Each night Otsuyu, accompanied by her maid who carries a peony lantern, spends the night with Saburo. The two lovers, reunited, begin their relationship again in secret. It is revealed that her aunt, who opposed the marriage, spread the rumor that Otsuyu had died and told Otsuyu in turn that Saburo had died. When he sees them, they look remarkably like Otsuyu and her maid. He prays for her spirit during the Obon festival, and is surprised to hear the approaching footsteps of two women. Later, when Saburo recovers and goes to see his love, he is told that Otsuyu has died. However, Saburo falls ill, and is unable to see Otsuyu for a long time. They meet secretly, and promise to be married. Main article: Kaidan botan dōrō Kabuki version Ī young student named Saburo falls in love with a beautiful woman named Otsuyu, the daughter of his father's best friend. This comes from a 1919 performance at the Imperial Theater, when the two actresses playing Otsuyu and her maid became sick and died within a week of each other. Much like Yotsuya Kaidan, there remains a superstition that actors who play the ghost roles in Kaidan Botan Doro will come to harm. The Kawatake version is still occasionally revived but is less popular than the Onishi one. A new adaptation by Kawatake Shinshichi III was staged for the first time with a full kabuki casting in June 1989, again at the Shimbashi Embujo. It was so successful that it was staged again a few years later in April 1976 at the Shimbashi Embujo. Ī more modern version of the play was written in 1974 by the playwright Onishi Nobuyuki for the Bungakuza troupe, starring Sugimura Haruko, Kitamura Kazuo and Ninomiya Sayoko. He titled his adaptation A Passional Karma, and based it on the kabuki version of the story. In 1899, Lafcadio Hearn, with the help of a friend, translated Botan Dōrō into English for his book In Ghostly Japan. It was then adapted to the kabuki stage in July 1892, and staged at the Kabukiza under the title Kaidan Botan Dōrō. In order to achieve a greater length, the story was fleshed out considerably, adding background information on several characters as well as additional subplots. In 1884, Botan Dōrō was adapted by famous storyteller San'yūtei Enchō into a rakugo, which increased the popularity of the tale. Otogi Boko was immensely popular, spawning multiple imitative works such as Zoku Otogi Boko ( Hand Puppets Continued) and Shin Otogi Boko ( New Hand Puppets), and is considered the forerunner of the literary kaidan movement that resulted in the classic Ugetsu Monogatari. Asai removed the Buddhist moral lessons and gave the stories a Japanese setting, placing Botan Dōrō in the Nezu district of Tokyo. At the time, Japan's borders were entirely closed, with very little of the outside world known by its people as such, China was viewed as a mysterious and exotic nation. In 1666, author Asai Ryoi responded to the Edo period craze for kaidan, spawned largely by the popular game Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, by adapting the more spectacular tales from Jiandeng Xinhua into his own book Otogi Boko ( Hand Puppets). The collection was didactic in nature, containing Buddhist moral lessons on karma. It is sometimes known as Kaidan Botan Dōrō ( 怪談牡丹灯籠, Tales of the Peony Lantern), based on the kabuki version of the story this title is commonly used in translation, and refers to a Stone Lantern.īotan Dōrō entered Japanese literary culture in the 17th century, through a translation of a book of Chinese ghost stories called Jiandeng Xinhua ( New Tales Under the Lamplight) by Qu You. The plot involves sex with the dead and the consequences of loving a ghost. The character of Otsuyu and the titular peony lanternīotan Dōrō ( 牡丹燈籠, The Peony Lantern) is a Japanese ghost story ( kaidan) and one of the most famous kaidan in Japan.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |