5a:  Rokujô in Noh

Both of these Noh plays, written in the 14th century, use the story of Rokujô and Genji from Tale of Genji as their basis. Both were probably written using one of the handbooks on Tale of Genji (a kind of "reader's digest" or "cliff notes" version of the story summarizing basic plot, characters and important poems). These handbooks became popular in the Muromachi period for use by poets and playwrights who wanted to use material from Tale of Genji but couldn't manage to read the original. For this and other reasons (which we will be discussing in class) there are some significant differences between the play version and the story, so it will help to go back and reread the chapters from Tale of Genji.

Aoi no Ue

1) Look for the differences between Aoi no Ue and the original story. For e.g., does Rokujô appear to be dead or alive in this version? Does Aoi no Ue live in the end? Why might the playwright have changed the story? (Consider the audience, patron, goal etc.)

2) What are Rokujô's reasons for attacking Aoi no Ue here? Are they the same as in Tale of Genji?

3) What elements of a typical shamanic exorcism can you see in this play? Note that Carmen Blacker discusses the relationship of Shamanism and Noh in Catalpa Bow, pp. 19-20, 31, 38-39 (on yorishiro that house deities = the pine tree painted on the back of the Noh stage), and 107 (on torimono, a long, thin object held in hand that entices the spirit down = fan, a branch of sakaki or sasaki, demon stick etc. held by Noh actor).

4) How does the exorcism here differ from that depicted in Tale of Genji? I.e., how does the role of the Priest and the shamaness Teruhi differ from the priests depicted in Genji? Why does the shamaness Teruchi scold Rokujô?

5) Why do you suppose Genji is left out of this play? Why might Aoi no Ue only be represented as a kimono robe at the front of the stage?

This play is a typical "dream vision" noh, in which a ghost appears as a local person in the first half, and then returns in the second half in his or her true persona, perhaps in the priest's dream. So the shamanic elements are much less obvious than in Aoi no Ue, but try to look for them. Given that this story involves a Buddhist priest visiting a Shinto Shrine, you might also look for elements of conflict between Buddhism and Shinto.

1) What is odd about the Ise Priestess's temporary shrine apparently still existing in Saga?

2) What reason does the young woman give for coming to this shrine? What is Rokujô's real reason? Why is she ambivalent about returning? How does this Rokujô feel about Genji? About Aoi no Ue?

3) What does Rokujô ask for from the priest? Do you think she achieves salvation in the end?

1) What do you think is the main tension or conflict in each play?

2) Both plays allude to the conflict between Aoi no Ue and Rokujô at the Kamo festival, in which Rokujô's carriage is pushed aside and broken and she feels humiliated. How is imagery of "carts," "carriages," and "vehicles" used in each play? What meanings do "vehicle" and "cart" seem to have in these plays that they don't have in Tale of Genji? (Hint: think Mahayana [Great Vehicle] Buddhism and the Lotus Sutra story of the Burning House!) If you look for references to carts etc. in each play and try to paraphrase those sections; it should help you figure out the meaning. In this respect, the footnotes to Aoi no Ue, p. 93 will help too.

3) Rokujô gets to tell us much more clearly her side of the story in these two plays, as compared to Tale of Genji. But her representation is quite different in each play -- what kind of a woman does she seem to be in Aoi no Ue? In Nonomiya? Does she seem to you like the same person as in Tale of Genji? Why or why not?

5b: Dragons and Serpents

Reading:

"Red Heat" [RP #111 pp. 160-162]

Dôjôji [Trad J Thtr pp. 193-206]

Ama [JND pp. 22-36]

Review: Blacker, Catalpa Bow, "The Ancient Sybil" on women and snakes, pp. 115-126, particularly the discussion of Dôjôji pp. 123-126; "The Other World" on the undersea world of Ryûgû as background for Ama, pp. 74-78

Optional: [J Ghosts] Jamie Lillywhite and Akira Y. Yamamoto, "Snakes, Serpents, and Humans" (139-153)
 

"Red Heat"

This story is an excerpt from Tales of Times Now Past (Konjaku Monogatari), originally entitled: "How a Monk of the Dôjôji in the Province of Kii copied the Lotus Sutra and Brought Salvation to Serpents." Tales of Times Now Past is a collection of setsuwa (didactic stories) that was probably put together as a source book for priests in the late Heian period (around 1120). It contains a number of different kinds of stories, but the majority have a strong Buddhist content, and probably were used as material for sermons by priests. Kumano is an important pilgrimage site for Shûgendô priests; the two travelling monks here were probably yamabushi (mountain ascetics) who spent much of their time meditating and performing religious austerities in the mountains. Shûgendô was a mixture of Buddhism, Taoism and various other popular religions; it was particularly antagonistic towards women, who were considered ritually polluting.

1) Why is the woman so angry with the young priest?

2) What is the basic "moral" of this story? Do you think the moral is justified or not?

3) Considering the moral, what purpose and what kind of audience would you guess this story was written for

Dôjôji

Dôjôji represents a Muromachi view of the original late-Heian material from Tales of Times Now Past. The first version of this Noh play was entitled Kanemaki (Enwrapping the Bell), and was probably commissioned in the late 14th century by the Dôjôji temple for a bell dedication ceremony (a ceremony was performed in 1378). The version that is performed today, Dôjôji, was created in stages as various theatrical set pieces (the ranbyôshi "disordered rhythm" dance, bell-entering scene, and leap into the river at the end) were added. We'll look at excerpts from this play in class. Make sure you read the introduction to the play (it describes important aspects of this play's performance) and look at the images from a contemporary performance.

1) When does the play take place in relation to the original story? Who in the play seems to remember the original events? Why do you think the head priest forbids women to enter the temple?

2) How does the woman talk her way into the temple?

3) What signs in her behavior, appearance, and dance might indicate that she is really the Dôjôji serpent woman?

4) On pp. 8-9 the head priest retells the story of the serpent woman, with a few significant changes. What are they? What is the effect of changing the "lustful young widow" of "Red Heat" into the play's "innocent young daughter"? Is the woman's anger more justified in one version than the other? Why?

5) What is the basic view of women's "nature" in these two works?

6) Compare the endings of "Red Heat" and Dôjôji. What is the outcome for the woman in each?

7) According to the introduction, the theme of the Dôjôji story is "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." How is the treatment of this theme the same as in Heian literature (e.g. Rokujô in Tale of Genji)? How is it different?

Ama (The Diver)

In Ama we have an example of a "good" female snake/dragon. In the second half of the play the ghost of the woman diver appears as the Dragon Princess. Underlying this appearance is the story of the Naga (Dragon) King's Daughter found in the "Devadatta" chapter of the Lotus Sutra. The word "naga" is translated as "dragon" in Chinese and Japanese, but in India naga were usually portrayed as half-snake, half-human. In the Lotus Sutra, the Naga King's Daughter hears the Buddha preaching and rises up from the depths of the ocean to bring him a jewel beyond price. She thereby achieves Buddhahood with amazing speed, despite her five hindrances as a woman (and being 8 years old and half snake to boot). Of course, she cannot become a Buddha directly -- she goes through an intermediate (almost instantaneous) stage as a man first. Nevertheless, she is held up as a positive role model for women in a number of Noh plays that relate to women's spirituality. Tyler's introduction to the play discusses this story and is useful in pointing out the Fujiwara power politics underlying the play, which was probably commissioned by the Kôfuku-ji temple in Nara.

There are actually a few hidden parallels between Ama and Dôjôji. Dôjôji was based on an earlier Noh play, Kanemaki (Enwrapping the Bell). Kanemaki included a kusemai danced to the story of the founding of Dôjôji by an impoverished woman diver (ama) who lived along the shore at Komatsubara. As the sole support for her aging parents, she spent her days diving in the cold sea water, or gathering wood in the mountains to burn as fuel for salt-making. One day when she was diving, she found a small Buddhist icon (perhaps Kannon) glowing beneath the waves. It was this image, a reward for her faith and filial piety, that was enshrined at the establishment of Dôjôji temple. So in both plays, a woman diver finding a jewel beneath the sea leads to the founding of a major temple. In Kanemaki, the shirabyôshi dancer is meant to represent both the spirit of the good woman diver and the bad serpent woman, since in the original version the shirabyôshi dancer tells us that she makes her home along the shore at Komatsubara and she reenacts, in dance, the story of the founding of the temple. In Dôjôji all references to the woman diver are cut, and so the serpent woman masquerading as a shirabyôshi becomes unequivocally evil.

1) Why has Fusazaki come to the shore? Why is his mother a ghost? How is she pacified?

2) Why do you think the woman appears as the Dragon Princess in the second half of the play? What does her appearance indicate about the possibility of women achieving enlightenment?