Haku Rakuten (白楽天) is a Noh play in the first category by Zeami Motokiyo, about the Japanese god of poetry repelling the Chinese poet Bai Juyi (or Po Chü-i) from Japan 500 years earlier, in defiance of the (perceived) challenge from China to the autonomy of Japanese poetry.[2][3]
Historical background
editWhile Bai did not in fact ever travel to Japan, his influence there was enormous in the 9th century: the work of the leading Japanese poet, Sugawara no Michizane, was so under Bai's spell as to be described by Arthur Waley as "an unparalleled example of literary prostration".[4]
A similar challenge to indigenous arts from the prestige of Chinese culture had emerged in the 14th century, something that fuelled the strong element of cultural resistance to be found in Zeami's play.[5]
Plot
editThe poet Bai is sent by the emperor of China to test the Japanese, and meets two fishermen on his arrival. The elder of the fishermen explains to him the nature of Japanese poetry, Yamato Uta, suggesting that it is something shared both by men and by the birds, insects, and frogs of the land.[6]
Gradually the fisherman is revealed to be Sumiyoshi no Kami, the Japanese god of poetry himself. He launches into a series of dances that summon a divine wind, blowing a defeated Bai back to China.[7]
Borrowings and reception
editThe opening Jo section sees the waki (Haku Rakuten) and waki-tsure sing of the lands of the rising sun and of the setting sun, seemingly a reference to Shōtoku Taishi's famous letter sent by Empress Suiko to Emperor Yang of Sui.[3] In the ensuing Ha section, the shite (an old fisherman) acknowledges the status of Chinese poetic shi and fu, together with that of the Buddhist scriptures from India, but suggests that rather than servile imitation the Japanese poetic tradition "blends", develops, and transcends its inheritance; his proposition, as above, that the birds and the beasts share in the creation of Japanese poetry and song, draws on Ki no Tsurayuki's preface to the Kokinshū.[3]
In turn, the noh play has inspired works including folding screens by Ogata Kōrin,[8][9][10] and woodblock prints by Suzuki Harunobu[1] and Kōgyo Tsukioka.[11][12]
See also
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Related images
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Haku Rakuten byōbu by Ogata Kōrin (Nezu Museum) -
Haku Rakuten byōbu by Ogata Kōrin (private collection) -
Scene from Haku Rakuten, from the series Pictures of Noh Plays by Kōgyo Tsukioka -
Sumiyoshi Myōjin dances before Haku Rakuten and his two attendants, from Nōga taikan by Kōgyo Tsukioka
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References
edit- ^ a b "Parody of the Noh Play 'Hakurakuten'". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ A Waley, The Noh Plays of Japan (1976) p. 185
- ^ a b c Sesar, Carl (1975). "China vs. Japan: the Noh Play Haku Rakuten". In Crump, J.I.; Malm, William P. (eds.). Chinese and Japanese Music-Dramas. University of Michigan Press. pp. 143–188. doi:10.3998/mpub.19223. ISBN 9780892640195. JSTOR 10.3998/mpub.19223.
- ^ A Waley, The Noh Plays of Japan (1976) p. 185
- ^ B Curran, Theatre Translation Theory and Practice in Contemporary Japan (2014) p. 116
- ^ A Waley, The Noh Plays of Japan (1976) p. 190
- ^ K. L. Thornber, Empire of Texts in Motion (2020) p 440
- ^ "Haku Rakuten". Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ KORIN展 [Kōrin Exhibition] (in Japanese). Nezu Museum. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ 「白楽天図屛風」 尾形光琳 奇想天外、その主役は [Haku Rakuten byōbu, by Ogata Kōrin]. Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). 22 May 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
- ^ "Hakurakuten, from the series Illustrations of Noh Plays, Part I, Section I". Honolulu Museum of Art. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ "Haku Rakuten 白楽天". University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved 24 August 2021.