Edo Culture: Daily Life and Diversions in Urban Japan, 1600-1868

Chapter 9. The Social Context of Nō

181 C H A P T E R 9 THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF NÒ Support for nò during the Edo period came from members of three social groups: the bakufu; the daimyo and other high-ranking members of the warrior class; and the general public. Nò masters employed by the bakufu were granted rice stipends. These salaries were in effect supplied by various domains, but the nò masters’ privileges were guaranteed by the bakufu itself. Peace prevailed throughout the land after the Genna period (1615–1624), allowing the population of nò devotees to increase rapidly. Bakufu officials such as bannermen and household retainers , as well as daimyo and their high-ranking retainers, were in fact allowed to stage performances of the nò. For them, dancing the nò and playing the instrumental accompaniment on the flute (fue or nòkan) and drums (kotsuzumi, òkawa, and taiko) were cultural accomplishments and an important part of social life. Although few men were sufficiently proficient to give authentic performances of the dances, a large warrior-class population learned the chants and the instrumental accompaniments. In fact, nò chant (utai) became highly fashionable. As a result, nò troupes began to change their conservative methods for transmitting their “house arts” (iegei). To meet the demands of a large population of amateurs, both warrior and commoner, an iemoto system began to arise. Nò at the Date House in Sendai An example of a daimyo house that practiced nò is provided by the Date family of the Sendai domain in Mutsu province. Throughout his life, Date Masamune (1567–1636), the founder of this domain, sponsored nò performances. Indeed, he was so fond of nò that he learned to play the taiko. Daimyo and sometimes even the shogun were invited to these performances.1 Masamune’s personal nò mas- 182 The Social Context of Nò ter was Sakurai Hachiemon; but Hachiemon’s abilities did not fully satisfy Masamune. Masters (tayû) of the Òkura school, as well as the iemoto of the Kanze, Hòshò, and Kita schools of nò, were therefore invited to Sendai. Sakurai Hachiemon, in turn, was sent to the main Konparu school in Nara to master this school’s style.2 From around this time, Konparu-style nò was taught and performed at the Date house. One finds, for example, that in 1691 Tsunamura, the fourth head of the Sendai domain, learned Okina from Òkura Shòzaemon,3 a master from a branch house of the Konparu school.4 Of the long line of Sendai daimyo, Tsunamura and his son Yoshimura showed the greatest interest in nò. From the end of the seventeenth to the first half of the eighteenth centuries, these two men learned much of the tradition from Òkura Shòzaemon. Records documenting the transmission of the repertory are preserved at the nò research center (Nògaku kenkyû-jo) at Hòsei University in Tokyo. Here one finds numerous books of the Òkura house copied by Yoshimura, the fifth Sendai daimyo. One such volume is a 1726 copy of the 1688 manuscript Rokurin ichiro nukigaki (Extracts from the Rokurin ichiro [a volume on the theory of nò of Konparu Zenchiku]). Other works copied include the following: Okina no narai katatsuke (The Secret Play Okina and Its Dance Steps) Dòjòji narai no kudensho (Oral Transmissions of the Secret Play Dòjòji) Sekidera Komachi sòden (The Tradition of the Play Sekidera Komachi) Konparu-ryû sòden kikigaki (Records of Oral Transmissions of the Konparu School) Konparu-ryû migamae ashi no suriyò no jòjò (Items on Stances and Steps of the Konparu School) Tsue no tsukiyò sono ta (How to Use a Cane, etc.) Sarugaku-den kuketsu no bensho (Explanatory Writings on the Oral Tradition of Sarugaku) Hashi, Mimosuso, Fujisan, Takuren (Bridges, Clothing, Mount Fuji, Takuren)5 In works such as Senju kusemai no koto (On the Senju kusemai), Tadanori no hantome no koto (The Half-Close of the Play Tadanori), or Nonomiya kuruma no koto (On the Carriage in the Play “The Shrine in the Fields”) one finds detailed descriptions and instructions concerning the performance of Konparu-school versions of naraigoto— works whose performance rights were granted only to certain licensed individuals. Yoshimura was granted licenses for performing even the secret plays Dòjòji, Sekidera Komachi, and Okina. The transmission of Okina, in particular, seems to have been accorded Theater and Music 183 extraordinary significance. The record of...