This essay was for an Japanese Theatre class.
Authenticity and Invention
The word ‘authenticity’ is often synonymous with the words genuine, unquestionable, verifiable, and conforming to fact. With these synonyms in mind, upon examining traditional Japanese theatre, one would discover that many aspects that are counter authenticity— men taking on the role of women in onnagata, women transforming into demons, and kyougen which pokes fun at positions at respected or noble positions.. These aspects add twist of ‘what if’ to plays that could be commonplace, authentic tales of everyday life, in order to captivate audiences, and are acted out in such a way, that the very meaning of authenticity is blurred to the point of insignificance.
When women performing Kabuki was outlawed during the Tokugawa period, the art of Kabuki was taken up exclusively by men. Being such, when women’s roles were called for, a man had to act in the place of the women. Noh theatre, as well, is a male dominated art. With the aid of makeup, posturing, and playing on what men of high society thought women should be, these male actors were able to cross the line on the authenticity of womanhood ditching the reality of their true gender to become a woman one the stage. While on the stage, to the actor and the audience, he undeniable becomes a she, despite the reality that the actor’s gender has never actually changed.
Spited of scorned women in Noh plays, are notorious for shedding their womanly form for that of a demon. The play Doujouji is an example of such a transformation; a landlord’s daughter, having her expectation of marriage rejected by a priest, becomes so enraged at him that her wrath and resentment towards him transforms her into a serpent: “Swearing she would never let him go…She ran up and down the bank, wild with rage, until at last her jealous fury turned her into a venomous snake…breathing smoke and flames” (Doujouji 202). This woman’s resentment for the priest is so enduring, that the enraged woman’s spirit returns to the temple in the form of a dancing girl only to transform into a serpent once again, seeking eternal retribution. The look of this transformation is completed with a change in mask, costume, and gestures –transforming the ‘woman’ on stage into a demon. As is the case in many such Noh plays, women are considered to be gentle and beautiful until provoked, at which point they can transform into demons that incarnate their feelings of fury. The authenticity of the true form of women must then be examined: are such plays meant to demonstrate women as authentic but capable of taking on this alter-persona, or are their true inner forms really that of demon, lurking quietly behind their placid surface, waiting to be awaked by the vehemence of having been scorned?
Finally, there is the element of kyougen, that plays on the authenticity real-life roles. In the play Mushrooms, what should be a powerful mountain priest instead turns out to be a man who perverts Shinto prayers and, by having no idea of that he is doing, ends up only causes more trouble. “No matter how evil a demon mushroom you are, when the mountain priest, the living body of Buddha, makes the sign of the eggplant and prays, how can a miracle fail to occur?” (Mushrooms 253). Though dressed as and having the outward seeming of authentic Buddhist priest, he in fact, has no spiritual abilities and his incantations to be rid of the mushrooms only multiply them until the priest is forced to run away. In another instance, the play The ‘Sickley’ Stomach, the authenticity of the husband’s role in marriage and the honored tradition of seppuku are made light of. He attempts to behead himself with a sickle, too cowardly, he then decides to somersault on the sickle, and too cowardly to undergo this method as well, he looks for grass cutters to do the job for him. All the while, making statements such as “I wish I could show someone my courageous manner of dying” though the point of seppuku is not to make a public display but to silently gut oneself. He goes on to tell his wife “Did you come to watch me commit suicide? Let me go. I’ll cut my stomach open and whack you with my guts” (The ‘Sickley’ Stomach 275). Authentically, the role of the husband in Japanese society was to provide for the home and strength and pride as a man; which the husband of this play does neither. The goals of seppuku and jisatsu are, authentically, to kill one’s self as to not be disgraced or bring disgrace upon the home any longer. Instead the husband makes a joke out of it with his hesitance and smart remarks to his wife.
What is truly authentic and unquestionable genuine is often a questionable matter in traditional Japanese theatre. Men dressed and acting as women, these men, in roles of women, becoming demons, and kyougen that jests with authentic traditional roles in society all bring a play’s level of authenticity to light. The plays are acted out in such a way that the lack authenticity may only be realized, or even paid any attention to, once the play has come to an end.
© Caroline Alicia Harris
post script If you are the copyright owner of anything metioned in the above essay, I do have the bibliography os my sources if you need to see them. I choose not to post them on this site, in the hopes nothing will be reused.