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  • Die "böse Alte" in der japanischen Populärkultur der Edo-Zeit: Die Feindvalenz und ihr soziales Umfeld
  • Martina Schönbein
Die "böse Alte" in der japanischen Populärkultur der Edo-Zeit: Die Feindvalenz und ihr soziales Umfeld. By Susanne Formanek. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2005. xvi + 566 pages. Softcover €66.40.

In this impressive book, the title of which may be translated as The "Evil Old Woman" in Japanese Popular Culture of the Edo Period: Hostile Conception and Social Environment, Susanne Formanek convincingly refutes an often-repeated cliché: the high esteem and respect shown older people in Japan (and generally in East Asia)-although, already in the noh theater one finds a contrast between the positive image of the old man, okina, and the negative of his female counterpart, the old mountain witch, yamanba. She does this through a detailed examination of the background to the appearance of the "evil old woman" as a stock figure in the cultural production of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Japan. Embedded in the international academic discourse on gender studies and popular culture, this work has additional contemporary interest, given the reality of the continuous increase of the population of older people in various parts of the world and the challenges modern society faces in trying to cope with its consequences.

The main text of the book consists of six chapters, including an informative general introduction and a concise conclusion. In addition to analyzing closely a wide range [End Page 569] of primary sources pertinent to the subject at hand, several of the chapters incorporate sections on general background (such as "The Origins and Essential Features of Edo-period Popular Culture," at the beginning of chapter 2; here and below I will give such titles simply in English translation) that provide the reader with a broader contextual overview. Detailed lists of primary sources (texts and pictures) and secondary sources and an index of people, works, and genres mentioned in the volume add up to eighty pages.

Chapter 2, "The Basic Facts: Evil, Deceitful, and Murderous Old Women as Standard Figures in Edo-period Popular Culture," provides an outline of the Edo-period primary sources used in this study and identifies several stereotypes or motifs that can be derived from them (for instance, 2.3, "scheming and murderous old noble-women," or 2.9, "the old woman from the isolated house in Adachigahara"). Apart from utilizing kabuki-related sources (libretti, ehon banzuke), the author introduces data from popular literature (such as yomihon and gōkan) and numerous colored woodblock prints (nishikie). A very positive feature of the study, it should be emphasized, is that-in addition to materials available in modern editions-Formanek has also used primary sources that have not yet been edited and are not easy to handle (even printed books of the Edo period typically use a cursive script that can be hard to decipher); some of these she presents for the first time to a larger audience. As Formanek herself admits (pp. 22-24), it is almost impossible to make a "representative" selection of Edo-period sources related to the subject, owing to the relatively undeveloped state of research on works produced in large quantities, such as nishikie. A certain concentration on the author Santō Kyōden (1761-1816), one of the most significant writers of narrative literature of the time, is the result simply of the fact that the publisher Perikansha offers a complete edition of his works.

Edo-period popular culture being highly visual in orientation and shaped by mutual influences and references between the theater, richly illustrated novels, and the graphic arts, Formanek has appropriately included numerous pictures in her study. Chapter 2 incorporates 109 black-and-white illustrations, and the book also offers 55 color plates of the 135 nishikie and other visual materials discussed. This feature adds to the clarity and vividness of the analysis, but might also be the reason for the book's rather high price.

Chapter 3, "Historical Preconditions," and the first section of chapter 5 investigate the pre-Edo sociocultural, religious, and historical context that shaped views of older people in general and old women in...

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