![Matsuyama tengu](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Matsuyama_tengu.jpg)
''Matsuyama tengu'' (松山天狗 ''Goblins of Matsuyama'') 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 revolving around the ex-emperor
Sutoku and his ghostly encounter with the poet
Saigyō
was a famous Japanese poet of the late Heian and early Kamakura period.
Biography
Born in Kyoto to a noble family, he lived during the traumatic transition of power between the old court nobles and the new samurai warriors. After the start of ...
.
Historical background
The failure of the attempt by
retired emperor
Retired Emperor, Grand Emperor, or Emperor Emeritus is a title occasionally used by the monarchical regimes in the Sinosphere for former emperors who had (at least in name) abdicated voluntarily to another member of the same clan, usually their s ...
Sutoku to seize power in the
Hōgen rebellion
In Japanese, Hōgen may refer to several words. Among them:
* Hōgen (era) (保元, 1156–1159), an era in Japan
* Hōgen rebellion, a short civil war in 1156
* dialect (方言) — for example: "eigo no hōgen" (English dialect)
See also
* ...
led to his exile in
Shikoku
is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...
. His former associate Saigyō was shocked by the events: "A great calamity shook society, and things in the life of Retired Emperor Sutoku underwent inconceivable change". Saigyō thereafter kept in touch with his former emperor, and after his death made a pilgrimage to his place of exile,
Matsuyama
270px, Matsuyama City Hall
270px, Ehime Prefectural Capital Building
is the capital city of Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku in Japan and also Shikoku's largest city. , the city had an estimated population of 505,948 in 243541 househo ...
. There he wrote the
tanka
is a genre of classical Japanese poetry and one of the major genres of Japanese literature.
Etymology
Originally, in the time of the '' Man'yōshū'' (latter half of the eighth century AD), the term ''tanka'' was used to distinguish "short p ...
:
"Let it be, my lord./ Surely this is nothing/ like the jewel-floored/ palaces of your past, but can/ anything alter what’s occurred?".
Theme
Saigyō's poem played a key role in the Noh play ‘Goblins of Matsuyama'. There, however, it formed part of the encounter between Saigyō and (the spirit of) Sutoku, figured in goblin form, and as a demonic influence.
The tension between the non-attachment offered by the poet/monk’s poem, and the urge for revenge on the part of the ‘goblin’ emperor, formed the heart of the play.
Influence
*Pictures of the goblin encounter became a popular Japanese theme, often drawn directly from the play.
*Shiramini by
Ueda Akinari
Ueda Akinari or Ueda Shūsei (, July 25, 1734 in Osaka – August 8, 1809 in Kyoto) was a Japanese author, scholar and '' waka'' poet, and a prominent literary figure in 18th-century Japan. He was an early writer in the '' yomihon'' genre an ...
, in his
Ugetsu Monogatari
is a collection of nine supernatural tales first published in 1776. It is the best known work of Japanese author Ueda Akinari.
Largely adapted from traditional Japanese and Chinese ghost stories, the collection is among the most important work ...
, developed the revenge theme of the play, with Sutoku, now king of the goblins, prophesying doom for the whole
Taira clan
The Taira was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian, Kamakura and Muromachi Periods of Japanese history – the others being the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, and the Minamoto. The clan is divi ...
.
[J Stockdale, ''Imagining Exile in Heian Japan'' (2015) p. 117-8]
See also
*''
Hōgen Monogatari''
*
Onryō
In Japanese traditional beliefs and literature, are a type of ghost () believed to be capable of causing harm in the world of the living, injuring or killing enemies, or even causing natural disasters to exact vengeance to "redress" the wron ...
*
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 ...
References
External links
Tengu in noh plays
Noh plays
{{Japan-lit-stub