Wondrous Brutal Fictions

Eight Buddhist Tales from the Early Japanese Puppet Theater

Keller Kimbrough

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9780231518338
• Topic: Literatura
• Subtopic: Arte dramático

Wondrous Brutal Fictions presents eight seminal works from the seventeenth-century Japanese sekkyo and ko-joruri puppet theaters, many translated into English for the first time. Both poignant and disturbing, they range from stories of cruelty and brutality to tales of love, charity, and outstanding filial devotion, representing the best of early Edo-period literary and performance traditions and acting as important precursors to the Bunraku and Kabuki styles of theater.

As works of Buddhist fiction, these texts relate the histories and miracles of particular buddhas, bodhisattvas, and local deities. Many of their protagonists are cultural icons, recognizable through their representation in later works of Japanese drama, fiction, and film. The collection includes such sekkyo "sermon-ballad" classics as Sansho Dayu, Karukaya, and Oguri, as well as the " old joruri " plays Goo-no-hime and Amida's Riven Breast. R. Keller Kimbrough provides a critical introduction to these vibrant performance genres, emphasizing the role of seventeenth-century publishing in their spread. He also details six major sekkyo chanters and their playbooks, filling a crucial scholarly gap in early Edo-period theater. More than fifty reproductions of mostly seventeenth-century woodblock illustrations offer rich, visual foundations for the critical introduction and translated tales. Ideal for students and scholars of medieval and early modern Japanese literature, theater, and Buddhism, this collection provides an unprecedented encounter with popular Buddhist drama and its far-reaching impact on literature and culture.

APPENDIX 1

Major Sekkyō Chanters

The sekkyō chanters mentioned in this book include

Higurashi Kodayū

Active in Kyoto around the mid-seventeenth century. Muroki Yatarō suggests that he was the chanter of the 1661 Aigo-no-waka.¹ Likewise, Yokoyama Shigeru suggests that he was the chanter of the 1675 Oguri Hangan because the 1675 Oguri Hangan was published by Shōhon-ya Gohei of the Kamigata (Kyoto–Osaka) region, and Higurashi Kodayū was so famous in Kyoto that few of the Kamigata shōhon published at that time were not attributed to him. Yokoyama also cites evidence that Higurashi Kodayū performed Oguri around 1665 and that the work may have been a standard in his repertoire (SSS 2:314b–15a, 493b). Asai Ryōi’s Kyō suzume (1665) includes a drawing of his theater in Kyoto.² According to Biyō kejō jishi (preface dated 1782), Higurashi Kodayū performed Gosui Tennō, Sanshō Dayū, Aigo-no-waka, Karukaya, Oguri Hangan, Shintokumaru, Matsura Chōja (Sayohime), Ikenie, and Kozarashi monogatari at a theater in Nagoya in 1665.³ Extant shōhon include the 1662 Yuriwaka Daijin (SSS 2:211–26), the 1669 Ōshōgun (SSS 2:227–47), and an undated Oguri excerpt (nukihon) titled Oguri Terute yume monogatari (Oguri and the Story of Terute’s Dream), published by Tsukuri-honya Hachibei

(SSS 2:492–95).

Osaka Yoshichirō

Active in Osaka in the first half of the seventeenth century. According to Fujimoto Kizan’s Shikidō ōkagami (1678), Yoshichirō was the first sekkyō chanter to use puppets in his performances.⁴ Shinoda Jun’ichi argues that he usually performed at Shitennōji (Tennōji) Temple in Osaka;⁵ Nishida Kōzō argues that he may have established a theater in the Edochō district of Osaka.⁶ Extant shōhon include the circa 1639 Sanshō Dayū (translated here), attributed to Tenka-ichi Sekkyō Yoshichirō (Yoshichirō, the Greatest Sekkyō Chanter Under Heaven), and, possibly, the 1631 Sekkyō Karukaya (also translated here), the fragmentary Sekkyō Oguri (published in the Kan’ei period, 1624–1644), and the 1661 Matsura Chōja.

Sado Shichidayū

Active in Osaka around 1648 to 1658. Moved to Edo around 1661, where he was sometimes known as Osaka Shichidayū

.⁷ Extant shōhon include the 1648 Sekkyō Shintokumaru (translated here), the 1651 Shintokumaru (cited in SSS 1:452a), the 1656 Sekkyō Sanshō Dayū, and the Urokogataya Shintokumaru (published ca. 1681–1688), in which he is variously identified as Tenka Musō Sado Shichidayū (The Incomparable Sado Shichidayū), Tenka-ichi Sekkyō Sado Shichidayū (Sado Shichidayū, the Greatest Sekkyō Chanter Under Heaven), and simply Osaka Shichidayū. He also is the attributed chanter of an undated Oguri excerpt (nukihon) titled Shinpan Oguri Hangan (Oguri Hangan, Newly Published) and subtitled Terute-no-hime, shimizu no dan (Terute-no-hime and the Pure Water Episode) (SSS 2:491–92).

Sado Shichidayū Toyotaka

Active in Edo in the early eighteenth century. His connection to Sado Shichidayū is unknown. Extant shōhon include the 1713 Sanshō Dayū, the circa 1711 to 1736 Oguri no Hangan, the 1719 Kamata Hyōe Masakiyo (Fushimi Tokiwa, SSS 3:26–54), the circa 1718 Kumagae senjin mondō (SSS 1:230–47), the circa 1718 Hōzōbiku (SSS 2:190–210), the circa 1718 Shida no Kotarō (SSS 3:73–96), and an undated Gosuiden (SSS 1:149–62).

Tenma Hachidayū

Active in Edo in the second half of the seventeenth century. Beginning in the twelfth month of 1661, he was also known as Iwami-no-jō

; between around 1660 and 1692, he was the leading sekkyō chanter in Edo. Although some sources report that Tenma Hachidayū died around 1708, Shinoda Jun’ichi argues that he ceased performing around 1691/1692 and died shortly thereafter.⁸ Asai Ryōi’s Edo meishoki (1662) includes a drawing of his theater in the Negichō district of Edo, and a placard outside the building advertises a performance of Oguri.⁹ Yakusha-e zukushi (ca. 1688) includes a drawing of what may have been his later theater in the Sakaichō district of Edo.¹⁰ Extant shōho...

Table of contents

• Cover 
• Half title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents 
• Acknowledgments
• Notes on the Translation
• Introduction
• Sanshō Dayū
• Karukaya
• Shintokumaru
• Oguri
• Sayohime
• Aigo-no-waka
• Amida’s Riven Breast
• Goō-no-hime
• Appendix 1. Major Sekkyō Chanters
• Appendix 2. Works in This Volume
• Glossary
• Bibliography