EA 120 Japanese Theater Assignment 2: Kyogen as Parody

First, read General Points About Papers. Make sure you follow the directions for formating, footnoting, etc., including providing a title page with names of the plays you are comparing. Remember to italicize or underline titles of plays! FOR THIS PAPER, you can cite lines from the plays by simply giving the title and page number (eg. Thunderbolt, p. 62, or Sumidagawa, p. 255)

Assignment 2: Not all Kyogen plays parody Noh, but a select group do. Following the lead of Carolyn Hayne’s article on the two main forms of parody in Kyôgen (syntagmatic=role reversal/surprising audience expectations and paradigmatic=taking accepted notion to extremes) and the week 3b lecture on "Kyogen as Parody," choose one of the Kyôgen plays listed below and discuss how it parodies the Noh. Consider as much of the following as you can: the plot structure; role reversal; allusions to poetry/Noh; word play/poetic techniques; dance and movement; costume/masks/props; use of music/song. (Not all of these aspects will be important for every play.) Make sure you don't simply compare and contrast the Noh and Kyôgen plays you write about, but rather focus on how the parodic aspects contribute to the Kyogen play being funny. In your discussion you should support your argument with concrete examples (quotations!!) from the plays. Minimum 2-3 pages, double-spaced. Suggested comparisons are given below:

First Category Deity Plays: Thunderbolt (Kaminari) [TJT, 61-67] and Kamo [TJT, 44-60]

Second Category Warrior Plays: Tsuen (image)or The Cicada (Semi) [TJT, 284-91] and warrior noh such as Atsumori [TJT 126-42], Yashima, or Yorimasa (note, every other page is in Japanese).

Third and Fourth Category plays about obsessed/mad women (can be Third Category mugen or Fourth Category genzai noh): Setsubun (A Demon in Love)(image) or Kanaoka [TJT, 276-83] and obsessed-woman plays such as Izutsu [TJT 143-157], Sumidagawa [JND, 254-63, images], Hanjo (Lady Han) [JND, 108-19, images], or Miidera [TJT, 158-178, images] [Note that Setsubun also has elements of Fifth Category demon plays, since it involves a demon, so will need to address those as well]

Fifth Category Demon Plays: Fukuro Yamabushi (Owls) or Kusabira [TJT 245-254] and exorcism plays such as Adachigahara [English/Japanese, images] or Dojoji [TJT 193-206]