This week we learned about the Edo period in Japan, or the early signs of the period occurring while on the other hand delving deeper into the arts and expanding preconceived ideas. This is best seen when it comes Sen Rikyu’s innovations to the tea ceremony. Before Sen Rikyu came along, the Tea Ceremony was something held in large places, yet Rikyu decided to harness what it was internally instead of all the extra panache he decided to incorporate the qualities of Wabi (Simplicity in daily life) with Sabi (Appreciation for the old). This turned these louder parties into more intimate scenarios, yet another innovation that Rikyu made was the idea of setting everything equal, as everyone, no matter if they are a samurai, peasant, or worker they had to crawl in order to all meet in the intimate tea ceremony which meant that all were equal in the tea ceremony. Another interesting concept that we learned this week was the idea of Bunraku. Bunraku, when I first heard about it today in class, I imagined the muppets but when I saw a video it reminded me of complex ventriloquist as it as operation of three, a trio. The main man is controlling the doll while the other two help in the background with masks. This trio helps move the doll around in the performance. Lastly, the art of Kubaki. This was interesting as from what I remember in class it had to do with the arts and more specifically the theatrical arts. Here, they used theatre to tell a story which they can convey certain stories. Though the times were changing, one thing which seems to be a certain theme that I’ve seen is the excess in rules which had ruled the idea of aiming to be a “Tea Master” or even in the past, where the codes have become innovated from Prince Shotuku. Yet, another thing which I found interesting was that the Samurai preferred the life of the common man to the life of the excessive court, where they had to hide themselves to have more fun in life instead of the mundane life they were given. This reminds me a lot of Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance Of Being Earnest” as similarly someone with a lot of money and prestige acts as someone else called “Earnest” to have fun and live a separate life away from the excesses of his current life. Also, in the end when we talked about Japanese Capitalism problems from what I remember hearing it reminded me both of people spending excessively such as in the American Roaring 20s but also with that leading to the World’s Great Depression when it comes to capitalism. I know the idea of economics was worth the Cold War, but I wonder if there can be an economic system that can fill everyone’s needs and shoes without turning into a dictatorship? Would egalitarianism work or gift economy?
Citations:
Photo Citation= Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Tokugawa period”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 Apr. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/event/Tokugawa-period. Accessed 21 April 2023.
Japan Emerging: Premodern History to 1850, edited by Karl F. Friday. New York, NY: Routledge, 2018.
Premodern Japan: A Historical Survey, edited by Mikiso Hanen and Louis G Perez. Second ed. Boulder: Westview Press, 2015.
“Control of Vassals.” In David John Lu. Japan: A Documentary History, 203-208. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1997.
“Closing the Country.” In David John Lu. Japan: A Documentary History, 220-228. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1997
Japan Emerging: Premodern History to 1850, edited by Karl F. Friday. New York, NY: Routledge, 2018
Premodern Japan: A Historical Survey, edited by Mikiso Hanen and Louis G Perez. Second ed. Boulder: Westview Press, 2015.
Selection of Sen no Rikyu’s poetry on Cha no yu (From Sadler, A. L. Cha-No-Yu: The Japanese Tea Ceremony. Rutland, Vt.: C.E. Tuttle, 1977. First published 1933 by J.L Thompson & Co.)
Namiki Senryū. “Suma Bay.” In Traditional Japanese Theater: An Anthology of Plays, edited by Karen Brazell, and James T Araki, 442-455. Translations from the Asian Classics. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998.
Chikamatsu Monzaemon. “The Battles of Coxinga”. In Traditional Japanese Theater: An Anthology of Plays, edited by Karen Brazell, and James T Araki, 314-332. Translations from the Asian Classics. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Sen Rikyū”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Mar. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sen-Rikyu. Accessed 21 April 2023.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Bunraku”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 18 Dec. 2017, https://www.britannica.com/art/Bunraku. Accessed 21 April 2023.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Kabuki”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 3 Mar. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/art/Kabuki. Accessed 21 April 2023.
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