Week 6: Intro to Kyogen


Week 6a-b: Kyôgen: Parodic Ghosts, Bumbling Gods, and Ineffectual Priests

Readings:
[OL] Asahina
b) [Trad J Thtr] Thunderbolt (Kaminari) (61-67)
c) [Trad J Thtr] The Cicada (Semi) )(284-94)
d) [Trad J Thtr] Mushrooms (Kusabira) (245-254)
e) [OL] Owls (Fukuro Yamabushi)
f) Review: Aoi no Ue for comparison with Mushrooms; Yashima for comparison with The Cicada

Videos: "This is Kyogen"( includes exerpts from Thunderbolt and Owls)

May 10: Kyogen Continued (plus intro to Yokai)
a) [OL] Neck-pulling (Kubihiki)
b. [OL] Yao
Videos: Mushrooms, Asahina, Neck-pulling, Owls

Week 6a-b Reading Questions:

We'll be watching "This is Kyogen" in Tuesday's class, which includes excerpts from a number of different Kyogen plays including Thunderbolt and Owls.

On Thursday we'll be watching Mushrooms, Asahina, Neck-Pulling.

Kyôgen plays:

For each of the plays consider the following questions:

1) What category of Noh does it appear to parody? How does it make that category funny? Think about costumes, masks, plot structure, props, allusions, and alterations of Noh material, etc.

2) What is the attitude toward religion, ghosts and the afterlife conveyed in each of these plays? How does it satirize the medieval attitude towards deities and ghosts that we've seen exemplified in the Hell and Hungry Ghost scrolls? How does it subvert that attitude? Reinforce it?

Asaina and Yao

1) What is the main character's attitude toward his sins? What should his attitude be when you consider the images from the Hell Scrolls?

2) What is the King of Hell (Emma) like? How does the sinner convince Yama/Emma to take him to Heaven?

The Cicada (Semi)

1) Compare this play to Yashima. How is this play a parody of Warrior Noh? What is hell like for the cicada, compared to the warrior ghost Yoshitsune?
Thunderbolt (Kaminari)
1) What category of Noh play does this Kyôgen appear to be satirizing?

2) Compare this version of a Thunder God with Sugawara no Michizane. What is similar? What is different?

3) Does the play have any possible function as a religious ritual?

Mushrooms (Kusabira) and Owls (Fukuro Yamabushi)
1) What is the role of the yamabushi priest compared to his role in Noh? How does the play make fun of the yamabushi?

2) In Mushrooms, look for allusions to Aoi no Ue. How does Mushrooms parody that play?

greenballNeck-pulling (Kubi-hiki)

1) What kind of demons are the these? (see outline week 3b) How are demons made fun of in this play?

2) How does the man outwit them?