The culture of play : Kabuki and the production of texts

In this essay, I will make a case that performance in Japan has been a catalyst for the artistic production of physical objects, both visual and literary texts. Furthermore, I shall argue that it is more useful to consider such physical texts not simply as representations of performance. They, of course, may have been created directly in response to a performance (or in anticipation of a performance), but as physical objects they became something entirely distinct and of a different genre. Such objects (texts) existed on their own and usually served various functions, one of the most important of which was to stimulate new performances.Issue title: Performance Literature II

過激さの分析 : 竹原春朝斎の春画本『枕童児抜差万遍玉茎』（1776年）

This article examines the book Makura doji nukisashi manben tamaguki (1776) with illustrations by Takehara Shunchosai in the context of a sub-genre of shunga books--erotic parodies of educational textbooks (orai-mono)--produced in Kyoto and osaka in the second half of the eighteenth century. A key question is whether we should read this irreverent parody as subversive to the political/social order, and if so in what way.Different from the erotic parodies by Tsukioka Settei, which focused mostly on women\u27s conduct books, this work is a burlesque parody of a popular educational anthology textbook used more for boys. It depicts iconic historical figures, men and women, courtiers, saurai and clerics all as obsessed with lust, from Shotoku Taishi, through Empresses and Kobo Daishi to Minamoto no Yoshitsune. The article considers whether recent research on Western parody as polemic is relevant to an analysis of this and other Edo period parodies. The article also considers the view, within Japanese scholarship, on the significance of parody (mojiri, yatsushi, mitate) in Edo period arts. The generation of scholars during and immediately after World War II, such as Aso Isoji (1896-1979) and Teruoka Yasutaka (1908-2001) tended to view parody and humor as a means to attack the Tokugawa system, but more recent research has tended to eschew such interpretations. The article concludes by placing this work among other irreverent writing/art of the 1760s-1780s, in both Edo and Kyoto/Osaka, which was provocative and challenged the Tokugawa system

日本演劇における悲劇の観念

Tragedy has long been considered one of the highest achievements of European civilization, with the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Shakespeare, Racine in prominence. Since the genre has such high standing, comparisons with non-European serious theatre are difficult. George Steiner has stated the dominant idea straightforwardly: All men are aware of tragedy in life. But tragedy as a form of drama is not universal. Oriental art knows violence, grief, and the stroke of natural or contrived disaster; the Japanese theater is full of ferocity and ceremonial death. But that representation of personal suffering and heroism which we call tragic drama is distinctive of the Western tradition.A comparison of Western tragedy with Noh and Bunraku drama, however, does not lead to such a straightforward conclusion. I argue that tragedy is a theatrical, not a reading experience and that the most serious plays in the Japanese tradition--the \u27Women\u27 plays of Noh and the third-act pieces of Bunraku--focus on heroes who though caught in a difficult situation consciously choose their paths, which lead to the extreme edges of human suffering

Circles of Fantasy: Convention in the Plays of Chikamatsu

The vibrant merchant culture of Tokugawa Japan gave rise to many new forms of art, none more fascinating than the puppet theater, Jōruri, created chiefly by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, the foremost playwright of popular Japanese drama. In this analysis of Chikamatsu's artistry, Dr. Gerstle focuses on features hitherto neglected by Western scholars the musical structure of Jōruri, integral to the form, mood, and movement of the drama. For extensive translations from the various types of Chikamatsu's dramas, Gerstle supplies the musical notations, which illuminate the sophisticated conventions of this unique and timeless artistic form. Chikamatsu's art, combining puppets, text, samisen music, and chanting/narration, encompasses three major types of drama--history, contemporary-life, and love-suicide plays--each with distinct structural features. Gerstle shows how the music of Jōruri, a mixture of the samisen and chanting/narration, supplements the texts and expresses a dramatized action or emotion through complex changes in pitch, tempo, and style of delivery. Richly illustrated with woodblock prints, this is a fascinating study, which will be welcomed by scholars of Japanese culture, literature, and musicology