Considering “Naimaze” in Kabuki Narratives and a Method

Abstract

The author considers that “naimaze” is not only a method for creating stories or narratives of kabuki, but its most important construction principle. Although there are various explanations regarding naimaze, in this study, the author seizes it as the narrative creating principle through which the world or worlds, particularly characters, events, and ages, of one or more existing narratives, including genres such as myth, legend, folktale, katarimono, and history, are changed to another new narrative work based on the syntheses and relationships according to various methods with other narrative worlds. “Naimaze” is a synthesized word in which diverse methods and techniques. In the kabuki terminology, the techniques or methods of re-organization of the narratives by naimaze based on a world is called “shuko.” In addition, although the word of naimaze frequently and narrowly means the strange and excellent dramaturgy of Tsuruya Nanboku Ⅳ, the author understands it as wider and general concept in this study. This study considers what is naimaze based on previous kabuki studies and our study of kabuki’s narrative generation and presents primitive narrative generation methods of naimaze.