Attracted by the traditional Japanese No plays, Yukio MISHIMA wrote modern No plays, including Hanjo written in 1955.
The author seems to have been inspired by the structure and metaphysical themes of No. His adaptations of the original No dramas were very free because he intended that the fundamental ideas of his modern No plays should be intelligible for contemporary people.
As concerns Hanjo, Mishima has made two important modifications. One of them is the creation of a unique female character named Jitsuko. She is an eccentric unmarried artist who has never loved men or waited for anything. Her character presents a striking contrast to that of Hanako, a beautiful mad girl waiting for her unfaithful lover. The other modification is that Mishima’s Hanjo doesn’t have a happy ending, while the original is almost the only No drama that comes to a happy conclusion. In Mishima’s play Hanako cannot recognize her lover who has come back to her, and she rejects him.
Owing to these modifications, Mishima’s Hanjo has become much more logical than the original by Zeami. It, however, has lost a part of the symbolic poesie which is one ot the main characteristics of the No plays. Unlike Samuel Beckett’s En Attendant Godot in which also appear two men waiting for Godot limitlessly, all characters in Mishima’s Hanjo act rationally, not absurdly.
