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oard of Regents of the University of Oklahoma

University of Oklahoma

The Noh Theatre: Principles and Perspectives by Kunio Komparu; Jane CorddryReview by: Andrew T. TsubakiWorld Literature Today, Vol. 58, No. 3, Varia Issue (Summer, 1984), p. 476Published by: Board of Regents of the University of OklahomaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40139606.

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8/9/2019 Andrew T. Tsubaki - The Noh Theatre

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476 WORLD

LITERATURE TODAY

Kunio

Komparu.

The Noh

Theatre:

Principles

and Per-

spectives.

Jane Corddry,

tr. New York. Weatherhill.

1983.

xxiv +

376

pages,

ill.

$32.50.

Weatherhill has made a number of popularand worthy

books

originally published

in

Japanese

available to

En-

glish

readers.

The

Noh Theatre first

appeared

in 1980 as No e

no izanai

(An

Invitation to

Noh).

The

author,

Kunio

Kom-

paru,

has an

unlikely

dual

career,

adding

that of

an es-

tablished architectural critic to

his inherited

one

as

a

pro-

fessional stick-drum

(taiko)

performer

of

the

Komparu

School of Noh. The result of this uncommon combination

is a

positive

one.

With

the

sharpened eyes

of

a

critic,

the

author

succeeds

in

dissecting skillfully

the

many

difficult

aspects

of

Noh

performance

without

the

indulgence

of the

insider,

but

utilizes

his rich

background

n

the art to his

advantage.

He

thus makes the

book

easily approachable

to the

beginner,

while

offering

it as a rich

treasury

of

insightful

observations

worthy

of

reexamination

by

the

experienced

student of

Noh.

The

coverage

is rather

expansive.

The three

parts

of the

book deal with the characteristics

which

distinguish

Noh as

a

theatre

art,

the

many

elements that

comprise

this form of

drama and the

structure of the whole and the

way

the

parts

are assembled. In

addition,

two

plays

(Nonomiya

and Shun-

kan)

are included

in

their

totality,

with detailed

stage

direc-

tions

noting

the movement of actors and other

participants

onstage.

Along

with a

refreshingly unique way

of

explaining phe-

nomena of

the

Noh

performance,

the book contains charts

and

diagrams

that

provide

much useful

information

at

a

glance,

such as Ghosts

in

Noh,

Hiranori

(a regular

rhythm

in Noh

chanting)

and numerous other entries

(40

tables like these and 119 black-and-white

photos

and

illustra-

tions).

Appendices

contain two useful lists and one

article

introducing

Zeami. Two indexes conclude the book.

Andrew

T. Tsubaki

University

of

Kansas

Minako Oba. Boshi no kiita

monogatari. Tokyo.

Kodansha.

1983. 227

pages.

1,200.

Recently

women writers in

Japan

have been

producing

a

significantly large

bulk of literature in

high

quality

a

kind of renaissance of the

literary

achievements

by

the

spirit-

ed court ladies in the

Heian

period

(794-1185).

Oba,

prob-

ably

one of

the

most

creative,

deals with

such modern

human

problems

as the sadness of

sexuality,

the

meaninglessness

of

the endless

cycle

of

birth-procreation-death

and

inner

con-

flicts between intimates like husband

and

wife,

parents

and

children,

et cetera.

According

to the

story

entitled Boshi

(the

word means hat and is also used in the title of the

collection), a person wearing ahat receives certain messages

from

his

own

hat,

hears

the inner

voices of other

people

and,

consequently,

becomes more

compassionate.

The title

of

the

book

in

English

would

be

Stories the Hat Could Hear.

Oba's

major literary technique

is the combination of

dreamlike,

surrealistic

imagery

with

realistic,

everyday

im-

ages.

For

example,

images

of

babies,

still with

placentas,

digging

their

graves

in

the dark forest are

juxtaposed

to the

life

of

a

multigeneration

family

in

The Hat.

In

Pigeons

the sexual

behavior of

pigeons

is

compared

to that of

the

narrator's

parents.

Some of

the

settings

are taken from

the

author's

experiences

in the

United

States,

where she lived

for eleven

years.

The eleven

stories collected here are all

fairly

brief,

the

shortest

being

four

pages long.

The

style

is

linguistically

economical,

with

frequent

use

of

elliptical expressions.

The

narrative

viewpoint freely

moves from one character to an-

other,

and

the time

sequence

shifts

back and forth between

the

present

and

past.

All these

elements make it hard to

pin

down what is

happening,

but

at the same time

they

do create

a dreamlike

atmosphere efficiently.

Sanroku Yoshida

Miami

University

(Oh.)

Tanikawa

Shuntaro. The Selected Poems

of

Shuntaro Tanika-

wa. Harold

Wright,

tr.

San

Francisco.

North Point. 1983.

viii

+

150

pages.

$12.50.

Out

of what he himself calls a

disgusting

number of

works

by

Tanikawa

Shuntaro

(b.

1931),

Harold

Wright

chooses about

ninety poems

for the Western

reader. Some of

the poems are in sonnet form; many are even shorter free-

verse

pieces.

The

selection is taken

from various

works,

ranging

from Ten

Billion

Light

Years

of

Loneliness,

the

book that made Tanikawa

famous

in

1952,

to Coca-Cola

Lesson,

a

much-acclaimed

collection

published

in 1981.

The

present

book reveals the

development

of this

prolific

and

very popular

poet

in

contemporary

Japan.

Tanikawa

consciously (and

conscientiously)

seeks an audi-

ence

for his

poetry

in

the masses.

He writes

song lyrics,

satirical

verses for

newspapers

and

comedies for the theatre.

His

language,

often

tinged

with

humor and

pathos,

is

eminently

facile

not

only

to the ears but

also to the

eyes

and

mind

of

the reader.

Evidently,

he

has the rare

ability

to see

simplicity

in

what is

quite complex

and

hope

in

what is

actually deplorable.

His concern

is,

in

broad

terms,

humani-

tarianism.

Tanikawaalso translatesthe comic strip Peanuts and nur-

sery rhymes

from

Mother

Goose and

produces

original

chil-

dren's

books.

He

participates

in

poetry

readings

and

various

debates

both in

Japan

and

abroad. The

output

of this

author

will most

certainly

continue

to be

high,

and his

popularity

will

follow.

Here is an

excerpt

from

Nero,

a

renowned

poem

Tanika-

wa wrote in 1950

upon

his

pet dog's

death:

Nero

another summer is

coming

soon

but it's

not a summer when

you

were here

a different

summer

a

completely

different summer

A new

summer

is

coming

I'll be

leaving

various new

things

beautiful

things

ugly things

things

to cheer me

things

to

sadden me.

The

high

quality

of translation is

evident

throughout.

The

translator's sense

of

language

is

superb,

and his skills are

admirable.

Both the cover and

the

jacket

of the book are as

beautiful as

its contents.

James

R. Morita

Ohio State

University

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