EA 170 Week 5a Outline
I. Muromachi period (1336-1573) Noh Theater
A. Historical context: Ashikaga clan (now in power) move capital back
to Kyoto
1. Nostalgia for 10-11th century court culture
2. Patronage by samurai of arts (poetry, music, theater)
B. Effect of historical context on Noh and other arts:
1. audience/patronage:
a. originally popular form supported by temples and shrines
b. Relationship of Zeami (ca. 1364-1408) (author of Atsumori and Tadanori) and third Ashikaga shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1408);
performance in 1375 when Zeami was 12 and Yoshimitsu was 18
3. goals:
a. originally didactic:
b. after patronage by Ashikaga:
II. Religious background of Noh theater.
A. Belief in angry ghosts:
1. Demon plays reproduce theatrically famous exorcisms of demons and angry ghosts (such as the demonic hag of Kurozuka/Adachigahara) .
2. Warrior Plays developed out of pacification rituals for the angry ghosts of the Heike warriors who had died in the Genpei civil wars.
3. Woman plays, which often feature love-lorn women from the Heian period, do not involve angry ghosts, but do often center on the desire of the main character to find release from their passionate attachment.
B. Two main plays that feature Rokujo from Tale of Genji:
1. Aoi no Ue: Demon Play -- theatrical performance of exorcism/pacification
ritual
2. Nonomiya: Woman Play -- “dream vision Noh”
C. Basic Plot of Dream Vision Noh
1. Ghost returns to the place that has the strongest emotional memory for it (death, last place it met loved one etc.).
2. When he/she first appears to a wandering monk, they seem to be just a local person, but reveal too much knowledge about the events that took place in this spot.
3. They eventually admit that they are a ghost and ask a wandering monk to pray for their release from passionate attachments and enlightenment.
4. In the second half of the play they appear in their true form
a. warrior: re-enacts his death through dance
b. woman: dances in memory of her beloved
5. Usually at the end they achieve enlightenment.
III. Comparison of Rokujô in Tale of Genji and Aoi no Ue (photo story)
A. Review of Rokujô in Tale of Genji
1.. Rokujô as male ideal’s antithesis
a. Her qualities: jealous, resentful, strong-willed and destructive, ambivalent
b. How she fares in the novel:
c. What she represents (negative and positive):
d. Psychological complexity:
B. Basic Plot: Rokujô, Aoi no Ue, shamaness (Teruhi); famous mountain priest (Kohijiri of Yokawa)
C. Why the differences between Tale of Genji and Aoi no Ue?
1. Authorship:
►Tale of Genji:
►Aoi no Ue:
2. Patronage:
►Tale of Genji:
►Aoi no Ue:
3. Audience:
►Tale of Genji:
►Aoi no Ue:
4. Purpose:
►Tale of Genji:
►Aoi no Ue:
D. What are the main differences in the plot, characterization, etc.?
1. What is the central conflict?
►Tale of Genji:
►Aoi no Ue:
a. Ambivalence:
b. Parable of the Burning House (1, 2) from the Lotus Sutra (see also Wikipedia article on Upaya, expedient means):
1) Three carts represent the three possible vehicles of Buddhist enlightenment; the large cart drawn by the ox represents the “Great Vehicle” of Mahayana Buddhism
2) Images in the play: carts/carriages/vehicles, wheels of karmic retribution
“Riding the Three Vehicles of the Law
Others may escape the Burning House.
Mine is but a cart
In ruins like Yugao's house;
I know not how to flee my passion.
Like an ox-drawn cart, this weary world
Rolls endlessly on the wheels of retribution.
Like wheels of a cart forever turning
Are birth and death in all living things;
Through the Six Worlds and Four Births
You must journey;
Strive as you will, there is no escape.
What folly to be blind
To the frailty of this life,
Like the banana stalk without a core,
Like a bubble on the water!
” (pp. 928-9)
3) Why is she using the image of the ox-drawn carts and carriages? (image)
4) What has the carriage of the carriage incident at the Kamo parade now being transformed into? Did it have any of these meanings in the original text of Tale of Genji?
c. What do you think Rokujô's hell looks like?
d. What does the shamaness Teruhi try to tell her?
e. What happens in the end?
f. Summary of conflict difference:
2. Is Rokujô alive or dead?
►Tale of Genji:
►Aoi no Ue:
pg. 930: I am the spirit of Lady Rokujô.
In days of old when I moved in society,
On spring mornings I was invited
To the flower feasts of the Palace,
And on autumn nights
I viewed the moon in the royal garden.
Happily thus I spent my days
Among bright hues and scents.
Fallen in life, today I am no more
Than a morning-glory that withers with the rising of the sun.
p. 932: And I shall pass away
Like a dewdrop on a mugwort leaf.
When I think of this,
How bitter I feel!
Our love is already an old tale,
Never to be revived even in a dream.
Note alternate translation of last two lines (p. 97): “Even were I living, our love is already an old tale, never to be revived even in a dream.”
p. 936: the Bodhisattva comes to meet her and she enters nirvana.
3. Is Rokujô conscious of what she is doing?
►Tale of Genji:
►Aoi no Ue:
a. Why the difference?
4. Does she kill Aoi no Ue?
►Tale of Genji:
►Aoi no Ue:
a. Why the difference?
5. Who does Rokujô appear to? What role do the priests play?
►Tale of Genji:
►Aoi no Ue:
6. Does Rokujô get enlightenment?
►Tale of Genji:
►Aoi no Ue:
a. Why the difference?
7. Summary: