Session 19: Northern Hills culture, Nō drama I

Topics

❖ Northern Hills culture, late 14th c. thru first half of 15th c. (Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Golden Pavilion)
❖ Nō drama: Introductory comments, Atsumori (the warrior from Heike), Aoi no Ue (Genji's wife Aoi, although this is about Rokujō's state of mind)

Thoughts—read before class, revisit for tests

There are two "subareas" of the Muromachi period that we focus on in this class. Both are cultural centers of activity that are sponsored by the shogun (military leaders) and which center around retreats (estates) that shogun build. Both made major contributions to culture in ways still honored today. One of these estates is in the hills north of Kyoto and the culture refined there is called, therefore, Northern Hills culture. The other estate, which we will look at after this, is in the eastern hills. Northern Hills culture is most famous for Nō drama; Eastern Hills culture sets the stage for cha no yu (the Japanese tea ceremony). You might notice that both are included on the gray sidebar.

Yūgen is an important, and difficult, aesthetic concept.

Nō drama is an exceptionally beautiful art form. It is better as live theater, but see how much of it you can capture.

Required—to be completed for today's session

✓ Review the chart giving the layout of Japan's middle periods: Middle Periods (Japan)
✓ Look over the chart giving the layout of the Northern and Eastern Hills Periods (bSpace, PDF)
✓ Read in full the Nō play Noh Aoi no Ue and be ready to say what this is primarily about, in simple terms. [bSpace, PDF]
✓ Read in full the Nō play Noh Atsumori and be ready to say in class how this differs from the version in The Tale of Heike [bSpace, PDF]
✓ Familiarize yourself, if time, with the PDF Noh Jo-ha-kyū (序破急) and review it at test time. [bSpace, PDF]

Multimedia notes

❖ None.

Links

⇢ Micro-expressions: Facial Expressions Test (http://www.cio.com/article/facial-expressions-test) and about facial expressions studies New Yorker "The Naked Face" (http://www.gladwell.com/2002/2002_08_05_a_face.htm)

⇢ YouTubes shown on Nō drama and kyōgen: UNESCO introductory video, Nôgaku Theatre (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBl6FGVuFQo) and Aoi no Ue, Kashu-Juku Noh Theater (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o--VbWf6M0c)

Other

Terms and such mentioned this day that are not otherwise in an obvious place on the web site, the powerpoints, the assigned reading, etc. (to help with capturing items mentioned, perhaps quickly, in class, not for test purposes)

Although most of these terms appear someone on this page, here together are some of them again:

• Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji, 金閣寺)—structure in Kyoto related to Northern Hills culture that is the topic of the Mishima Yukio novel Temple of the Golden Pavilion
• Two important figures in Nō: 3rd shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (足利 義満, 1358-1408) and cultural consultant / companion (dōbōshū, 同朋衆) Zeami (世阿弥, c. 1364-1443) who became, then, a famous Nō drama playright, essayist, innovator and Nō theory thinker.
• Okina ("Old Man" 翁) mask
• Michiyuki ("journey" 道行き)—the walkway off the Nō and kabuki stages, or the portion of the play where actors use that, etc.
• Names of principle actors in plays: shite, waki, tsure (principal character, secondary actor, companion)