SONG, DANCE, STORY'l'EI,IJNG Aspects theof PerformingArts Japan in SONG, DANCE, STORY'l'Eldl,ING Aspects theof Performing ArtsJapan in Frank Hoff EastAsia Program Cornell University Ithaca, NewYork 1485 3 TheCornell East Asia Series ispublished by the Cornell University East Asia Program (distinct fromCornell University Press). We publish affordablypriced books on a variety of scholarly topics relating to East Asia as a service to the academic community and the general public. Standing orders, which provide for automatic notificationand invoicing of each titlein the series upon publication, are accepted. Ifafterreview by internaland external readersa manuscript isaccepted for publication, it ispublished on the basis of camera-ready copy provided by the volume author. Each author isthus responsible for any necessarycopy-editing and for manuscript fo1·111atting. Address submissioninquiries to CEAS Editorial Board, East Asia Program, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-7601. Number 15 in the CornellEast Asia Series Online edition copyright© 2007, print edition copyright© 1978 Frank Hoff. All rights reserved ISSN 1050-2955 (formerly 8756-5293) ISBN-13 978-0-939657-15-5 / ISBN-10 0-939657-15-5 CAUTION: Except for brief quotations in a review, no part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any for1n without per1nission in writing fromthe author. Please address inquiries to Frank Hoffin care of the East Asia Program, CornellUniversity, 140 Uris Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853-7601 FOREWORD The two collections of songs translated here were popular during the transitional era between Japan's Middle Ages and its Early Modern Period. The Kanginshu (1S18) and songs from the repertory of Women's Kabuki {whose text, the Odori collection, belongs to the Xan'ei period (1623-1643]), stand at either end of this period of one hundred and twenty years or so which ushered in important changes in the per­ forming arts of Japan as well as in other aspects of its culture. Though the majority were sung on private occasions, the Kanginshu also includes songs from the performing arts of the Middle Ages (no, dengaku, and kyogen) as well as from lesser-known performance types. The thirty-one sequences of song used as an acc�mpaniment to dance in the repertory of early kabuki indicate the direction in which performance was destined to develop in the following period. Dance where gesture and movement fill out or comment upon song became a mainstay of kabuki. On the other hand, dance set into a plot context, such as we often have in no, has a remote antecedent in storytelling to which movement is added at significant highpoints, a device which has the effect of transforming the experience of auditors into that of spectators. The essay on kagura includes a discussion V of the hypothesis that storytelling in this ritual context was to become a staged art when filled out with dance, cos­ tume, and masking. Song, dance, and storytelling. If we think of it in this way, then, in addition to presenting a discussion of one of Japan's most central religious rites and an illustra­ tion of song in transition from the Middle Ages into the Early Modern period, this volume elucidates through examples something unique to the basic nature of performance in Japan. I would like to express my appreciation for the assistance of Yamaji Kozo, who read over with me and ex­ plained much about song in the Odori collection. His knowl­ edge of the dances to which these songs were performed was indispensible since there is no published commentary for this collection. In my notes I recognize my indebtedness to Asano Kenji and other Japanese scholars for their work on the Kanginshu. I would also like to thank Stephen Bett of Simon Fraser University for having made valuable suggestions for improvements in the English translation. Note to 2nd printing. An article of mine, ''City and Country: Song and the Perfor1ning Arts in Sixteenth Century Japan,'' included in Warlords, Artists, and Commoners: Japan in the Sixteenth Century, edited by George Elison and Bradwell L. Smith, 1980, The University Press of Hawaii, contains a discussion of of interrelationships among song types translated in this volume and other songs of the same period. vi SONG, DANCE, STORYTELLING Aspects of the Performing Arts in Japan FOREWORD..... • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Private Music. A Collection of Early Sixteenth- Century Song (The Kanginshu) .. • • • • • • • • • • 1 Chinese Preface Japanese Preface The Songs: Spring ' Summer , ' Autumn Winter Love Songs for Dance. Thirty-one Songs from the Repertory of Women's Kabuki (the Odori text) ..•••.. • • 73 1. Willow Dance 17.Love Visit 2.All About Letters 18.Fushimi 3. Riddle Dance 19.Genji 4. Ball Dance 20.Firewood from Ohara S.Desiring 21.Supplication 6.Fuller's Block 22.The Star 7.Ranb oshi 23. Love Sticks 8.Yaya to 24.Everything 9.Akogi 25.Salt Water 10. Love and Love Again 26.Deshima 11. Snow 27.Four Seasons 12.A Change of Heart 28. Iris 13.One-sided Love 29.Fan Dance 14.Moonlight 30.Down to the Country 15.Pontoon Bridge 31.Plovers on the Beach 16.Imperial Palace Introduction to the Kanginshu and Odori ......... 107 1.The Kanginshu, a collection of song 2.Singing of kouta on the stage and in everyday life 3.Kouta, a song type 4.Song for dance in early Kabuki Shinto and the Performing Arts.....e ..e. • • • • 139 I. Kagura as an Occasion for Performance 141 Introduction Honda's classification Types of kagura Invocation of kami Kagura: a ritual of revitalization and a framework for the performing arts II. Structures of Dances and No Performed in Kagura 165 Principles of variety and growth in kagura repertories Dance in kagura Saimon: story as prayer The performance of saimon with dance Structure of no in kagura Kami recites an oracle in his own person A spirit recites a secular tale through a medium A dancer dances to song An introductory narrative followed by the epiphany of kami Conclusion Notes to 'Introduction to the Kanginshu and Odori'. • . 208 'Shinto and the Performing Arts' PRIVATE MUSIC A Collection of Early Sixteenth Century Song (The Kanginshii) 'To Musicke bent is my retyred minde, And faine wo·uld I some song of pleasure sing' Thomas Campion Chinese Preface Now to speak of the practice of song, one must go back to the very beginning, a time when all things under heaven were first evolving out of a still chaotic universe. The various gracious emperors have made careful use of song as an instrument of rule, and the tradition associated with song used in this way is quite old, as we see when we seek precedents in Ancient China. The reason the emperors of the earliest period sought the harmony of the five voices was to gain a tranquil mastery over the hearts of their subjects through music that their government might become an ideal one. In other words, through harmonizing the five voices, the six rhythms, the seven sounds, and the eight winds, these princes achieved the marvels of music. And through the harmonious cooperation of both the voiced and unvoiced, the long and the short sounds of words, and the short, long, slow, and swift measures of music they were able to realize the beauties of effective rule. The civilized man hears music, regulates his life with its quiet measures, and becomes a perfect paradigm of the virtues. Consequently, in the Book of Songs it says: "If one can gain a cultivation of the feelings through music, then one's reputation for righteousness and virtue will be long-lived." -3- -4- As for the individual himself, when because of an ex­ cess of feeling he can no longer express himself fully in the voice of nor11aal emotive expression, he has resort to song, prolonging the sounds of his voice. When even this expedient is insufficient, he moves his arms, unconsciously and without realizing that he is doing so, stamps his feet, and through the movement of the entire body gives total articulation to his feelings. The reason that music under an administration which is in effective control soothes and quiets the heart, as well as gives it pleasure, is that such an administration is in close harmony with the people's will. And the reason why the sounds of envy and of anger are to be heard in the music of chaotic times is that such government violates righteousness, while the hearts of its people run in an unrighteous pathway. That is why poetry is the most fitting way to amend the morals of both the individual and his government and to move to righteousness even the devils who, though invisible, inhabit the world. Poetry, the word itself declares, is a means of expressing pure feelings. In time poetry changes to become song which is widely sung. In the earliest period what was central was religious music used to worship the souls of the ancestors of the emperors and provincial music performed in villages. Song in the period of Yao was sung when wells were dug for drink and fields plowed for food. Song about the river Yi in the -5- Ch'in and song about the great wind in the Han are examples of song possible because of prayer to the gods before a· grand enterprise. Chieh-yil's song about the phoenix; Ning­ ch'i tapping in time upon the cow's horns; the king of Ch'u and the story of the fruit of the water plant; the king of Ch'en and his song about Hou t'ing hua--none of these but is now widely sung among the people. As it says in the I'ching: ''They sing while beating on the jug as on a drum.'' How can song, then, not be the pinnacle of the Way of Virtue.