EA 120 (23085)

Japanese Theater Syllabus
UC Irvine, Winter 2013

Susan B. Klein

Teaching Assistant: Matthew Chudnow

NOTE ON ABBREVIATIONS IN SYLLABUS

TJT = Traditional Japanese Theater

JND = Japanese Nô Dramas

Unit 1: Medieval Noh and Kyogen Theater

Week 1 (January 8, 10): Images and Reading/Discussion Questions

Week 1a outline (1/8) Introduction to Japanese theater and Religion in Noh

a. Royall Tyler, Japanese Nô Dramas “General Introduction” [JND 1-19]

b. Adachigahara (AKA Kurozuka) English/Japanese (see also photostory), images, synopsis

c. Carmen Blacker, The Catalpa Bow
|
"The Bridge" pp. 19-32
"The Sacred Beings" pp. 34-50.

d. Carmen Blacker, The Catalpa Bow-2

"Exorcism" pp. 298-307

Video: excerpt from "The Tradition of Performing Arts in Japan" (link)

Week 1b outline (1/10): Religion in Noh (2)

a. Karen Brazell, "Japanese Theater: A Living Tradition" [TJT 3-24]

b. Kinuta (The Fulling Block) [JND 156-170], images

c. Izutsu (The Well Cradle)[TJT 143-157 and JND 120-132]photo story, images, Japanese

d. review Adachigahara (AKA Kurozuka) English/Japanese (see also photostory), synopsis

Video Clip from This is Noh: Intro to stage including Izutsu; Izutsu 2, Izutsu 3

For more on Buddhism, see link to "Buddhism" on WWW Links page.

For more on medieval Japan, see link to "Medieval  Period" on WWW Links page.

WEEK 1 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS DUE TODAY

Week 2 (January 15, 17): Images and Reading/Discussion Questions

Week 2a-2b Outline (1/15): Elements of Performance (masks, costumes, props, movement, chanting)

a. Brazell, "Japanese Theater: A Living Tradition" and “Elements of Performance” [TJT, 24-43,    115-25]
a. Yamamba [TJT 207-225],photo story, images, Japanese
b. Atsumori [JND 37-48 or TJT 126-142], photo story, images (ALSO: click here for an interactive text in English with images and Japanese)
c. Sumidagawa [JND 251-263], photo story
d. Review Izutsu (The Well Cradle)[TJT 143-157 and JND 120-132]photo story, images, Japanese

 

Week 2b Outline (same as above) (1/17): Costume and Performance Continued

a. Dôjôji [TJT 193-206]photo story, Japanese
b. Kamo [TJT 44-60], photo story, link to video

WEEK 2 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS DUE TODAY

Videos: excerpts from Yamamba, Dôjôji, Atsumori, Izutsu, Sumidagawa, Kamo

Link to mask-making video

Link to Kamo

Week 3 (January 22, 24): Images and Reading/Discussion Questions

Week 3a-3b Outline (1/ 22, 1/24): The Poetics of Noh

 

Video: Komachi and the Hundred Nights

Week 4a-4b (January 29, 31) Kyogen Theater: Images and Reading/Discussion Questions

Week 4a Outline (1/29) Kyôgen Elements of Performance (costumes, props, movement, voice)

a. Review Brazell, “Elements of Performance” [TJT, 115-25]
b.The Delicious Poison (Busu) [TJT, 235-44] Japanese
c. The Snail (Kagyu) [TJT, 256-66]
d. Synopsis of Narihira and the Rice Cakes (Narihira mochi)
e. Two Daimyo (Futari Daimyo) [TJT 226-234]

Videos: This is Kyogen; The Delicious Poison (Busu)

Week 4b Outline (1/31): Kyôgen as Parody

a. Carolyn Haynes: "Parody in Kyôgen: Makura monogurui and Tako"
 b. Thunderbolt (Kaminari) [TJT, 61-67]
c. Owls (Fukuro Yamabushi)

Video: Excerpts from Makura monogurui, Thunderbolt, Owls

Week 5a (February 5) MIDTERM 1

UNIT TWO: EDO PERIOD BUNRAKU PUPPET THEATER AND KABUKI

Weeks 5b, 6, 7 (February 7, 12, 14, 19, 21): Images and Reading/Discussion Questions

Week 5b Outline (2/7): Introduction to Bunraku

a. Review Brazell,"Japanese Theater: A Living Tradition" [TJT 13-24]
b. Brazell , “Elements of Performance” [TJT 303-313]
c. Love Suicides at Amijima [TJT 333-63, Japanese]

d.Optional (we'll be watching the video): The Miracle of the Tsubosaka Kannon [TJT 408-417]

e. Optional background article: Donald H. Shively, "The Social Environment of Tokugawa Kabuki," in Studies in Kabuki: Its Acting, Music, and Historical Context (University Press of Hawaii, 1978), 1-61.

Videos: Tradition of Performing Arts in Japan: Bunraku, excerpts from Love Suicides at Amijima, Love Suicides at Sonezaki

For more on the Edo/Tokugawa period, see link to "Edo/Tokugawa" on WWW Links page

Week 6a Outline (2/12): Costumes, Make-up and Form in Kabuki acting I: aragotomale roles

a. Review Brazell, “Elements of Performance” [TJT, 308-313]; see also “Four Figures of the Thundergod” [TJT, 39-43]
b. Saint Narukami [TJT 68-94, Japanese]
c. Shibaraku synopsis from Wikipedia, images (includes summary of play)

d. Optional reading for more indepth on Kabuki acting: James R. Brandon, "Form in Kabuki Acting," in Studies in Kabuki: Its Acting, Music, and Historical Context (University Press of Hawaii, 1978), 63-132.

Videos: Leonard Pronko, "Form in Kabuki Acting,"Narukami, Shibaraku, Tradition of Performing Arts in Japan (Kabuki) with excerpt from Yoshitsune Senbonzakura (Yoshitsune and the 1000 Cherry Trees)

For more on Kabuki, see links on WWW Links page, especially Kabuki21.

Week 6b Outline (2/14): Costumes, Make-up and Form in Kabuki acting II: wagoto male roles and onnagata female roles plus shosagoto dance pieces

a. review Love Suicides at Amijima [TJT 333-63, Japanese]
b. Treasury of Loyal Retainers (Kanadehon Chûshingura) Act 6 "At the Farmhouse" (TJT 375-392, Japanese) and Act 7 "Ichiriki Brothel House" (Gion Ichiriki no ba), Japanese
See also English synopsis of the Treasury of Royal Retainers (Chushingura) story.
c. review noh Dôjôji [TJT 193-206, Japanese]
d. The Maiden at Dôjôji (Musume Dôjôji) [TJT 506-24, Japanese]

Video: excerpts from Form in Kabuki Acting, The Maiden at Dôjôji, Ichiriki Brothel Scene, Love Suicides at Amijima

Week 7a Outline (2/19): Atsumori in Noh, Bunraku, and Kabuki

a.The Kabuki/Bunraku version:

1. Synopsis of Ichi no Tani Futabagunki (Chronicle of the Battle of Ichinotani) English, Japanese

2. The Chronicle of the Battle of Ichinotani Acts 1 and 2
English

[Act 1 Scene 2 Suma Bay (TJT 442-455) is the most important to the comparison, but I'll be showing scenes from Kumagai's Camp (Kumagai jinya) in class as well]

b.The original story from Tale of the Heike (Heike monogatari):

1. "The Death of Atsumori":English, Japanese

2. "The First Attackers": English, Japanese

c. Review the Noh Atsumori: Atsumori [JND 37-48 or TJT 126-142]
(click here for an interactive text in English with images and Japanese)

Videos: excerpts from Kabuki: Traditional Theater of Japan, excerpts from Suma Bay and Kumagai's Camp (Kumagai no jinya)

Week 7b Outline (2/21): Yotsuya Ghost Stories as Kizewamono

a. Yotsuya Ghost Stories [TJT 456-483]

b. synopsis of entire play of Yotsuya Ghost Stories (Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan) [scroll down to "summary"--see also reading questions for week 7]

c. Review English synopsis of the Chushingura story and the introduction to "At the Farmhouse" [TJT starting p. 375]

Video: excerpts from Yotsuya Ghost Stories

 

UNIT THREE: 20th Century Theater

Week 8 (2/26, 2/28): Shimpa Images and Reading/Discussion Questions

Week 8a-b Outline: Shimpa (the transition from Kabuki to Modern Theater)

a) "The Modern Theater: Shimpa" from Benito Ortolani, The Japanese Theater: From Shamanistic Ritual to Contemporary Pluralism (Princeton University Press, 1995), 233-42

b) Izumi Kyoka, The Demon Pond (Yashagaike), translation by Cody Poulton from Spirits of Another Sort: The Plays of Izumi Kyoka English, Japanese

c) Optional: "New (Neo) Kabuki and the Work of Hanagumi Shibai" by Natsuko Inoue

Videos: Kabukiza 2008 filmed performance version; The Demon Pond 1979 movie version (director Shinoda Masahiro with Bando Tamasaburo as Yuri and Yuki); Hanagumi Shibai 1991 filmed performance version; The Demon Pond 2005 filmed performance version (director Miike Takashi)

For a brief summary of the Meiji restoration see link to "Meiji Japan" on the WWW links page

Week 9 (3/5/, 3/7): Ankoku Butoh and Post-Shingeki Theater Images and Reading/Discussion Questions

Week 9a Outline (3/5): Post-modern Dance in Japan: Ankoku Butoh

a) Susan Klein, Ankoku Butô: The Premodern and Postmodern Influences on the Dance of Utter Darkness, Ch. 1 (1-23), Ch. 2 (24-54).

Video: Body at the Edge of Crisis, Piercing the Mask

See also: various links to Butoh on the links page, particularly the poster from a 1974 performance by Dairakudakan, "The Mikado's Enormous Balls" and The Drama Review (TDR) which includes a number of translated essays by Hijikata Tatsumi.

Week 9b (3/7): Butoh and Post-shingeki Theater: Ota Shogo's The Water Station

a. Mari Boyd's Ota's Theatrical Vision, Introductory Material on The Water Station

b. Ota Shogo, The Water Station, trans. by Mari Boyd
Asian Theatre Journal, vol 7 no. 2 (1990) pp. 150-183.

c. Interactive Script of Scene 1 of The Water Station (Mizu no Eki)

d. Scene 1 image slide show

Video: Theater in Japan: Yesterday and Today (see clip from Tenkei gekijo Mizu no Eki)

Week 10 (3/12, 3/14): Post-Shingeki Theater Images and Reading/Discussion Questions

Week 10ab Outline (3/12): The Post-Shingeki Movement: Suzuki Tadashi, Ninagawa Yukio

a. Yukihiro Goto, "The Theatrical Fusion of Suzuki Tadashi," Asian Theatre JournalVol. 6, No. 2 (Autumn, 1989), 103-123.

Videos: One Step on a Journey, Theater in Japan: Yesterday and Today

b. John Brokering, "Ninagawa Yukio's Intercultural Hamlet: Parsing Japanese Iconography," Asian Theatre Journal, vol. 24, no. 2 (Fall 2007), pp. 370-97.

c. Shakespeare, Hamlet final scene

video: Ninagawa Yukio's Hamlet

 

c. optional background reading: Notes from Brian Powell's Japan's Modern Theater on Suzuki Tadashi and Ota Shogo

d. Review: Klein, Ankoku Butô: The Premodern and Postmodern Influences on the Dance of Utter Darkness, 10-20.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ARE DUE BY NOON ON WEDNESDAY 3/13

Week 10ab outline (3/14): Post-Shingeki Movement Continued PLUS REVIEW FOR EXAM

 

FINAL EXAM: Thursday March 21 8-10 am

 

FINAL EXAM: Thursday March 21 8-10 am