Series | Ca’ Foscari Japanese Studies
Edited book | Images from the Past: Intertextuality in Japanese Premodern Literature
Chapter | The Dynamics of Nyonin jōbutsu in Zenchiku’s Yōkihi
The Dynamics of Nyonin jōbutsu in Zenchiku’s Yōkihi
Honzetsu, Poetic Allusion, and Sacred Space
Abstract
Medieval nō theatre is built upon honzetsu (source texts), which are drawn from the premodern Japanese canon and critical for dramaturgical structure and meaning. This study focuses on Zenchiku’s Yōkihi, a female-spirit play with an initial honzetsu of Chinese Tang the poem Changhenge that is further filtered through additional texts, primarily Heian-period narrative Genji monogatari. Therefore, examination of Yōkihi involves consideration of all relevant honzetsu cited within the play, their earlier Heian receptions, and subsequent medieval textual lives. The dramaturgical structure and language of Yōkihi, with its variations from these honzetsu, emphasise thematic concerns of existential isolation, karmic clinging, and sacred space as critical to feminine ontological and enlightenment status.
Submitted: Dec. 13, 2021 | Accepted: March 21, 2022 | Published Aug. 30, 2022 | Language: en
Keywords Premodern Japanese literature • Religion • Gender dynamics • Nō theatre • Female enlightenment
Copyright © 2022 Matthew Chudnow. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-608-4/006
