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The divine victim : a critical analysis of Sakura-hime from Sakura-hime azuma bunshō

University of British Columbia

The play Sakura-hime azuma bunshō, written by Tsuruya Nanboku IV in 1817, has often been read as a parody designed to undermine the sacredness of the Buddhist institution during the Edo period. Upon closer reading, however, this play is not just showing the hypocrisy of the Buddhist institution and its followers. Nanboku, through Sakura-hime, is mounting a veiled criticism against the bakufu by elevating what was considered unorthodox religious practices. By rendering the play’s protagonist, Sakura-hime, as a reincarnation of the bodhisattva Kannon, while directly associating her with the Yoshida family and their Shinto practices, Nanboku IV places popular religious ideas on levels equal to state-sponsored religions. Just as the plot of the play could only be resolved through the awakening of Sakura-hime to her divine nature and her intervention, Nanboku IV implicitly suggests that the dire state-of-affairs that plagued the bakufu from the latter half of the 18th century up until the performance of the play in 1817 can only be resolved through a similar divine intervention by a saviour descending from a heterodox belief system. Furthermore, as Sakura-hime becomes the representation of the divine, she also becomes a grotesque figure, the embodiment of contradictory social values, highlighting the arbitrariness of the strict value system that was the cornerstone of Edo society. Salvation and rectification lie within the hands of someone that transcends Edo values, signifying the weakness of the system itself. I argue for this reading of Sakura-hime azuma bunshō by first establishing the historical circumstances that surrounded the writing of this play (Chapter 2). After this, the majority of my argument focuses on outlining the divine nature of Sakura-hime. The textual lineage of the narrative (Chapter 3), as well as the identity of Sakura-hime constructed by key scenes (Chapter 4) will serve this purpose. Finally, a quick look at the role historically played by the Yoshida family and the construction of Sakura-hime as a grotesque figure (Chapter 5), followed by a few concluding words (Chapter 6), wraps up my argument.

Text

2013-08-29

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/44946

Asian Studies

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/