Visual Disability in Kyōgen Zatōmono Viewed in a Sociohistorical and Religious Context

Stefanie Thomas, Ohio State University

Abstract respective shite’s blindness does indeed seem to serve as an adjunctive In Noh’s sibling art of Kyōgen, a property to other factors the theatrical form employing many of the playwright and audiences would have same conventions as the former but found worthy of ridicule. treating its subjects with levity rather than gravitas, one subcategory of plays which has fallen out of favor with contemporary audiences is zatōmono, Kyōgen, the classical Japanese i.e., plays in which the shite (primary theater form inextricably linked to the character) is a blind person. Today, “poetic, quasi-religious musical drama” researchers of Japanese theaters are left of Noh, is primarily known as short, with the question of whether these plays are supposed to make fun of the humorous interludes that provide sightless characters’ disability, or comic relief between the serious plays whether playwrights and audiences of the Noh repertoire, which usually during the Sengoku and early Edo do not feature “dramatic conflict” periods saw social and/or political (Serper 307). However, it would be context in the sufferings of the blind. erroneous to see the former as a mere This study seeks to explore the vehicle of one-note, lighthearted above question by providing a comedy; rather, the relationship of historical overview of the historical these two intertwined arts, performed periods during which Kyōgen on the same stage, is considered to developed and flourished, and by have been influenced by the Chinese analyzing the plots and original libretti concept of the yin/yang (in/yō) of three plays: Chakagi zatō (茶嗅座 harmony of contrasts, the importance 頭 , The Tea-Sniffing Blind Men), of this dichotomy being evident in Tsukimi zatō ( 月見座頭, Moon- theoretical treatises on Noh and Viewing Blind Man; this play is Kyōgen such as Zeami Motokiyo’s present in literature collections in two Fūshi kaden (The Transmission of the diverging versions, and both have been Flower through the Forms) and the considered for the purposes of this Ōkura school’s Waranbe-gusa (To My paper), and Kawakami zatō, (川上座 [Young] Followers) (Serper 308-9). 頭, The Blind Man at Kawakami). It The formative contrasts inherent in will show that, inasmuch as intent is this juxtaposition, such as dark/light, discernible in textual as opposed to quiescent/mobile, feminine/masculine, performed versions of these works, the weak/strong and so forth, gain an

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additional dimension in these two textual variations are common, which stage arts, namely that of fiction vis-à- complicates pinpointing the exact vis reality (Serper 308). Zvika Serper social milieu in which these plays quotes Ōkura Toraakira (1597-1662), were composed. However, by the thirteenth master of the Ōkura providing a short historical overview school of Kyōgen, on the of the blind performers who often dichotomous/complementary nature of occupy the shite, or primary, role in his art as follows: “Noh turns fiction them, it is possible to place the into reality. Kyōgen turns reality into dramatic depiction of these fiction. Noh is in front. Kyōgen is entertainers into a general social backward” (309). The complementary context and thereby propose a basic nature can also be discerned in another exegetical framework. assertion found in the Waranbe-gusa: In this paper, the author takes a “Sewa ni, shimote no nō wa kyōgen ni look at the sociohistorical and nari, shimote no kyōgen wa nō ni naru religious backdrop against which to” (“In the world, the underside/lower Kyōgen zatōmono came into being, part of Noh becomes Kyōgen, and the and offers an interpretation of the underside/lower part of Kyōgen treatment of blind characters in three becomes Noh”) (Kitagawa 301). plays, namely Chakagi zatō (The Tea- Kyōgen, then, while ostensibly Sniffing Blind Men), Tsukimi zatō (The mirroring Noh, is implicitly capable of Moon-Viewing Blind Man), and evoking more than laughter in its Kawakami zatō, sometimes only fictionalized depiction of real people. known by the title Kawakami (literally This is particularly visible in the plays The Blind Man at Kawakami, entitled classed as shukke zatō kyōgen by Don Kenny as Sight Gained and (“priest/blind people plays”) in the Lost in his anthology of play Ōkura school, and zatōmono in the translations, The Kyogen Book [212]). Izumi school (Cavaye et al. 185). The former two plays showcase These plays at first glance are visually disabled characters hardly comical in their frequently contextualized within the formal depicted cruelty towards the disabled. ranking system of the guild for the Nowadays rarely performed, they blind (Tōdō-za), with Chakagi zatō fictionalize societal and religious including multiple blind characters, thought towards the blind in the and Tsukimi zatō featuring a single farcical yet acutely socially aware blind person interacting with a sighted manner typical of the art form, and man. No guild classification is may provide an interesting glimpse at mentioned in the final play. the complex interactions of Kyōgen According to the Nōgaku daijiten, performers and itinerant blind two of these plays fall somewhat entertainers at the time the plays were outside of the standard zatōmono plays, first performed. As Kyōgen was an whereas the third, Chakagi zatō, as a improvisational art prior to the Edo bangaikyoku (“out-of-repertoire play”), period, it is difficult to date the pieces is not mentioned at all in the entry for analyzed with precision; additionally, zatō kyōgen. Kawakami is the only

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play in which the shite is not The connection between blindness introduced as a zatō or kōtō, and the and the performing arts has a long play is also classified as “couple play” tradition in the history of Japan. After (fūfumono) due to its plot (392). the introduction of the biwa from Tsukimi zatō, on the other hand, was China to Japan via Kyūshū during the composed at some point during the Nara period, blind performers in the later Edo period, and therefore is guise of monks began traveling the “removed from the restraints of land, chanting syncretic jishinkyō Buddhist thought” (bukkyō shisō no (literally “regional god sutra”) sokubaku kara hanare), instead narratives and healing prayers to its directly showcasing the pathos of the accompaniment and functioning as blind man being subjected to cruelty Buddhist missionaries among the by an able-bodied person (392). general populace (Kana 75). In the However, these three plays showcase Heian period, a contingent of these the breadth of the zatōmono category blind monks arrived in the capital, precisely because they differ slightly forming an association with the from the other plays of the category. Buddhist temples of the area and First of all, aside from Chakagi taking up the performance of sutras zatō, no other plays show a group- and hymns as a full-time profession internal hierarchy modeled after that of (Kana 75). As the era came to a close, the Tōdō-za according to Morley (50), the blind performers proceeded from enabling an analysis of how this exclusively working in and around ranking structure is treated within the temples to adding performances in work. Secondly, in avoiding Buddhist private residences, acquiring the overtones, Tsukimi zatō allows for public moniker of biwa hōshi (“lute isolation of potential societal priests”) (Kana 75). After the considerations within its plot. Finally, proliferation of the Heike monogatari, in Kawakami, the sociocultural factor which, according to the Tsurezuregusa, is minimized due to a lack of guild was first given to the blind priest classification, and due to the married Shōbutsu for recitation by the former couple being the only people on stage, court noble Yukinaga in the mid- which makes it possible to concentrate thirteenth century (Morley 51), many on the religious implications of the biwa hōshi in the capital devoted piece. The author will analyze the themselves to the performance of different portrayals of the sight- sections of this tale (Kana 75-6). impaired with consideration given to Contingents in more rural areas also these distinctions. In doing so, the sang imayō-like popular songs and perception of blindness as recounted legends and interesting tales representative of a social institution, from the surrounding villages (Kana vis-à-vis sightlessness as an individual 75-6). The initial organization of blind phenomenon within the historical and performers in a guild named Tōdō-za religious contexts given below, will (“guild of the right way”) began become clear. between the end of the Kamakura period and the initial decades of the

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Muromachi period, providing the overheard the confessional tales of visually impaired in its fold with a blind performers near temples. Such measure of societal standing and tales would have been motivated by representation (Kana 7; Golay 141). the collective bias against blind Although initially providing stability performers, who were considered in as well as the exclusive right to recite medieval Japanese religious thought to the Heike under the auspices of the have defied the teachings of the Ashikaga shogunate, the Tōdō-za lost Buddha, and to have been struck down political and economic support in the with blindness as a result (76-8). period of societal upheaval caused by Golay, meanwhile, tells of an the Ōnin Wars (1467-1477), forcing unspecified record of monogatari-sō, guild members into an itinerant “who may have been blind,” having lifestyle until the beginning of the been invited to perform kyōgen at a Tokugawa period (1603-1867) private gathering in 1416, and (Morley 51). speculates that some of these plays Carolyn Anne Morley considers may have been composed by a blind this time period, referred to as person (139, 141). Kitagawa Tadahiko, gekokujō (“the bottom overturning the finally, emphasizes that the origin of top”), to have provided a “ripe source zatōmono is not well understood, of humor” for Kyōgen actors, who although both the satire of “blind would have considered would-be bureaucrats” (i.e. the upper echelons of members of the guild of biwa hōshi as the Tōdō-za), who held special rights, exhibiting pomposity or arrogance due and the composition of these plays to the popular esteem they enjoyed from humorous stories and (51-2). Such pomposity would have hayamonogatari (fast-paced tales) by made them equally deserving of satiric blind persons themselves, are treatment in Kyōgen as landowners considered potential explanations (98). and other authoritative figures (Morley According to Gerald Groemer’s 51-2). Additionally, as they frequented article, “The Guild of the Blind in the same venues for displaying their Tokugawa Japan,” not all sightless arts, i.e. temple grounds and the performers enrolled in the Tōdō-za private residences of important after its formation, and “lowly Heike- families, practitioners of what was performing blindmen of the crossroads then still known collectively as and boulevards” were spoken of sarugaku and biwa hōshi likely derisively by guild members, frequently performed in close indicating a stratification within the proximity to each other (Kana 77). community of the visually impaired Both Kana Ranju and Jacqueline depending on whether they held guild Golay indicate a possibility that the membership or not (350). Within the zatōmono in the kyōgen repertoire guild, a ranking system likely modeled came into being due to the prolonged after clergy classification existed as contact and potential overlap of the well. While it “may originally have two groups. Kana speculates that reflected the skill with which a blind sarugaku performers may have man recited the Heike,” it eventually

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came to be based on monetary history as street performers, prompting contributions to the guild, with the the guild to dissociate itself from this highest ranks being kōtō, kengyō, and underclass by requiring its members to the “general director” position of shun members of “some thirty-five sōkengyō held by only one man per ‘vile’ occupations,” among them district, and later only by the sarugaku performers (Groemer 354-5). individual in charge of the guild as a Incidentally, it was also during this whole (Morley 52; Groemer 355-6, time period that the kyōgen repertoire 359). Zatō, although literally transitioned from oral traditions and translating to “head of the guild,” was, improvisation to standardized texts in fact, not the highest rank and, due to and performative kata (Ortolani 151). its comparatively easy accessibility, While this chronological correlation eventually came to be the designation by itself does not prove existing for all guild members in the popular animosity between members of the vernacular (Golay 141). two professions, it does invite The sociocultural position of the speculation as to whether it could be a blind, both within and outside of the factor in some zatōmono engaging in context of the guild, was a complex what appears to be gratuitous cruelty matter. As mentioned above, the towards the sightless character for sightless were considered to be sinners humorous purposes. in the religious sense, but if Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei considers sufficiently pious, they were also this type of zatōmono, i.e. that of cruel believed to be capable of gaining behavior of sighted characters towards healing powers, causing wealthy the blind, to be one category within families, including those of the daimyo her proposed tripartite division among and shogun, to frequently retain blind this classification of Kyōgen plays, the acupuncturists, masseurs, and doctors others featuring plots in which the (Groemer 349-50). While biwa hōshi disabled torment each other, and those commanded a measure of respect in which supernatural forces intervene among the populace and enjoyed in the lives of the blind (86). Two of patronage by powerful clans, including the plays that will be discussed below the ruling family of the Ashikaga feature interactions of the sightless and shogunate, the government on sighted as described in the first occasion sought to ban their activities, category, whereas the third, Kawakami as the example of a Kamakura bakufu zatō, belongs to the final category. edict from 1240 outlawing “blind Plays of the second category have mendicants” (mōjin hōshi) on the been disregarded for the purpose of streets of Kamakura proves (Morley this analysis, as they are least likely to 51; Groemer 350). After the shi-nō-kō- feature sociocultural or religious shō system prescribing social order implications, focusing instead on was formalized at the beginning of the slapstick (e.g. Kikazu zatō, in which a Edo period, the sightless ran the risk of blind servant is ordered by his master being associated with the hinin (“un- to tap a deaf servant on his knee if he people”) outcaste, given their long hears a burglar enter the house; the

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blind man eventually grows bored and the records of the Sagi and Izumi gives the signal without reason, schools (Morley 58). Morley states leading to the two characters that the play was listed in the exchanging pranks [Sorgenfrei 91]). Tadasugawara kanjin sarugaku nikki Chakagi zatō belongs to the first as having been staged in category and is unique among Tadasugawara at a subscription zatōmono in that it presents a formal performance in 1464, although it does community of the blind instead of not appear in the Tenshō bon, the merely one sightless character or two earliest compilation of Kyōgen plot to three blind men interacting (Morley summaries composed in 1570 (53, 58). 50). In this play, a gathering of blind Chakagi zatō begins with the shite men of the Myōon-kō, a group introducing himself as a sōkengyō and honoring the Boddhisattva Myōon by explaining that, since today is the performing musical offerings, is gathering of the Myōon-kō, he will interrupted by the actions of a sighted order a cleaning; he tells Kikuichi to person (Morley 52-3). Eight of the do so (282). This part of the text nine characters appearing on stage are already features a play on the sightless and “at the very least attempt blindness of the characters in that after to pass themselves off as part of the the shite calls for his servant official Tōdō Za,” as is evidenced by (“Kikuichi iru ka yai” ) and Kikuichi the humorous rendition of a Heike answers, the following exchange monogatari passage, although, occurs: Shite: “Aru ka” (“Are you according to Morley, they might not here?”). Kikuichi: “Omae ni” (“In be (52-3). This play is one of a small front of you”). Shite: “Nanji o yobi number of pieces featuring biwa hōshi idasu wa betsu no koto de mo nai” (“I holding (or claiming to hold) the was merely summoning you, nothing highest ranks of the Tōdō-za else”) (282). After Kikuichi indicates hierarchical system; the shite is a his understanding, two kengyō and a sōkengyō (translated by Morley as kōtō begin to assemble and identify “Patriarch,” the highest rank), and themselves to each other with frequent among the seven blind secondary questioning of “Nani-dono gozaru ka” characters, three are kengyō (“Elders” (“Who are you?”) (283). Kikuichi in Morley’s version) and three are kōtō announces the guests to the shite, who (“Brothers”) (52). The final sightless bids them to be at ease since they are character is only referred to by his early and others have yet to arrive name, Kikuichi, and appears to be a (284). This happens soon thereafter, servant. The version of the text with the introduction routine being introduced here appears in volume two repeated, and the shite wonders what of a three-volume collection of kind of rare merrymaking they should Kyōgen plays titled Kyōgen shū, in the engage in (“Kyō wa mezurashū yūkyō Nihon koten zensho compilation, o moyoosō to zonzuru ga, nan to published in 1954. The text is taken gozarō zo”) (285). However, first, the from the Sagi kentsū bon, which dates sōkengyō decides that they should to 1855; it is listed as a bangaikyoku in partake of sake, and the cup is passed

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around to small talk and song; Morley pleasure above all”) (288). They pass suggests that the formal passing of the the sakazuki around again for a while sakazuki in this scene resembles court and begin talking about how the tea banquets, establishing the hierarchy ceremony is very popular with all within the group, with the sōkengyō segments of society lately (“Takai mo occupying the position of the Emperor hikui mo oita wakai ni yorazu, (NKZ 35:286-7; Morley 58-9). The chanoyū no wa yaru koto de gozaru”), shite is finally asked very politely to which leads to the shite suggesting a recite a section of the Heike tea-sniffing instead, as a tea ceremony monogatari, to which he agrees (287- is not very diverting if one cannot sort 8). What follows is a parody of the out the various tools (“Sore mo Ichinotani section of the Heike, itashitō wa gozaredomo, are mo translated by Morley in the following sorezore no dōgu o miwakeide wa, manner: omoshirō gozaranu…”) (289). The sōkengyō orders Kikuichi to Now then, after the defeat at prepare the tea, at which point the the Battle of Ichi no Tani, sighted passer-by appears; he has They ran about wildly, each heard of the gathering and looks in on trying to make a name for the group of blind men (289-90). himself, Remarking that this is a most unusual With cries of “Me too! Me too!” tea ceremony and that “these people Some fled and heels were called zatō” appear very conceited sliced off from behind, (“Satemo satemo, zatō to mōsu mono Others were struck head on and wa, kozakashii mono de gozaru”), he jaws were hacked off. concludes that he wants to In the chaos of battle, inconvenience them (“Nanitozo shite Some grabbed heels and stuck zatōdomo o komarasete yaritai mono them on their chins, ja ga”) and decides to drop something Others grabbed chins and stuck into the pot of tea (290). Soon them on their heels. thereafter, Kikuichi presents the tea to As they began to grow, the others, none of whom approve of Beards sprouted from heels, the aroma (“gatten no ikanu”), While chins began to chap, figuring out that pepper has been put pop-pop-pop- into it (290). The sōkengyō takes Into two, three hundred cracks. Kikuichi to task, calling him a hateful (56) rascal after the servant claims that he prepared the tea his master received The others praise him this morning just as he was told, and (“Oshorashii koto de gozaru”), which beating him with his cane (291). The the shite graciously accepts sighted passer-by finds this very (“Izuremono sayō ni shōbi shite amusing and decides to cause an homesaserarerureba, besshite taikei ni argument between the blind men, zonjimasuru” – “Being valued and hitting first the shite and then the praised in that manner brings me great others with his fan (291). The guests

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believe the sōkengyō beat them after position, and that this highest-ranked first hearing his outcry of pain, asking person receives most of the beatings very politely why he is hitting them towards the end of the play. Mentions since they have committed no sin (“Nō of blindness are pervasive in this play, sōkengyō. Nani tote toga mo nai mono and it provides the most farcical o chōchaku mesaruru;” cf. the shite’s elements of the three Kyōgen pieces initial complaint ending in the much discussed within this paper, making it blunter “otataki yatta zo”) (291). The one of the less acceptable ones in a sōkengyō and the main kengyō tell contemporary context within the each other that they did not raise a zatōmono category. However, it is hand, realizing that it is an outsider possible to surmise based on the above who is beating them; losing patience observations that the societal with repeatedly being beaten and aspirations displayed by the shite and having their noses pinched, the blind his associates, and the notions implicit men attempt to catch him, but instead in gekokujō, namely the disruption of beat each other (292). As the passer-by the rigid social structure of the Myōon- escapes, all lower-ranked blind men kō, so painstakingly established by begin beating the sōkengyō, believing way of the elaborate greetings and the him to be the outsider, and the shite drinking ritual beforehand, provide the yells for the man who would beat him primary drive in amusing prospective like that to be caught (292). audiences. While the visual disability The fact that the passer-by of the Myōon-kō members is obviously identifies the blind men as “people utilized for comical purposes in the called zatō” here, as well as the rather closing section of the play, it can be unorthodox passage of the “Heike” regarded as an adjunctive factor. recited by the sōkengyō, lends Two versions of Tsukimi zatō credence to the fact that this group featuring slightly different dialogue, as may well be composed of upstarts, well as widely divergent endings, have rather than actual members of the been published in anthologies of official Tōdō-za, as Morley surmises Kyōgen plays; the plot of the version (51). Furthermore, while their visual appearing in the second Kyōgen shū disability obviously plays a role in the volume of the NKZ published in 1954, prank visited upon them by the passer- and originally taken from the Sagi by, the impetus for deciding to do so school’s Ban’ō dating to 1918, in the first place seems to be their progresses along the following lines: pomposity rather than the fact that The shite, a blind man holding the they are blind, and thus may be rank of kōtō from Lower Kyoto, grounded in their pretending to be decides to enjoy the sound of insects above their actual societal station. This in the fields during the night of the full is also corroborated by the fact that the moon of the eighth month, a date prankster torments the sōkengyō first, popular for moon viewing, as “people notably right after the leader of the like himself” are wont to enjoy in lieu group is chastising and beating of being able to look at the sky Kikuichi, who occupies the lowest (“Tokaku warera gotoki no mono wa

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nobe e idete, mushi no oto o kiku ga as plain forms as they decide to spend nani yori no nagusami de gozaru hodo some time together, reciting poetry ni…”) (293). As he takes pleasure in and sharing the sasae (bamboo flask) the song of the various insects, a man of sake the uptown man has brought from Upper Kyoto, the ado, enters the along (295). Eventually, they part scene, spotting the blind man and from each other with both men being curious about why a sightless performing a komai, the blind man person would engage in moon viewing now consistently appending –masu (“Iya are ni zatō ga iru. Are wa me mo while the ado once more uses plain mienu ni tsuki o miru koto ka shiranu”) forms (296-7). Right after they go (294). After calling out to the blind their separate ways, the uptown man, the two characters introduce dweller, while acknowledging that this themselves, including mention of their meeting was very enjoyable, decides respective residential areas, and the to make sport of the blind man without kōtō is embarrassed at conversing with a stated reason (“Iya, yoi omoi ideita. someone of higher social standing Zatō o chito nabutte asobō”) (297). (“Kamigyō to ōserarureba kokoro He deliberately walks into the way of hazukashū gozaru.”) (294). The the blind man, who accuses him of difference in societal status seems to being a drunk, only to be called a be reinforced from the beginning of “hateful rascal” (nikui yatsu) and their conversation, as the uptown addressed as onore (which, at this dweller utilizes oryaru (a contraction point, had developed from a pronoun of o-iri aru) to refer to himself; for to a term of abuse according to a example, after the shite asks him very headnote) (297). The uptown dweller politely from where he hails (“Konata continues to use abusive language and wa dore kara oide nasarete gozaru”), spins the sightless man around, saying he answers “Midomo wa kamigyō no to himself afterwards that this was mono de oryaru” (294). Oryaru seems very amusing, delighting in the fact to have been employed both in the that the other man seems so polite teineigo register and as an disoriented that he might not be able to honorific expression. In conjunction return home, and decides to depart for with the use of midomo, which is a his own residence in a hurry (“Satemo self-referential pronoun used when satemo okashii koto kana. Kore dewa talking to those of lower status, an tōzai mo shirei de kaeru koto wa naru assumption of a higher social position mai. Ashimoto [here: “face” according by the ado seems to be indicated here. to the headnote] no akai uchi, isoide Furthermore, for comparison, his self- makari kaerō”) (298).The blind man is introduction upon appearing on stage left alone in the path, having to orient prior to his encountering the blind man himself on a nearby stream and locate features the customary de gozaru his cane to find his way back to Lower (294). Kyoto while hearing the ruckus caused Thereafter, politeness modalities by vicious dogs from afar, only to then frequently switch, with both be attacked by the dogs; the play ends occasionally employing –masu as well with him proclaiming “How sad, how

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sad” (“Kanashi ya no kanashi ya no”) and the blind man’s subsequent (298). deference (474). Furthermore, the While this version of the play is no uptown dweller is consistently polite longer performed according to to his vision-impaired impromptu Jacqueline Golay (144), it is of interest companion prior to their parting, using in this context in light of the textual oryaru in referring to the blind man differences when compared to another rather than himself (see pp. 474-5). version which still saw the occasional The moon-viewing activities and performance when her article was subsequent sudden decision by the published. Taguchi Kazuo explains sighted man to make sport of the blind that it has long been believed that the man progress much along the same former version developed into the lines as in the version mentioned latter, with the ending merely having above, although the text in the Nihon been shortened (333). However, the koten zensho makes no mention of the Kurimoto jikkan shū, a Sagi school sighted man falsifying his voice. compilation which is textually close to Finally, after the uptown dweller runs the Kentsū bon of the same school, away, the zatō remarks on how sheds light on the fact that these different the first man he encountered versions were written at about the was from the second one, who showed same time, and that the Ōkura school, him no sympathy (“Omoeba omoeba which performs the version below, ima no yatsu wa, saizen no hito to wa passed it down in their records (333). hitchigae, nasake mo nai yatsu de The version appearing in the Nihon gozaru”), a mistaking of the other’s koten bungaku zenshū published by identity not featured in the alternate Shōgakkan was taken from the Ōkura text, and exits the stage with a song of Shigeyama shin’ichi bon, the lament, his left sleeve covering his composition of which dates to between face (480). the closing days of the Tokugawa In comparing these two versions, it regime (bakumatsu, 1853-1867) and is immediately apparent that the first more recent years (kindai) (NKBZ version not only features a more 35:16). In this textual variant, the blind gratuitously cruel fate for the blind man does not introduce himself as a man at the end, but also that the kōtō, although the role description contrast between blindness and mentioned that he is often costumed as sightedness is intertwined with the one, depending on the performing revealed difference in social standing: school (472). The uptown man While high-ranking within the respectfully addresses him as gobō, community of the blind as a kōtō and “honorable priest,” an appellation explicitly introducing himself with this completely absent from the other title, the shite humbles himself before version of the play; likewise missing the man from Upper Kyoto, an area in are the references to the blind as a which the rich and aristocratic tended separate group (“people like me”), as to dwell due to its proximity to the well as the sighted man’s mention of Imperial Palace (Golay 143). In this, his higher station in his introduction the Nihon koten zensho version can be

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read as a commentary on societal melancholy, and in the change station in its depicted exploitation of a occurring within the ado: man of lower standing by one of higher standing in the continued Here is one of the basic pursuit of amusement. The blindness, features of kyōgen: people are although mentioned as a demarcating caught up in a moment of their quality, amounts to a mere adjunctive lives when circumstances property facilitating the abuse. While temporarily strip them of all the play is described as being removed their educated veneer and from Buddhist constraints in the reveal their natural anomalies. Nōgaku daijiten (see above), the final This is unwittingly pointed out dog attack, adding injury to insult, by the blind zatō when he says could be interpreted as having been that the man who offered him caused by the blind man’s bad karma. sake and the man who knocked This karmic debt, according to him down are so very different. Buddhist thought, would have They are different. Everybody originally led to the zatō’s disability, is many different people. (144) although the fact that it could have also occurred to a sighted person In the NKZ version, the uptown removes the focus from the shite’s dweller, while initially behaving blindness after he finds his cane. amenably towards the blind man The NKBZ version, meanwhile, is despite the sighted man’s apparent more obviously dependent on awareness of his own higher social sightlessness as a factor in the turning position, appears to merely proceed point of the action as well as the end, from one amusement to the next, as the explicit reference to the uptown rather than explicitly displaying this dweller falsifying his voice and the proposed sudden change in attitude, blind man comparing the two signaled only by the interspersed iya “different” men he encountered prove. (“hold on,” “wait a moment”) Here, the zatō is allowed to depart in (“Satemo satemo yoi nagusami melancholy with a song referencing omomuite gozaru. Iya, yoi koto o omoi his sightlessness. The yūgen ideita. Zatō o chito nabutte asobō” atmosphere, i.e. that of profundity and [297]). Furthermore, the zatō does not the sad beauty of the “truthful essence comment on the “two men’s” different of humanity” inherent in the ending natures. On the other hand, the (Ortolani 125), invites the audience to personality change in the ado featured commiseration while simultaneously in the NKBZ text, after consistently allowing the focus to remain on the being respectful towards the shite sudden cruelty visited upon him by the during their association, appears more other man. Jacqueline Golay sees this abrupt, which is also evidenced in his version as expressive of contrasts, both slightly longer line referencing the in the play’s mood, seguing from enjoyment of their shared time and the congenial to confrontational to initial intention to go home right away: “Satemo satemo omoshiroi koto kana.

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Zatō to tsukimi o omomuita. Saraba school version; while the events might isoide modorō. [Ikikakete] Ga, ima be predetermined, and Taguchi asserts hitoshio no nagusami ni, tsukurigoe o that the zatō’s use of jakubōshi renders shite kyatsu ni kenka o shikakete miyō the other man’s actions inevitable to zonzuru;” this utterance is (333), the actions of the uptown accompanied by a note stating that, at dweller can still be read as this point, his change of mind could be spontaneous. However, if one takes seen as the emergence of drunkenness the ado’s foreshadowing in the Sagi (479). Therefore, the sudden about- school’s version, as well as the face of the ado could be interpreted as shortened line of his announcing his shedding light on the human condition intentions, into account, the transition as inhibitions are lowered, as Golay from enjoying the blind man’s asserts, removing the comical focus company to tormenting him for sport from the blind man, who is allowed to seems more willful. display pathos in the end, and placing Finally, in Kawakami zatō (also it on the impromptu boorishness of a found in NKZ vol. 35, originally man of presumably high standing. An appearing in this form in the Sagi interesting observation by Taguchi kentsū bon dating to 1855), the blind Kazuo should be mentioned in this shite does not introduce himself with context: According to him, the anything resembling a Tōdō-za rank; respective komai used in the divergent he is simply a “blind person” (mōjin) versions foreshadow the endings. In from Nara, who was not born disabled, the Ōkura school version listed in the but became blind, and who is visiting NKBZ, the komai of the blind man is the upstream area of the Yoshino river, called jakubōshi (“weak priest”), as the Jizō statue there is supposed to foreshadowing the pathos displayed grant divine favors (96). He asks for during his exit (333). In the Sagi the way, grateful for the graciousness school version found in the Kurimoto of others, and finally arrives at the site, jikkan shū, the ado dances a komai where he prays to the Bodhisattva to called yamauba, during which he sings, restore both of his eyes to clarity with “Yama mawari no tokoro, shita ni ite divine favor (“Nanitozo gorishō o mane o shite, zatō no kao o naderu” mochimashite, ryōgan akiraka ni (“In a place around the mountain, narimasu yō ni, negai sitting down and imitating, stroking tatematsurimasuru”) (97). Thereafter, the blind man’s face”) (333). Taguchi he converses with other pilgrims (not considers this an intertextual reference present on the stage) from Izumi and to the Kyōgen play Kikazu zatō, in Kawachi, and eventually decides to which a deaf man strokes a blind take a rest; while sleeping, he is stung man’s face with his foot in mischief, by bees, and as he is crying out in pain, which in turn foreshadows that the ado his eyes open (97-8). The shite is planning to make sport of his gratefully prays once more to the Jizō, erstwhile companion (333). Notably, and he decides to immediately hurry the blind man is the one home and tell his wife the good news foreshadowing his fate in the Ōkura so they can rejoice together (“Mazu

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isoide makari kaeri, onnadomo ni appalled that he would say something kono yoshi o mōshite yorokobashō to so cruel to her just after his eyesight zonzuru”) (98). At this juncture, the has been restored, and states that she wife appears and introduces herself at would like to go to Kawakami right the first pine position on the now and split the Jizō apart (“Kore hashigakari, stating that she has been kara Kawakami e maitte, Ojizō o lonely as her husband has been gone tsukamisaite nokyō”) (102). The shite on his pilgrimage to the upper reaches tells her to get a hold of herself, of the Yoshino River, and that she has repeating that it was truly a gone to meet him (98). Then, she manifestation of Jizō that appeared to enters the stage and calls out to her him, and commands her to resign husband (“Moshi moshi, konata wa herself to it, to which his wife kochi no hito de wa gozaranu ka”), responds that to order them to divorce having to identify herself as his wife is cruel, repeating her intention to thereafter (“Waraha wa kana hōshi ga destroy the statue (102). The man calls haha de gozaru” [hōshi here is a her a wawashii hito (“a euphemism for “baby,” lit. “I am the loudmouth/quarrelsome person”) at mother of your child”]), and noticing this point, complaining that she is not that his eyes are now open (98). The keeping her promise; after another formerly blind man explains what has repetition of her intentions, he finally happened to him, stating that the bees states that what she states has merit, that stung him were a manifestation of but wonders what he should do, even Jizō (“Ojizō no ojigen no hachi de if a separation would be cruel (102). oryaru”) (99). His wife has brought Eventually, he decides to defy the along sake, of which they begin to revelation of Jizō and remain with her partake, and the man asks her to dance; as before (“Ojizō no ojigen o somuki, after she does so, her husband dances a ima made no tōri soi mo shiyō ka”) komai, as well (100). Eventually, they (103). After his wife asks him whether decide to stop, and the shite mentions this is the truth and he affirms that that he wants to tell his wife decision, he suddenly cries out in pain, something, but that he is certain that stating that he is now the subject of she will become angry if he does and divine retribution; his eyes are once so cannot say it (“Sate wagoryo ni again failing as they were before iitai koto ga aru ga, kono koto o iuta (“Obatsu o kagahori, mata moto no naraba, sadamete hara ga gotoku me ga tsubureta wa”) (103). tatesashimasō to omoute, iikaneru yo”) His wife laments this state as “pitiable” (101). After his wife repeatedly asks (“oitoshiya no”); thereafter, they him to reveal what it is, promising that decide to return home, singing about she will not get angry, he finally how sad it is that the shite’s eyes have explains how Jizō revealed to him that once again turned white, signifying his if he remains by her side as he has returning blindness, and how this must until now, his eyesight will once again be bad karma from a previous life fail, which means that he cannot be (103). The wife then proceeds to lead with her anymore (101). She is

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her once again unseeing husband off representative of an exalted form of the stage (103). prank, and juxtaposes his willfulness Slightly different textual versions with the dignified resignation of the of this play also exist, as the couple (148). Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei, translation by Don Kenny in The meanwhile, does not read the deity as Kyōgen Book shows; to name just one anything other than benevolent; the difference, the wife assures the important aspect, according to her formerly blind man after he has made interpretation, is the willful decision of the decision to stay with her, “The the couple to stay together, “offering gods are compassionate. As they each other only the grace of human blessed you with sight, I am certain love” (96). The short interpretation of they will not strike you blind again,” the play given in the Nōgaku daijiten to which her husband responds, “Oh, agrees with her view, as it states that but I made a most solemn promise, so the blind man in Kawakami zatō is I am quite worried,” and she able to feel the happiness of true love subsequently admonishes him, “You precisely because he is blind (392). must not say such weak-hearted Whereas restored sight would lead to things,” exhorting him to hurry home the main character’s isolation, its with her quickly (217). Only then does rejection preserves human contact, the shite’s blindness return. However, enabling the shite to gain “a vision of the overall plot of the play remains the eternity in the here and now” same. (Sorgenfrei 96). This play, lacking the societal Kana Ranju cites a critic named markers present in the aforementioned Izeki Yoshihisa coming to similar two zatōmono and depicting a conclusions in regard to preserving the religious experience after a pilgrimage, karmic bond of marriage; he proposes is primarily discussed utilizing a that this play features a primary theme Buddhist hermeneutic in critical of the human way of life, which discourse. Unusually tragic in its progresses along the road to ruin ending for a Kyōgen play, the point at without hesitation, with the absolute which the revelation of Jizō is proven element (i.e. Jizō) being unable to true and the shite struck blind again is prevent it (80). However, Kana described by Jacqueline Golay as disagrees with this interpretation, having “the effect of an anti-climax” stating that Kawakami zatō’s comedy and “profoundly disturbing” (147). in humorously portraying a wawashii She reads the deity in this play as onna, her pressured husband, and their capricious and arbitrary, and the marital relationship is, in fact, aimed at renewed loss of the man’s eyesight as making people laugh, and that the man “sadistic punishment,” which is vs. god conflict would be an usually reserved for specific exceedingly modern primary theme to transgressions of the ethical code, not be included in this piece (80). Kana the disregard of an unreasonable mentions that Jizō was not bargain (148). Golay considers Jizō’s fundamentally regarded as a deity to deeds in this play as perhaps being be feared, adding that, in Kyōgen,

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gods often exhibit the same Though profoundly problematic in weaknesses as human beings, and are the exploitation of disability for thereby given corporeal existence, as comedic purposes or religious is evidenced by the wife’s verbal commentary when viewed from a abuse of the deity in this play (80-1). modern point of view, these three Ultimately, she proposes that, rather plays do not seem to overtly seek to than being immeasurably tragic, the denigrate blindness per se; rather, miraculous cure and renewed sightlessness is an adjunctive property blindness of the shite amount to which factors into the humorous nothing more than a momentary element inherent in the play, if such an “happening,” and that the couple will element exists (in Kawakami zatō, it likely return to the Kawakami Jizō to seems arguably absent). The most pray for other favors, as the populace problematic depiction of a blind lived in the peace of mind that person is probably given in the NKZ ultimately, everyone could be saved version of Tsukimi zatō, in which the (81). zatō is victimized as a sightless man Kana’s assertion that casting a and a human being, first by the Bodhisattva known for his mercy as initially friendly uptown dweller and part of a man v. god conflict is unusual then by the vicious dogs. Considering agrees with Golay’s interpretation, as the humbleness the blind shite displays well as Sorgenfrei’s reading of Jizō’s immediately after learning of his lack of a malevolent motive. However, impromptu companion’s higher status, her reading of the couple’s argument puncturing an inflated ego as in the as humorous, even if viewed in a case of Chakagi zatō cannot be the premodern context, may be overly driving force behind this excessive strong, although the wawashii onna cruelty, either. This play may show an role is often employed for this purpose animosity of the unknown creator in Kyōgen. Perhaps Golay’s ultimate towards the Tōdō-za as an conclusion regarding Kawakami zatō, organization by way of depicting the i.e. that this play may depict “a repeated humbling of a comparatively deliberately distorted allusion to the high-ranking member, although further Buddhist ideal of detachment from corroborating evidence would be worldly affections,” comes closest to needed to make a firm assertion in this Ōkura Toraakira’s proposed notion regard. Ultimately, it is challenging to that “Kyōgen is backward.” In this provide a thorough exegesis of the case, the blindness factor, though differences between the two versions obviously factoring into the plot, is of Tsukimi zatō without comparing once again adjunctive in nature, in that them in performance. Being able to it merely provides a beginning witness the manner of delivery at the condition as a background for the key point of the play, namely the religious motif. As Golay puts it, “it is sighted man’s decision to torment the not as a blind man but as a human that blind man, would facilitate any the zatō is being victimized” (149). interpretive attempts significantly. However, according to Golay, the

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version taken from the Sagi ban’ō is beings in a humorous way (99-100). no longer performed (144); therefore, Likewise, Jacqueline Golay points out, it may not be possible to offer a “There is no more reason to believe comparative interpretation based on that the blind were commonly the performative aspects. object of mockery than to believe all Chakagi zatō, meanwhile, seems servants were crafty and insolent, all concerned with attacking pomposity country lords ignorant and stupid,” and rather than blindness, although the that the societal observations in chaotic ending in which the Myōon-kō kyōgen are not of an external, but of a members eventually give their leader a psychological nature (148-9). She adds, thorough beating would appear shocking to modern audiences. This Kyōgen took shape during a play, which is listed as an out-of- unique epoch of Japanese repertoire play in the sources of the history when an exceptional Izumi and Sagi schools, is described sense of freedom allowed those by Morley as “rarely performed,” of humble station to manifest particularly since a modern audience their moods and criticize the would lack the contextual framework, established order. It was a time i.e., “the intricate social interactions of when the humble could hope to the biwa hōshi among themselves” be elevated, when the guilds (53). For that reason, providing a had real political and economic performative analysis of this piece is power, when the traditional likewise difficult. rigidity of society could be Kawakami-zatō, finally, even if its challenged. Kyōgen reflects intended message ultimately remains these moods and was certainly unclear, deals with a dual conflict used as a vehicle of social between man and wife, as well as protest. But one can query how spiritual salvation and worldly deliberately and forcefully it attachment; the blindness is an adjunct was used in this way, for it in that it could be replaced with any should certainly not be number of factors to provoke the same regarded as politically dichotomies, although its connection conscious or didactic. (149) with bad karma in the popular belief system of the time renders it a logical However, while hardly didactic in inclusion in this context. nature, the observations above would Kitagawa Tadahiko states that indicate a certain amount of societal zatōmono do not simply make fun of and religious consciousness inherent in the blind and the disabled, but that, the analyzed plays; after all, if such a through these characters, it becomes consciousness did not exist, it would possible to see the prejudices and not have been necessary to establish inferiority complexes every human the social standing, personal history, being has, as not just this category of or religious inclinations of the blind plays, but all Kyōgen pieces, aim at characters prior to progressing to the showing the weak points of all human farcical elements, indicating that,

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without an incorporated protest against Kenkyū/ Ōsaka Daigaku Gengo established norms and ranks by way of Bunka Kagengo Shakai Senkō attempting to turn them on their ear, Kaigai Renkei Tokubetsu Kōsu the intended comedy and/or pathos of Hen 13 (2003): 75-85. Print. a given piece likewise evaporates. “Kawakami Zatō.” Kyōgenshū (chū). Kyōgen, as an art depicting reality in a Comp. Furukawa Hisashi. 1954 ed. deliberately distorted manner for Nihon Koten Zensho. Vol. 35. primarily comical purposes, obviously Tokyo: Asahi Shinbun Sha, 1954. does not shy away from using visual 96-104. Print. disability for its own ends, but its Kenny, Don. The Kyogen Book: An exploitation for humorous or cruel- Anthology of Japanese Classical seeming dramatic plays generally Comedies. Tokyo, Japan: Japan appears to occur in an overarching Times, 1989. Print. societal or religious framework. In the Kitagawa Tadahiko. “Kyōgen no end, without understanding this seikaku.” Kyōgen: Okashi no keifu. framework, appreciating zatōmono as Nihon no koten geinō. Vol. 4. more than mere lowbrow comedies Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1970. 77-124. which callously make fun of the Print. disabled must remain impossible. Kitagawa Tadahiko. “Waranbegusa.” Chūsei No Engeki. Ed. Suwa Works Cited Haruo and Sugai Yukio. Tokyo: Benseisha, 1998. 298-303. Print. Cavaye, Ronald, Paul Griffith, and Kobayashi Seki, Nishi Tetsuo, and Akihiko Senda. A Guide to the Hata Hisashi. Nōgaku Daijiten. Japanese Stage: From Traditional Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō, 2012. to Cutting Edge. Tokyo: Kodansha Print. International, 2004. Print. Morley, Carolyn A. “Chakagi Zatō “Chakagi Zatō.” Kyōgenshū (chū). (The Tea-Sniffing Blind Men).” Comp. Furukawa Hisashi. 1954 ed. Asian Theater Journal 24.1 (2007): Nihon Koten Zensho. Vol. 35. 50-60. JSTOR. Web. 01 Apr. 2014. Tokyo: Asahi Shinbun Sha, 1954. Ortolani, Benito. The Japanese 282-92. Print. Theatre: From Shamanistic Ritual Golay, Jacqueline. “Pathos and Farce: to Contemporary Pluralism. Zatō Plays of the Kyōgen Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1995. Repertoire.” Monumenta Print. Nipponica 28.2 (1973): 139-49. Serper, Zvika. “Japanese Noh and JSTOR. Web. 01 Apr. 2014. Kyōgen Plays: Staging Dichotomy.” Groemer, Gerald. “The Guild of the Comparative Drama 39.3/4 (2005- Blind in Tokugawa Japan.” 6): 307-60. JSTOR. Web. 01 Apr. Monumenta Nipponica 56.3 (2001): 2014. 349-80. JSTOR. Web. 01 Apr. Sorgenfrei, Carol Fisher. “Broken 2014. Bodies: Comic Deformity in the Kana Ranju. “Zatō kyōgen no warai to Plays of Samuel Beckett, Kyōgen, bukkyō.” Nihongo - Nihon Bunka and Contemporary Japanese

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Theater.” Theatre Intercontinental: Forms, Functions, Correspondences. Ed. C. C. Barfoot and Cobi Bordewijk. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1993. 83-100. Print. Taguchi Kazuo. “Tsukimi Zatō.” Chūsei No Engeki. Ed. Suwa Haruo and Sugai Yukio. Tokyo: Benseisha, 1998. 331-33. Print. “Tsukimi Zatō.” Kyōgenshū. Comps. Kitagawa Tadahiko and Yasuda Akira. Nihon Koten Bungaku Zenshū. Vol. 35. Tokyo: Shōgakkan, 1973. 472-82. Print. “Tsukimi Zatō.” Kyōgenshū (chū). Comp. Furukawa Hisashi. 1954 ed. Nihon Koten Zensho. Vol. 35. Tokyo: Asahi Shinbun Sha, 1954. 293-98. Print.

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