Back to the Classics #21

I read this book for the reading challenge Back to the Classics 2022.

Pre-1800 Classic: I’ve always been interested in hand puppets, rod puppets, and those beyond belief Indonesian shadow puppets. One time in Taipei I saw a street marionette show. It was like revisiting childhood's gaping wonder.

Four Major Plays of Chikamatsu – Donald Keene (Translator)

In traditional Japanese puppet theater (bunraku) nearly life-size dolls act out a chanted dramatic narrative, called jooruri, to the accompaniment of a three-stringed Japanese banjo, called a samisen, or shamisen, or in Okinawa a sanshin.  The puppet theater reached its height in popularity in the 18th century so playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon wrote scripts for them.

This book is a collection of four major dramas that were first translated by Donald Keene in 1961. The lengthy preface presents interesting material on Chikamatsu’s creative life, the cultural background of 18^th century urban Japan, and literary devices, all of which are essential background in understanding the plays.

One script is a historical play about Coxinga, a Ming freedom fighter who fought the oppression of an alien regime in China. One feels grateful the parts are played by puppets considering scenes where the hero fights off a tiger attack, a faithless lackey gouges out his eye to prove his loyalty,  and a sword-wielding retainer, in order to save their heir to the throne, performs a c-section on the lifeless body of a princess. No surprise that due to electrifying scenes like these The Battles of Coxinga ran a record 17 months on the Great Mikan Way.

The three other plays are regarded as ground-breaking because instead of being about military heroes or religious lessons, they are about the usual problems facing ordinary samurai, farmers, clerks, merchants, and prostitutes: money worries, job woes, family strife and romantic entanglements. Their main struggle is the issue of giri (duties and obligations to society) versus ninjo (human feelings concerning one’s self, family, and unwise liaisons). Again because they mixed titillation and moral and ethical lessons The Love Suicides at Sonezaki and The Love Suicides at Amijima were hits as well.

Usually play reading is done better in a group but getting a half-dozen friends together with the lure of 18^th century Japanese suicide tales might be a hard sell in your neighborhood. But huge sections of these plays are chanted prose so they’re not really like reading a play by an Elizabethan like Marlowe. I’ve heard some hobbyists read these aloud to keep their voice in shape and their pronunciation distinct. The language is so colloquial that I almost believe this could be a fringe hobby.