Japanese Theater Week 4a outline A Brief History of Japan (clean version, but with lots of ads) [Minor mistakes: Kukai goes to China and brings back Esoteric Buddhism, not Zen Buddhism; Mongols are defeated by typhoons, not tornados] Intro to Kyogen I. Introduction to Historical Periods: Heian through Kamakura (link1, link2) (Kyôgen developed throughout the medieval period, became somewhat formalized in the Muromachi, but earliest written forms of kyogen plays we have today date from 1642, nearly forty years after the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate) A. 10th century -- Shinsarugaku ((A Record of the New Monkey Art) by Fujiwara no Akihira (989-1066): 1. Shinsarugaku included: all kinds of comic entertainment a. Purpose: “to twist the entrails and dislocate the jaws of its spectators with foolish nonsense” (trans. Sakanishi, Japanese Folk Tales, p 5) b. Kyôgen as predecessor of Noh 2. examples of plot summaries: a. "Priest Fuko begs for robes” (about an ignorant but vain priest whose only desire is to own a beautiful brocade robe) b. "Nun Myôtaka asks for swaddling clothes" (a nun gets into trouble) c. "A country gentleman goes to the capital for the first time"" (rustic making himself ridiculous in the city) 2. Large families of traveling actors a. eg. Uemon no Jô who was assisted by three wives, sixteen daughters, eight or nine sons b. Why troupes become same sex and later women were banned (1623) 1) Performances at temples and shrines 2) few records for female troupes c. Development of urban commerce made traveling troupes of players possible 3. Originally performed individually; in Muromachi period began to be performed between Noh plays on a full day's program and certain Kyogen actors/troupes became attached to Noh troupes a. Full day progam was 5 Noh, 3 Kyogen plays b. Today usually 2 Noh, 1 Kyogen II. Muromachi --1333-1603 (development of Noh) A. 1333-1467 Ashikaga Shogunate-strong patrons of the arts B. 1467-1603 Civil War (the “Warring States Period”) C. Effect on everyday life: 1. ge-koku-jô (low-overthrows-high): phrase that explains social mobility during a time of social upheaval a. Zeami as e.g. of social mobility with Ashikaga Yoshimitsu “There has recently been a young sarugaku lad from Yamato province, and our lord is exceedingly fond of him. He shares the same box and eats from the same dish. The sarugaku performers are no better than riverside beggars (kawaramono), but he treats this youth with the utmost courtesy and grants many gifts. To win the lord's favor, the feudal dignitaries follow his example and pour countless riches on the lad.” Diary entry by Kintada Sanjô (d. 1383) 2. New forms of art: a. tea ceremony, Noh, gardens, zen ink brush painting. 3. Growth of professional artists: a. Heian period: b. Muromachi period: 4. Growth of secret traditions: Zeami wrote a number of secret treatises for his troupe 5. Urban commerce made traveling troupes of players possible D. Influence on Kyôgen: "Kyogen, written by and for people who had gone from a lower position in society to a higher one, celebrated the wit and cunning with which they had made such an advance." William LaFleur, Karma of Words p. 142 III. Tokugawa or Edo period (1603-1868): A. What was the ruling Tokugawa family primarily interested in? B. Why did they introduce Neo-Confucianism as a moral code for the country? B. Four classes: merchant, artisan, peasant, and samurai. 1. hereditary; you are born into that class and in theory you are not supposed to move (in practice, people did, but much less social mobility than the previous Muromachi period) C. Influence on Noh and Kyôgen: 1. Noh: Why did the samurai rulers like Noh? 2. Kyôgen: Zeami on Kyôgen: Kyôgen should “kindle the mind to laughter….a laughter that makes the laugher joyous.” There should be a “tinge of unreality in reality” but “neither in speech nor in gesture, should there be anything low. The joke and repartee should be appropriate even to the ears of the nobles and the refined. However funny they may be, one should never introduce the vulgar. This is of the utmost importance to bear in mind.” Video: This is Kyogen Video: Delicious Poison (Busu) Busu video from 3:50 IV. Roles in Kyôgen A. Main actor (shite): B. Secondary actor/s (ado, sometimes called waki) C. Comparison to role of kyôgen actor in Noh (aikyôgen or ai): 1. katari 2. minor characters and servants (brothel owner in Hanjo, temple servants in Miidera and Dôjôji, subsidiary deity in Kamo) D. Three Edo Period Schools: Ôkura, Izumi and Sagi (only first two exist today) 1. Ôkura school: supposed to have been founded in 13th century, but in reality was probably later a. Shigeyama family in Kyoto 3. Izumi school was founded in 16th century: a. Izumi family (includes daughters of the head of the school) b. Nomura family branch: Most famous contemporary kyogen actor is Nomura Mansai 4. Sagi school: supposedly more sharply satirical than other two schools, but didn’t survive the period between Edo and Meiji. E. Traditional Traiining a. Ôkura school “begins with a monkey (Utsubo-zaru, the Monkey Skin Quiver) and ends with a fox (Tsuri-gitsune)." b. Izumi school does entire plays (images of Delicious Poison) for children's first performance. (Note that this division may be changing: see this Shigeyama family performance of a full play by 5 year old and 3 year old girls.) E. Basic Categories: Daimyo Lord (Monkey Skin Quiver) Servant (Taro Kaja and Jiro Kaja, Delicious Poison) Demon and mountain priest plays (Mushrooms, The Snail, The Owl) Woman and bridegroom plays (Kanaoka, The "Sickley" Stomach) Priest and blind people plays Miscellaneous group which includes dance plays and parodies of Noh (Narihira and the Mochi Rice Cakes, Tako, The Cicada, Thunderbolt) F. Attitude toward realism: A. Costumes: highly stereotyped expression of character (not meant to be fully indivdualized) 1. Middle-aged men 2. Middle-aged women: B. Masks: C. Movement: a. same basic stance (kamai) and walk but exaggerated for comic effect Video of Nomura Mansai walking b. more mimetic c. often includes short song and dance D. Voice:
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