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168 GHOSTS, MONSTERS, AND DEITIES )3- +  TSURUYA NANBOKU IV Z A certain cynicism may be said to have prevailed in the popular psyche during the Bunka-Bunsei era (1804–1830) when the playwright Tsuruya Nanboku IV (1755–1829) flourished. True to the appellation of “the age of decadence,” crime and delinquency afflicted society. Theater came to highlight spectacle as the jaded public clamored for the sensational, if not the outright bizarre. Aerial stunts, quick changes, sleight of appearance, collapsing scenery, water tricks, full-scale acrobatics, monsters, ghosts, and carnage prevailed. Tricks of stage technology such as revolves, trap lifts, set shifting, and flight mechanics were perfected, facilitating increased realism and its attendant depiction of evil. The most prolific exponent of the style was Nanboku, the son of a dyer who rose up through the traditional playwriting ranks to produce 120 plays in the last twenty-five years of his life. The 1804 hit that made his reputation was The Foreign Travels of Tokubei of India (Tenjiku Tokubei Ikoku Banashi), starring stunt master Onoe Matsusuke I (1744–1815). Matsusuke thereafteroriginatedmanyNanbokuspectacles ,passingthemantleontohisadopted son Onoe Kikugorō III (1784–1849), who played the dual roles in 1825 of Oiwa and Kohei in Epic Yotsuya Ghost Tale (Tōkaidō Yotsuya Kaidan). Both roles are still played by one actor today, with time provided for the quick changes by such devices as Oiwa’s momentary disappearance behind a screen, to be replaced by a stand-in for her death throes. This play belongs to Nanboku’s later period and is far darker and more sinister than the circuslike Tokubei, with its jolly monster toad who eats the set. By 1825, Nanboku was already an established master of the ghost plays staged in summer for their salubrious chilling effect, and he was adept at his trademark depictions of the aesthetics of evil. Evil had always been featured in kabuki, and actors had experimented with adding attractive dimensions to their villains, but not until Nanboku was evil deliberately exploited for its beauty nor specifically manipulated to aesthetic, even erotic, effect. It is possible to see the characters thus created as symbols of opposition to traditional morality. Here the sexually attractive Iemon, who is in fact one of the “loyal retainers” of the Chūshingura story, is a monument to treachery, loyal only to his own comfort. His wife Oiwa, a model of virtue in life, turns into a vicious demon at her death, exacting gruesome vengeance. This reversal of feudal ethics must have shocked and thrilled the oppressed common classes of kabuki theatergoers. At the very least, it was lively parody. Nanboku is particularly known for his send-ups GHOSTS, MONSTERS, AND DEITIES 169 of kabuki stage conventions, all recognizable to traditional audiences. The unsettling bit that follows, for instance, of Oiwa’s hair falling out as she combs it, is a grotesque deformity of the standard love scene where hair is combed to express romantic tenderness. Equally chilling is her tooth blackening, never seen onstage, an essential cosmetic for matrons made of iron filings soaked in tea. That hairdressing and makeup were proscribed by custom for new mothers for forty-nine days would have extended the audience ’s discomfort. Iemon’s identity as a former retainer of the wronged lord Asano from the Chūshingura tale is stressed in the original 1825 production, which took a full two days to perform but is a mere footnote to the acts remaining in today’s standard version centering round Oiwa and Iemon’s relationship. In the full story Iemon, excluded from the Asano vendetta team by his fellow retainers on the grounds of bad character, seeks to reinstate himself by marrying Oiwa for her family connections. Her father opposes the match, so Iemon murders him, then promises Oiwa that he will find the killer and take revenge. Once married, Iemon treats Oiwa cruelly and is eventually persuaded by his wealthy neighbor Itō, a retainer of Asano’s enemy, to desert Oiwa to marry his granddaughter, who is infatuated with Iemon. To ensure that Iemon has no second thoughts, Itō sends Oiwa a poison, disguised as medicine for her postpartum depression, which hideously disfigures her face. When she discovers the truth, the power of her rage transforms her and, accidentally dying at that moment, she instantly becomes a vengeful ghost, with a magical rat as her familiar, as Oiwa was born in the Year of the Rat. This metamorphosis is attended by the kabuki “spirit flame,” a beautiful green ball...

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