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Paper short abstract:

Emperor Gensō is the heroic protagonist of the noh play Kōtei, although he is weak and incompetent in the Chinese source text. I argue that this play illustrates the complex negotiatoin process in the construction of “Chineseness” in the karamono-noh plays.

Paper long abstract:

In noh play categorization, karamono-noh refers broadly to the group of noh plays that feature Chinese characters and narratives, often based on historical and literary texts brought from China to Japan around the ninth century. A close study of these karamono-noh plays reveal how “Chinese” or “Chineseness” is perceived and re-created by the noh practitioners, both in terms of written texts and stage presentations. Based on Tang poet Pō Chū-I’s poem Chōkonka (Song of everlasting regrets), Kōtei is one of such karamono-noh with characters reimaged from Chōkonka and other sources. In this play by late Muromachi noh practitioner Kanze Nobumitsu, Emperor Gensō is the heroic protagonist who comes to the rescue of his beloved consort Yōkihi, even when eventually he needs the help of a sorcerer Shōki, his bravado is in sharp contrast to the incompetent leader who has indirectly caused the death of Yōkihi in Chōkonka. This paper examines the metamorphosis of the emperor from the source text to the stage; by comparing the image and narrative structure of the source texts and noh play, I postulate that the karamono-noh plays illustrate Muromachi Japanese audiences’ imagination of China as well as a complex negotiation of cultural transmission.