The Idea of Tsukuri yama

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DC Field	Value
dc.identifier	ECF_chapter_1081
dc.contributor.author	SATO Eri
dc.title	The Idea of Tsukuri yama. Reimagining Mountains through Aragoto, the Style of Superhuman Strength in Kabuki
dc.type	Chapter
dc.language.iso	en
dc.description.abstract	This paper reports the most fundamental ideas of mountains in Japanese tradition from aragoto in Edo period Kabuki. Created and pioneered by Ichikawa Danjūrō I 初代市川団十郎 in the late seventeenth century, the rough style of Kabuki known as aragoto is characteristic of Kabuki in the Edo region (modern-day Tōkyō), contrasting the wagoto or soft style of the Kyōto-Ōsaka region. Many of the 18 best plays of the Ichikawa family are aragoto style performances and are still performed nowadays as specialities of the Ichikawa school. The style of aragoto during the Genroku era (1688-1704) – with its origin in performances of oni, or ogres, in local festival grounds – was mostly set in the mountainous areas where these ogres were believed to have dwelled. Setups for festivals, yama, which literally means ‘mountain’ in Japanese, or tsukuri yama つくり山 (reimagining mountains), serve as scenography representing the mountains. These yama have been created in various forms as places for Japanese kami, spirits or phenomena worshipped in folk beliefs, as far back as the tenth century. The stages for the ancient performing art called kagura and yama such as the Yamaboko float of the Kyōto Gion Festival and the Yamagasa float in Hakata are considered to be central to festivals. This paper aims to point out the folkloric mind-set behind yama, that is mountains as the manifestation of kami, using images of aragoto, oni and yama.
dc.relation.ispartof	Ca’ Foscari Japanese Studies
dc.relation.ispartof	Arts and Literature
dc.publisher	Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Digital Publishing
dc.issued	2017-12-15
dc.dateAccepted	2016-12-09
dc.dateSubmitted	2016-10-07
dc.identifier.uri	http://edizionicafoscari.it/en/edizioni4/libri/978-88-6969-172-0/the-idea-of-tsukuri-yama/
dc.identifier.doi	10.14277/6969-171-3/CFJS-7-9
dc.identifier.issn	2610-8976
dc.identifier.eissn	2610-9395
dc.identifier.isbn	978-88-6969-172-0
dc.identifier.eisbn	978-88-6969-171-3
dc.rights	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
item.fulltext	with fulltext
item.grantfulltext	open
dc.peer-review	yes
dc.subject	Aragoto
dc.subject	Aragoto
dc.subject	Furyū
dc.subject	Furyū
dc.subject	Kagura
dc.subject	Kagura
dc.subject	Kinpira jōruri
dc.subject	Kinpira jōruri
dc.subject	Mitate
dc.subject	Mitate
dc.subject	Oni
dc.subject	Oni
dc.subject	Tsukuri yama
dc.subject	Tsukuri yama
dc.subject	Yama
dc.subject	Yama

Chapter
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The Idea of Tsukuri yama

Reimagining Mountains through Aragoto, the Style of Superhuman Strength in Kabuki

Eri SATO Kōchi University

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abstract

This paper reports the most fundamental ideas of mountains in Japanese tradition from aragoto in Edo period Kabuki. Created and pioneered by Ichikawa Danjūrō I 初代市川団十郎 in the late seventeenth century, the rough style of Kabuki known as aragoto is characteristic of Kabuki in the Edo region (modern-day Tōkyō), contrasting the wagoto or soft style of the Kyōto-Ōsaka region. Many of the 18 best plays of the Ichikawa family are aragoto style performances and are still performed nowadays as specialities of the Ichikawa school. The style of aragoto during the Genroku era (1688-1704) – with its origin in performances of oni, or ogres, in local festival grounds – was mostly set in the mountainous areas where these ogres were believed to have dwelled. Setups for festivals, yama, which literally means ‘mountain’ in Japanese, or tsukuri yama つくり山 (reimagining mountains), serve as scenography representing the mountains. These yama have been created in various forms as places for Japanese kami, spirits or phenomena worshipped in folk beliefs, as far back as the tenth century. The stages for the ancient performing art called kagura and yama such as the Yamaboko float of the Kyōto Gion Festival and the Yamagasa float in Hakata are considered to be central to festivals. This paper aims to point out the folkloric mind-set behind yama, that is mountains as the manifestation of kami, using images of aragoto, oni and yama.

Published

Dec. 15, 2017

Accepted

Dec. 9, 2016

Submitted

Oct. 7, 2016

Language

ISBN (PRINT)

978-88-6969-172-0

ISBN (EBOOK)

978-88-6969-171-3

Keywords: Kagura • Tsukuri yama • Mitate • Oni • Furyū • Kinpira jōruri • Yama • Aragoto

permalink: http://doi.org/10.14277/6969-171-3/CFJS-7-9

Copyright: © 2017 Eri SATO. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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