Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the process by which Kurumaya utaibon was published. It thus reveals how the libretti of noh were transformed through publishing processes, in the period when the primary materials of instructing noh chanting shifted from handwritten copies to printed texts.

Paper long abstract:

Noh has no playscript in a strict sense. A group of texts called "utaibon" resemble a playscript the most but they are a type of musical score for chanting practices without acting or dancing. Therefore, the texts of utaibon could be affected by the way "chanting" practice was enjoyed by amateurs, sometimes even breaking away from what was intended in the original manuscript.

In former noh studies, several efforts were made to clarify the historical transition of noh texts, by analyzing and comparing old manuscripts of utaibon. Few other studies associate these texts with their targeted users and how they were transmitted. This paper discusses the publishing process of utaibon, revealing how their texts were transformed through this new medium of print.

The main target of my analysis is Kurumaya utaibon set, a group of utaibon that Torikai Dōsetsu compiled, transcribed, added musical notations to, and then published in the early 17th century, when the primary materials of instructing and transmitting noh chanting shifted from hand-copied utaibon to published utaibon. Several meticulous studies of Kurumaya utaibon have demonstrated how Torikai collected the original texts for his copies. However, his publishing processes have not yet been fully studied. In my paper, while citing some noh texts as examples, I will demonstrate how Torikai edited his manuscripts for publication—the first-ever published utaibon.

Although it tends to be thought that utaibon was handled and controlled only by professional noh actors, in reality, amateurs—including Torikai—were deeply involved in collecting and transcribing them, even to the extent of affecting text transformation. Wood-block printing—the latest medium at that time—also played a significant role in determining noh texts. From this historical perspective, this study presents a new viewpoint to grasp the characteristics and text generation of utaibon.