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CODIFIED FORMS OF SELF-EXPRESSION:

JAPANESE DRAMA

Objectives:

1. Be able to discuss the historical origins of NÇ drama.

2. Be able to discuss the aesthetic theories of Zeami.

3. Be able to discuss the stylistic and symbolic features of NÇ .

4. Be able to discuss the setting of NÇ plays.

5. Be able to compare an contrast NÇ drama with Greek drama.

5. Be able to discuss the 5 types of NÇ drama.

6. Be able to discuss the origin of the bunraku theater.

7. Be able to discuss principal themes of NÇ , bunraku, and kabuki forms.

8. Be able to discuss the origin and evolution of the kabuki theater.

9. Be able to discuss dramatic techniques and symbolic use of colors and gestures in the kabuki theater.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

Many dramatic forms we will discuss today reached their peak during the Tokugawa period, beginning in 1600. The Tokugawa effectively united Japan for the first time in a social order reminiscent of that of medieval Europe. The samurai sword came to symbolize the dominance of the art of war in this period. Forging a united government based on elements of Confucianism and Shinto, the Tokugawa shoguns and their samurai ruled with an iron fist. Despite the rigid authoritarianism of Tokugawa society, the Japanese arts flourished. Japanese poets had a gift for expressing the ultimate mysteries of the universe in three short lines, while the bunraku and kabuki theaters explored the human dimension of the rigid code of ethics demanded by the state. On eof the fundamental themes of the bunraku and kabuki theater was the conflict between moral obligation and human feeling, an inner turmoil often disguised beneath a placid exterior.

"Japanese poetry has as its subject the human heart. It may seem to be of no practical use and just as wellleft uncomposed, but when one knows poetry well, one understands also without explanation the reasons governing order and disorder in the world."

Kamo Mabuchi (1697-1769), Writings

"The business of the samurai consists in reflecting on his own station in life, in discharging loyal service to his master if he has one, in deepening his fidelity in association with friends, and, with due consideration of his own position, in devoting himself to duty above all."

Yamaga Soko (1622-1685), The Way of the Samurai

Such stillness-

The cries of the cicadas

Sink into the rocks.

An old pond-

A frog leaping in-

The sound of water.

A rough sea!

Stretched out over Sado

The Milky Way.

Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)

"Heaven says nothing, and the whole earth grows rich beneath its silent rule. Men, too, are touched by heaven's virtue; yet, in their greater part, they are creatures of deceit. They are born, it seems, with an emptiness of soul, and must take their qualities wholly from things without. To be born thus empty into this modern age, this mixture of good and ill, and yet to steer through life on an honest course to the splendor of success -- this is a feat reserved for paragons of ourkind, a task beyond the nature of the normal man."

Ihara Saikaku (1642-1693), The Japanese Family Storehouse, or The Millionaire's Gospel

OUTLINE

I. Elements of Japanese culture

a) Shinto

b) Haiku

c) Cherry Blossoms

II. NÇ plays

a) meaning of word

b) monkey music -- sarugaku

c) action or non-action?

d) visual similes and metaphors

e) drama for high class

f) after Meiji Restoration and WWII

g) Kan= Ami 1333-1384

h) Zeami -- 1363-1443

i) Kakya -- Mirror of the Flower

Monomano

Yãgen

i) The stage

j) compared to Greek drama

k) 5 types:

Kami -- sacred story of shrines

shura mono -- fighting play

Katsura mono -- wig play

gendai mono -- present day tale

Kyojo mono -- mad woman

kichiku -- demon

l) kyogen -- mad words

III. Bunraku

a) Namura Bunrakuken

c) samsien -- three-stringed instrument

d) puppetry

e) puppeteers

f) advantages

A FILM CLIP!

g) Chikamatsu: a slender margin between the real and unreal

h) samurai themes: the 47 ronin

giri -- duty

ninjo -- human emotions