vocab Flashcards
no or noh
Japanese drama play, bare sets. extravegant gestures and music compensate for lack of set
jo-ha-kyū (preparation-development-fast finale)
nō theater characteristic (preparation-development-fast finale), all actions or efforts should begin slowly, speed up, and then end swiftly (Japanese music)
yūgen
an aesthetic term used specifically in relation to Nō to mean the profound beauty of the transcendental world, including mournful beauty involved in sadness and loss.
hana (flower)
Zeami’s (original practitioner of Japanese Noh theatre) metaphorical way of expressing the effect and power of the actor on stage, saw the flower as a sophisticated and complicated thing
waki
supporting actor; actor serves to support the main actor, and thus performs the roles of waki and waki-tsure. Depending upon the play, they might be Shinto priests, Buddhist monks, or samurai, but they are always roles portraying real, living men. The waki does not wear a mask.
wakizure
waki companion
shite
One of the main characters in the No theatre who is challenged by the Waki character. This character may be gods, ghosts, women, animals, or warriors.
shidai
used during the entrance of various characters
nanori
Waki gives background information on himself and where they are. Shite does the same in an emotional way, inaugurates shift from disguise to true persona. self naming bascially
michiyuki
long passage of imagry to evoke a long journy
mondo
rapid fire question and answer between Zen master and his student
mai
climactic dance with much deeper meaning in Noh play
dream play
entire noh play made up of dream or ilusion
reality play
stories that deal with real life actions or realities
woven brocade bridgeway
bridge in play, metaphoric for connecting the spiritual world and the temporal world (main stage)
Vantage from Vision Apart
refers to the performer’s ability to separate themselves from their own body and performance and evaluate their technique objectively; to see with the same mind that the audience does, by achieving a vantage on your own attitude you can clearly see yourself, what’s to your right/left, and behind, attaining a view on yourself you cannot see
haiku
Japanese form of poetry. consists of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables - traditionally evoking images of the natural world
Jumping Sound Deity
awarded name for Matsu Basho for his famous haiku about the frog jumping into the pond.
haiga
typically painted by haiku poets (haijin), and often accompanied by a haiku poem, based on simple yet profound observations of the everyday world
high low
classical and colloquial. sounds like someone is speaking
diction books of the floating world
describes the urban lifestyle, especially the pleasure-seeking aspects, of Edo-period Japan;
puppet theatre
appeals to urban masses
real life pieces, domestic plays
type of puppet play- Love suicide plays
- Psychological portrayals
- Conflicts between duty (giri) and feelings (ninjō)
period pieces, historical plays (jidaimono)
type of puppet play with historical subjects and characters
love suicide play
suicide play in which two people (typically lovers) commit suicide… Takubei and his wife in The Love Suicides
giri
social duty and obligation to others
———–typicall in puppet plays and Monzaemon plays
ninjō
human feelings
tayu
highest ranking courtesan, could refuse men if they wanted, classy
kabuki
gorgeous costuming
stylized acting
spectacular effects… showed samurai characteristics but also allowed for countervailing feelings
quick-change (hayagawari)
quick change.. actors revealed themselves and took off their masks.
omoiire
expressive acting and gesture in Kabuki theatre
flower path (hanamichi)
wooden plank used in Kabuki theatre
kabukimono
lean or tilt, refers to how the kabuki mono would carry themselves, they flaunted the authorities of the early Edo period.
preformed uniquely by men
samisen
stringed instrument made out of cat gut
Pleasure Quarters
red light district in Edo period
nativist learning (kokugaku)
Japanese learning
-tale of Genji
Chinese learning (kangaku)
elite samurai class had extraordinary respect for chinese learning
mono no aware
awareness of impermanence
-seen in parodies of edo period and in Kitchen
policy of seclusion
foreign relations policy allowing no outside visitors in or no japanese people leaving under the penalty of death
rational principle
exemplified the duties to one’s parents and loyalty to master, demanded for literature to be didactic or dismissed
Way of sexual connorsuiership
guide to the pleasure quarters
love of women
Pleasure Quarters.
The belief romance was found to be outside marriage, and actually with prostitutes
love of young boys
Recognized boys as the symbol of youth and beauty and sought the ideal of maleness within them
Sensei and narrator of kokoro
4 bushidō seppuku
bushido describes the way of samurai and honor
harakiri belly mortification
the act of committing suicide by using a sword to slice alongside the abdomen horizontally, then removing internal organs, and waiting to die
-was preceded by 3 poems and shots of saki
fan seppuku (ogi-bara)
someone else preforms the ritual suicide on the person being killed
Great Kantō Earthquake (1923)
massive earthquake that struck the Kanto region, destroying Tokyo. over 100,000 deaths
aesthetics (bigaku)
bigaku is Japanese aethetics, presence in japanese literature
sabi
appreaciation for the traditional and the worn, for instance and unkept house or chipped pottery
political conversion
Japanese term referring to the ideological reversal of numerous Japanese socialists who, between 1925 and 1945, renounced the left and (in many cases) embraced the “national community
Japanese Orient
what it meant to be japanese
- contrast between the east and the west
- not being a really positive term nowadays
- exoctizes the east
Decadent School
Post war writers. had a cynical view of traditional Japan
yōkan
praised for its ability to absorb light. In Praise of Shadows, he relates Yokan to western chocolate because it lacks light
alcove (tokonoma)
Japanese reception style room that was used for hanging art… little light typically a dark space. Westerners liked light.
Katsura Detached Palace (
Japans largest treasure. detached palace surrounded by gardens in Kyoto.
Tōshōgū Shrine
ango thought it was vulgar. ornate shrine for Tokugawa Ieyasu
Arashiyama
district outside Kyoto. Ango discusses Arashiyama theatre
Ryōanji
zen temple in Kyoto
Kosuke Prison
Prison Jun’ichiro said in the Praise of Shadows was the only building that every aspect served its purpose
Ex: the columns on the building weren’t built to be pretty but to hold the building together.
pure literature
high brow literature… had to follow certain rules or standards. emphasized artistic merit
mass literature
literature for everyone. pop culture references. generated money not artistic merit
Indras Net
metaphor used to illustrate emptiness, dependent origination, and interpenetration in Buddhist’s philosophy
