The Techniques of Genroku Theatre

Kabuki and Chikamatsu’s Jôruri Domestic Dramas

抄録

The aim of the present article is two-fold. First, it specifies dramaturgical traits of kabuki and jôruri plays produced around the Genroku period (1688-1704), when each actor showed off his own particular acting style (geizukushi). Second, it demonstrates how consciously and repeatedly Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725) employed the same dramaturgical format that he had learned from writing sewa kyôgen (kabukidomestic drama to compose his sewa jôruri. Compared to Edo kabuki, which relied on a specific “world,” Kamigata plays were created through a combination of fixed patterns. This practice was introduced precisely because Genroku kabuki was a continuum of independent acting arts (gei) brought together by the leading actors who monopolized the show for a time. Therefore, it is natural that the structures of domestic drama, contrary to their “realistic” appearance, were built on existing play structures, such as oie kyôgen (plays about conflicts within the daimyô households). Chikamatsu’s six works of sewa jôruri, all of which fall under the love-suicide subgenre, employed the oie kyôgen style. In other words, Chikamatsu played with the patterns of domestic drama and love-suicide plays, rather than put a lot of effort into making stories of literary value. Unlike the familiar image of the Chikamatsu who was indignant at feudal society, or the idealist who believed in the goodness of humankind, he was a sober formalist.