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Sukeroku’s double identity : a study in Kabuki dramatic structure

University of British Columbia

Using the seemingly illogical, double identity of the townsman, Sukeroku, and the samurai, Soga Goro, in the play Sukeroku as the focal point, this thesis shows that the drama tic structure of Edo kabuki was based on an annual play cycle The cycle consisted of several production periods, beginning with the kao-mise, or "face-showing," production in the eleventh month of the lunar year and ending with the o-nagori or "farewell," production in the ninth month. Each period lasted for a month or more and was repeated annually throughout the Tokugawa period. To show how the annual cycle functioned as the framework of kabuki dramatic structure and what Sukeroku's double identity signifies, the thesis is divided into two parts. Part One, "The Structure of Edo Kabuki," has two chapters. The first, which is based mainly on writings of the Tokugawa period, outlines the annual play cycle and the dramatic struc ture it contained. The second then analyzes the concepts of sekai ("tradition") and shukō ("innovation"), which were the underlying principles of that structure. In sum, kabuki was the product of material that had become a familiar part of Japanese culture by repeated use and dramatization over long periods of time (starting even before kabuki began) and material that was relatively new and was used to transform the older, set material. The double identity in Sukeroku came about as a result of this interplay within the annual cycle of what was received by way of traditional sekai and what was added by way of innovative shukō. Part Two, "The Significance of Sukeroku's Double Identity, also has two chapters. The first traces the development of the Soga sekai which gave rise to Sukeroku's' samurai identity, from its origins in the early dramatic forms of nō, kōwaka, and ko-jōruri, to the representation of Soga Gorō in kabuki by Ichikawa Danjūrō I. The second then looks at the shukō which transformed Soga Gorō into Sukeroku by discussing the origins of Sukeroku and its introduction to Edo kabuki by Ichikawa- Danjūrō II. The conclusion is that within the annual cycle Sukeroku's double identity gave Edo audiences a hero, who was an idealization of the contemporary Tokugawa townsman and at the same time a transformation of a samurai god-hero of the past. In Part Two, the discussions on kabuki are limited to Ichikawa Danjūrō I and his son, Danjūrō II, since their work was the basis of all later developments.

Text

2010-03-15

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/21920

Asian Studies

University of British Columbia

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