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Kurama-tengu: photostory
Noh Noh plays Works about tengu
is a Noh
is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...
play from the fifteenth century, concerned with the childhood experiences of the samurai hero Minamoto no Yoshitsune
was a military commander of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian and early Kamakura periods. During the Genpei War, he led a series of battles which toppled the Ise-Heishi branch of the Taira clan, helping his half-brother Yoritomo conso ...
.
Plot
The play begins with a cherry blossom viewing expedition involving monks and children from Kurama temple. On being joined by a roughYamabushi
are Japanese mountain ascetic hermits. They are generally part of the syncretic religion, which includes Tantric Buddhist, Shinto, and Japanese Taoist elements.
Their origins can be traced back to the solitary Yama-bito and some (saints or h ...
- an ascetic mountain priest - the party leaves in protest, with the exception of one child, who reveals himself as the young Yoshitsune, isolated at the temple both as an orphaned son and as the only child from the (eclipsed) Genji clan
was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during the ...
. The stranger reveals himself in turn as the head Tengu
are a type of legendary creature found in Japanese folk religion (Shinto). They are considered a type of '' yōkai'' (supernatural beings) or Shinto ''kami'' (gods). The ''Tengu'' were originally thought to take the forms of birds of prey and ...
, or long-nosed goblin; and he proceeds to instruct the young hero in the martial arts, with a view to him avenging his slaughtered father's death.
Characteristics
*The play is notable for the large cast of child actors, and for the range of actions - chanting; acting; swordplay - which they undertake. *Critics have seen elements of homoeroticism in the relationship between the (phallicized) Yamabushi and the child actors.Influence
* Gekkei painted 'Young Bull and the Goblins', based on the play, and including an associated haiku byKikaku
Takarai Kikaku ( ja, 宝井其角; 1661–1707) also known as Enomoto Kikaku, was a Japanese haikai poet and among the most accomplished disciples of Matsuo Bashō.Katō, Shūichi and Sanderson, Don. ''A History of Japanese Literature: From the ...
:
"First cherry blossoms -
Let me show you a letter
That the goblins wrote".L Zolbrod, ''Haiku Painting'' (Tokyo 1982) p. 26-7
See also
*Eboshi-ori
is a Noh play of the 16th century by .
The play falls into the category of genzai-mono, or present time plays, where the action takes place consecutively, without the (more usual) retrospective flashback.
Historical setting
The play takes plac ...
*Sōjōbō
In Japanese folklore and mythology, is the mythical king and god of the ''tengu'', legendary creatures thought to inhabit the mountains and forests of Japan. Sōjōbō is a specific type of ''tengu'' called ''daitengu'' and has the appearance o ...
*Zeami Motokiyo
(c. 1363 – c. 1443), also called , was a Japanese Aesthetics, aesthetician, actor, and playwright.
His father, Kan'ami, Kan'ami Kiyotsugu, introduced him to Noh theater performance at a young age, and found that he was a skilled actor. Kan ...
References
{{Reflist, 2External links
Kurama-tengu: photostory
Noh Noh plays Works about tengu