EA 170 Week 5b Outline Fall 2017

I. Intro to Kyôgen (Comic plays performed between Noh plays)

A. Comparison to Noh

1. Authorship/patronage:

a. authors are low-ranking actors

b. written and performed for a wide variety of people from low to high

2. Goal?

3. Opposing visions

a. Noh:

b. Kyôgen:

1) Parody (comparison of masks for young women: image, image)

2) Class differences of characters in plays:

3. Concept of gekokujô (the low overthrows the high)

a. social mobility in late Muromachi period

b. William LaFleur (Karma of Words,  p. 142):  "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."

III. Kyôgen Costumes and Performance

video: "This is Kyogen" (right click the link and "save as" to watch on your own video player, otherwise it might not play full screen)

A. Similarities to Noh

1. Men traditionally play all the roles, no specialization in gender

2. "Presentational" rather than realistic/representational (although more realistic than Noh)

3. Character “types” rather than individuals: master, servant, tricky mountain priest, shrewish wife, hen-pecked husband, foolish lower-ranking samurai lord (images)

B. Differences

1. Use of masks: only used for supernatural beings, animals, very young women, and very old men and women

a. What is used for middle-aged women?

C. Visual Representation of Wife Character in Kyôgen (image)

a. Male actor's face shows: how does this affect our sense of the character's femininity?

b. Facial expressions:

c. Gestures: for example, grasping "hair" and twisting head back in forth in anger, stamping in anger, threatening gestures as she chases husband off stage

d. Costume:

1) hair: (white turban (binan bôshi) with long pieces hanging down on each side and tucked into her belt, (onna bôshi): why not realistic?

2) clothing (nuihaku straight robe): how does it affect the woman character's movement?

e. Acting style:

1) Noh: highly stylized movement meant to express emotional intensity and psychological complexity of character through chanting of beautiful poetry and dramatic dance

2) Kyôgen: meant to be funny, exagerated and stylized for comic effect