EA 170 Week 10 a-b (Fall 2017) Enchi Fumiko’s Masks (Onnamen) I. Comparison of Enchi Fumiko and Murasaki Shikibu A. Bio (see more info in reading questions): 1. Born in Tokyo on October 2, 1905 and died of heart failure on November 14, 1986. 2. Father: Ueda Kazutoshi (1867-1937), a distinguished Japanese linguist and literary scholar. 3. Grandmother: 4. Education: 5. Marriage: 6. Cancer operations, war: 7. Publications: plays in the 1920s, novels from 1939-1943, began writing again in the 1950s. Won numerous prizes. Masks published in 1958. B. How is Enchi like Murasaki Shikibu? 1. Father: 2. Education: 3. Male scholars/critics: 4. Interest in shamanism/possession: a. Japanese folklore/folk religion: 5. Translated The Tale of Genji: II. Historical context of works by Enchi Fumiko: A. Authorship: B. Audience: C. Goal (at least one): 1. Do they succeed? III. Basic story of Masks and characters (in the following the name in caps is the name by which they are referred in the story. Names are in "given name, family name" order. YASUKO Togano (late 20s) _ widow of Akio Togano _ apparently choosing between two suitors, Mikame and Ibuki _ living with her mother-in-law, Mieko Togano AKIO Togano _ died 4 years ago in avalanche on Mt. Fuji _ married to Yasuko TOGANO _ son of Mieko TOGANO _ twin brother of Harume, an eerily beautiful young woman MIEKO Togano (50s) _ daughter of head priest of well-known temple _ married into powerful Niigata landowner family _ husband, Masatsugu Togano, is deceased Tsuneo IBUKI (age 33) -University Professor, Heian Literature Specialist _ Senior colleague to Akio TOGANO _ Married to Sadako, has one child Toyoki MIKAME (age 33) _ Ph.D., Psychology (works in psychiatric hospital) _ Amateur Folklorist _ Interested in demonic possession, Japanese folklore _ Bachelor AGURI _ maid in the household and mistress of Mieko’s husband _ caused Mieko’s miscarriage HARUME Togano (about 30) _ mentally handicapped twin of Akio _ raised by her grandparents, but now living with Mieko IV. Noh Masks mentioned in Masks A. Yase otoko(“the Wasted Man”): p. 18: "the Wasted Man" mask; used to describe the old Noh actor dying of cancer. B. Ko-omote: p. 22 C. Magojirô: p. 22: “A young woman like ko-omote, but one with greater femininity and the fully developed charms of someone older, a young woman at the very peak of her beauty.” D. Zô no onna: p. 23: “It was the visage of a coldly beautiful woman, her cheeks tightly drawn. The sweep of the eyelids was long, and the red of the upper lip extended out to the corners of the mouth in an uneven and involved line, curving at last into a smile of disdain. A haughty cruelty was frozen hard upon the face, encasing it like crystals of ice on a tree” Compared to Akio on pg. 25: "When he stood up wearing the Zô no onna mask, it took my breath away. It was as if something dead had come to life, or as if male and female had suddenly become one...it was almost as if Akio's spirit had taken over the mask." E. Ryô no onna: p. 25: “Ryô no onna, the finest mask in the Yakushiji collection, was a national treasure of such value that it was ordinarily kept hidden from view p. 52: Mieko, discussing Rokujô in her essay: Compares her to Fujitsubo and Murasaki who “dissolve their whole beings in the anguish of forgiving men, and thereby create an image of eternal love and beauty in the hearts of the men they love” Rokujô is “a Ryô no onna: one who chafes at her inability to sublimate her strong ego in deference to any man, but who can carry out her will only by forcing it upon others -- and that indirectly, through the possessive capacity of her spirit.” p. 110: “Her heavily rouged, camellia-bright lips were ripe with sensuality, and her face was the face of Masugami--the mask of a young madwoman which he had seen at the home of Yorikata Yakushiji [the noh actor].” p. 129: p. 137: “It’s not very old, but it’s one that Father was fond of. He often wore it in Sumida River and Mie Temple. He thought you would appreciate the sadness in its look, having lost your only child….Inside the box the carved image lay quietly with the yellowish hardness of a death mask. The long, conical slope of the eyelids, the melancholy, sunken cheeks, the subdued red of the mouth with its blackened teeth--all conveyed the somber and grief-laden look of a woman long past the age of sensuality….It's called Fukai, and the name can be written either of two ways: with the characters for “deep well” or “deep woman.” It’s used in roles depicting middle-aged women, especially mothers. The Kanze school takes the name to mean a woman of “exceedingly deep heart” -- that is, someone mature not only in years, but also in experience and understanding. My father had his own interpretation though. He liked to think of it as a metaphor comparing the heart of an older woman to the depths of a bottomless well--a well so deep that its water would seem totally without color.” p. 141: “Mieko was kneeling on the flower in the deepening dusk. She had lifted the mask Fukai from its box again, and was studying it in solititude. The pale yellowish caste of the mournful thin-cheeked mask in her hands was reflected on her face, the two countenances appearing faintly in the lingering daylight like twin blossoms on a single branch. The mask seemed to know the intensity of her grief at the loss of Akio and Harume--as well as the bitter woman’s vengeance that she had planned so long, hiding it deep within her…” H. Deigan (p. 26) and Hannya -- although these are the masks used in Aoi no Ue, these masks don’t really play any role in the the book. Why?? I. Why is the novel called Onnamen (literally, Masks of Women)? "I suppose Noh masks have such symbolic properties that everyone sees in them the faces of his own dead. Only the faces of the dead wear such frozen expressions." [p. 25]
V. The problem of polygyny and its effects on women. A. Lots of triangles in this book! 1. Three sections of the novel named after three masks. 2. personal triangles: 3. Mieko’s name itself means “three level woman” B. What is the old situation? 1. Aguri, Mieko, and Masatsugu Togano a. Do Ibuki and Mikame blame Mieko’s husband? Mikame: “The real villain is Masatsugu Togano, then.” Ibuki: “Still if it was in the family blood for generations, you can’t very well blame him either. Men are susceptible to that sort of thing. Our society gets so worked up about it, always siding with the woman, that no one dares to examine it fairly, that’s the way it is.” C. What is the current situation? 1. Yasuko, Sadako and Ibuki D. How are these triangles similar to Tale of Genji? E. How does each woman -- Aoi, Rokujô, Aguri, Mieko, Yasuko, Sadako-- react to the situation? 1. Aoi: 2. Rokujô: 3. Aguri: p. 87, Mikame: “but just think of the power of a woman’s hatred! It’s frightening. I don’t know what happened to the woman Aguri, but it’s almost as if her bitterness sent poor Akio to his grave.” 4. Mieko:. pp. 86-86, Dr. Morioka: “Mieko was always an undemonstrative person, able to take things in stride, and Matsatsugu was certainly an expert at handling women, so I suppose they came to some sort of understanding. From then till the day he died, there never was a word of any more trouble between them.” p. 104, letter from Mieko's lover: “You said that you lacked the courage to take action in real life, and therein, you said, lay the explanation for your literary gifts as well as for the darkness of your fate as a woman.” a. Why is this seen as an appropriate revenge? p. 133, Mikame: "A man may try as hard as he likes, but he'll never know what schemes a woman may be slowly and quietly carrying out behind his back. Children -- think what endless trouble men have gone to over the ages to persuade themselves that the children their women bore belonged to them! Making adultery a crime, inventing chastity belts...but in the end they were unable to penetrate even one of women's secrets. Even the sadistic misogyny of Buddha and Christ was nothing but an attempt to gain the better of a vastly superior opponent. It's my belief that one should never intrude beyond a certain point into a woman's affairs." b. Is chastity and paternity an issue in Tale of Genji? 1) yes and no 5. Yasuko: p. 13: "Yasuko is an ordinary woman. She's simply not on Mieko's scale. Yes, that's it, like an old painting. ....In Tang and Sung paintings of beautiful women or in a Moronobu print of a courtesan, the main figure is twice the size of her attendants..." a. Possession illness of Ibuki: pp. 127-128, alludes to a Chinese ghost story, The Peony Lantern (Botan Doro), in which a young man is possessed by the ghost of a beautiful young woman; he eventually dies. 6. Sadako: p. 59: Ibuki: "Step in here for a minute will you? I have a question for you. You know the saying, "hell hath no fury..." Is it true that women are such creatures of revenge? What about you Sadako? Suppose you were consumed with resentment toward someone. Do you think it's possible you might turn into a possessive spirit? Sadako: "Don't be ridiculous" A derisive smile passed briefly over her dry, thin cheek. I'm hardly the type. Besides, I know too well that wishing something would happen is no guarantee that it will." p. 128: "A rational woman is as ridiculous as a flower held together by wire." VI. How is possession used as a “woman’s weapon” in Genji, Noh, and Masks? A. Tale of Genji: B. Noh plays: C. Masks: 1. How different? a. b. 2. How similar? VII. Relationship to Noh theater and masks A. Why doesn’t Enchi distinguish between Rokujô’s representation in Tale of Genji and the Noh? 1. Mieko’s essay on Rokujô, pp. 48-57. 2. Essentializing the feminine: a. "essentializing" means treating something as an ahistorical and unchanging "essence" b. Enchi is not interested in the historical changes in gender roles based in changing economic, political, religious contexts. Why? B. Why Noh women rather than Kabuki? Historical review of Muromachi and Edo period ideals for women: 1. Patronage for early Noh was Buddhist: pushes universal salvation and the power of Buddhism a. Essentialized demonic feminine battles Buddhist priests 2. Tokugawa government pushes Neo-Confucian ideals for women, a. new heroines as stoic victims 3. Kabuki women: p. 91, Ibuki: “To have once been the victim of a ruse by her husband's mistress--one that caused her to suffer a miscarriage no less--and then to stay tamely on with the same man and bear him another child, showed a want of spirit that any modern woman would find scandalous. Might it not be said of her, then, that she abided faithfully by the feudal code of womanly virtue? Try as he would, however, to think of Mieko as someone like Osan [wife in Love Suicides at Amijima] or Osono of the puppet plays, a woman whose mainstay in life was a quiet resignation, Ibuki could sense in her none of that pathetic aura of self-sacrifice." 4. If economic and political context changes, and women are more independent, they are seen as less attractive: p. 87, Ibuki: "The more outspoken and aggressive women become, the less attractive they are. You can see it in university co-eds; there’s nothing in the least appealing about a young woman who tells you she’s feeling excited because its her time of the month." C. Why does Enchi use Nonomiya (The Shrine in the Fields) rather than Aoi no ue? a. b. (images) Summary:
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