitsune.