Shikitei Sanba (1776-1822) and Woodblock Print
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Reading fiction as performance: Shikitei Sanba (1776-1822) and woodblock print Barbara Jane Cross A thesis submitted to the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in candidacy for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2006 ProQuest Number: 10672981 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10672981 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Abstract Japanese popular commercial fiction developed in relation to the performing arts, borrowing elements from the oral tradition and theatre. It flourished using the woodblock printing medium. Edo period woodblock-printed books retained a manuscript-like quality, although could be produced in large numbers. Since the Meiji period, scholars have striven to put Edo fiction into “more accessible” movable-type editions, causing, I believe, modern misconceptions about pre modern methods of reading. Recent scholarship admits we have forgotten how fiction was read in Edo Japan. We are hindered by the modern practice of swift, silent reading. I combine a bibliographical and theoretical approach in response to these problems. Due to its ties with the theatre, I consider fiction as a type of performance, and suggest the key to understanding how fiction was enjoyed lies in close attention to the original woodblock-printed books. The fiction writer, Shikitei Sanba was the son of a woodblock-carver, and grew up in the publishing trade. He was also a particular theatre aficionado. This thesis uses his example to demonstrate how performance was represented in popular fiction. In Sanba’s fiction, the connection between woodblock and theatre emerges in two ways. My first chapter conducts a bibliographical study of (1) theatre-related works written by Sanba and works published by him in his capacity as a publisher. Following chapters explore how (2) the expressiveness of woodblock is used to represent elements of performance in Sanba’s fiction. The last chapter indicates how a work of fiction in its entirety reflects conventions of performance. Sanba particularly sought to convey the whole of a (imaginary) performance on the page, in a comprehensive set of cues for oral interpretation and re-enactment by the reader. Many genres of pre-modern Japanese popular fiction are shown to hold clues, of varying degree and subtlety, for recollecting and recreating performance. 2 Acknowledgments I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Drew Gerstle of SOAS for his guidance, and Professor Nakano Mitsutoshi of Fukuoka University for his instruction concerning Edo period books, and for allowing me access to his collection. I gratefully acknowledge the aid provided by a SOAS Research Grant and a Japan Foundation Fellowship, and extra assistance on fieldtrips from the Arts and Humanities Research Board and the Japan Foundation Endowment Committee. 3 Table of Contents A bstract............................................................................... 2 Acknowledgments ...................................................................................... 3 List of illustrations .........................................................................................................................6 Chapter 1 : Introduction Edo period literature and performance .............................................................................. 8 Misdemeanour's in methods of reading. Reason 1: historical ..........................................9 Western text and performance theories ......................................................................... 11 Japanese literacy debate .................................................................................................... 13 Printing in the Edo period ................................................................................................. 14 Misdemeanour's in methods of reading. Reason 2: bibliographical .............................. 15 My methods of research ................................................................................................... 16 Genres of gesaku fiction ................................................................................................... 17 Shikitei Sanba, 1776-1822 .............................................................................................. 19 Relevance of Sanba ...........................................................................................................20 Chapter summaries ........................................................................ 21 Chapter 2 : Sanba’s early theatre-related works and publishing activities I Sanba’s early career Biography to date ............................................................................................... 30 Sanba’s book collection .................................................................................................... 31 Sanba and theatre.......................................................................... 34 Circa 1800 Kabuki book boom and Sanba ..................................................................... 36 The relationship of gekisho and kydka ............................................................................42 II Sanba and publishing Yorozuya Tajiemon ...........................................................................................................45 Sanba and Horinoya Nihei ....................................................................... 53 Comparison of Sanba’s works with Yorozuya and Horinoya’s publications .............. 54 Sanba and publication of gekisho and kydka ..................................................................59 An hypothesis to explain turn of events of 1st month, Bunka 3 (1806) ....................... 62 Yorozuya Tasuke ..............................................................................................................64 Nishinomiya Tasuke ..........................................................................................................66 “Tsutaju of Yamashita-cho” / “Hachimonjiya of Edo” .............................. ;..................68 III Appendix of Yakusha sangai kyo ............................................................................. 71 Yakusha sangai kyo as memorial piece for Danjuro V I ........................................... 76 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 81 Chapter 3 : Representation of performance in fiction “Sanba’s path to gesaku” ..............................................................................................................83 I Memoria of gekisho ................................................................................................................... 84 Memoria in other genres ..................................................................................................88 Identifying performance ...................................................................................................90 The preface as prologue to the performance ................................................................... 91 II Role of illustration ......................................................................................................................94 Pictorial genre of kibydshi ......................... 95 Pictorial/narrative genre of gokan....................................................................................99 Sanba’s lack of illustration .............................................................................................101 Kanji as illustration .........................................................................................................103 4 Ill Transcriptional-type representation: Orthographic and calligraphic design in woodblock I Rakueo story-telling in comic fiction : Rendering mannerisms of speech ................. 105 Revelation of speed and timing in woodblock .............................................................. 107 Kanji glosses ....................................................................................................................109 Textual signifiers ............................................................................................................. 110 Hanashibon ......................................................................................................................115 Chapter 4 : Transcriptional-type representation I Orthographic and calligraphic design in woodblock II Kabuki theatre in comic fiction : Rendering of stage effects ......................................119 E-iri nehon ....................................................................................................................... 120 Sanba and Kamigata theatre ...........................................................................................124 Space and timing - subconscious to conscious? ...........................................................127 Sanba’s sharehon - origin of transcriptional-type