Comedy of Exotic Conflicts: Chinese Character Plays of Kyōgen

Tōzumō (Chinese Sumo Wrestling), Tōjin kodakara (The Chinese Man's Precious Sons), and Chasanbai (An International Marriage Problem) are the only three surviving plays labeled as "Chinese character plays" in today's kyōgen repertoire. The plays are of significant value for their rare comedic dramatizations of Japan's complex relations with China and integrations of exotic elements that are suggestive of China. This essay examines how the three plays illustrate the intricate and conflicting feelings that medieval Japanese upheld toward the Chinese. The essay also delineates how the plays reinvent various elements, indicative of both Chinese influences and kyōgen's conventions, to imbue a sense of exoticism.