Like Clouds or Mists: Studies and Translations of No Plays of the Genpei War (Cornell East Asia Series) (Cornell East Asia Series, 159)

This volume is organized to roughly follow the order of events presented in the Kakuichi-bon variant of the Heike. Essays and translations focus on a series of major events from the Heike: Kiyomori's rise (the Giō cycle of plays); Yoshinaka's push to the capital; the flight of the Heike and the battle of Ichi-no-tani; and the aftermath of the war. Each event features a series of one to three plays preceded by essays. Offers A Better Understanding Of A Nexus Of Stories, Characters And Arts Central To Medieval And Early Modern Japan, And Particularly The Significant Variety Of Ways Plays Of The Nō Theatre Portray Them. Zeami, A Wandering Ghost, And The Lotus Sutra: The Story Of Giō And Hotoke From The Heike Monogatari To Nō / Roberta Strippoli -- Giō / Translation And Introduction By Susan Matisoff -- Hotoke No Hara (buddha Field) / Translation And Introduction By David T. Bialock -- How Giō Saves Her Father's Life: Innovations To The Giō Legend In Bangai Nō / Michael Watson -- Ro-giō (giō At The Prison) / Translation And Introduction By Michael Watson -- The Battle Of Tonamiyama In Bangai Nō / Elizabeth Oyler -- Kiso / Translation And Introduction By Ivan Grail -- Kurikara Otoshi (the Fall From Kurikara) / Translation And Introduction By Michael Watson -- Sanemori: Departure From Oral Narrative / Akiko Takeuchi -- Sanemori / Translation And Introduction By Mae J. Smethurst -- Shunzei Tadanori: Its Background And Related Plays / Translation And Introduction By Michael Watson -- Genzai Sanemori / Translation And Introduction By Mae J. Sweethurst -- Shunzei Tadamori / Introduction, Michael Watson ; Translation Stephen D. Miller, Patrick S. Donnelly -- Kyotsune / Translation And Introduction By Carolyn Morley -- Preacherr And Playwrights: Ikuta Atsumori And The Roots Of Nō / R. Keller Kimbrough -- Ikuta Atsumori / Translation And Introduction By Lim Beng Choo -- Ko Atsumori / Translation And Introduction By R. Keller Kimbrough -- The Heike, The Nō, And The Kyōgen Zatō Plays / Carolyn Morley -- Nasu (kyōgen) / Translation And Introduction By Carolyn Morley -- The Nō Play Shigehira / Paul S. Atkins -- Morihisa And The Cult Of Kannon At Kiyomizudera / Naoko Gunji -- Performing Kannon's Grace: The Nō̌ Morihisa / Shelley Fenno Quinn -- Morihisa / Translation And Introduction By Shelley Fenno Quinn -- Genre And The Heike Plays In Zeami's Go On / Tom Hare -- Rokudai No Utai (the Song About Rokudai) / Translation And Introduction By Tom Hare -- Nō As Political Allegory: The Case Of Haku Rakuten / Susan Blakeley Klein -- Haku Rakuten / Translation And Introduction By Susan Blakeley Klein -- Epilogue: The Tale Of The Heike In The Theater Of The Twentieth Century--three Examples / J. Thomas Rimer -- Nō Plays Of The Genpei War: A Finding List / Michael Watson. Edited By Elizabeth Oyler And Michael Watson. Outgrowth Of A Workshop Held At Washington University In St. Louis In The Spring Of 2005. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 519-535). This volume grew out of a workshop held at Washington University in St. Louis in the Spring of 2005 that brought together scholars of two of medieval Japan's most recognizable artistic corpuses: Heike monogatari 平家物語 (Tales of the Heike) and the nō drama 能楽. The objectives of the workshop were to focus on the profound connections between the Heike and the vast body of nō plays derived from it, and to bring attention to those plays that have so far been absent or understudied in English-language scholarship. After drawing up a list of Heike-derived plays that merited the most immediate attention, participants divided themselves into smaller groups to work on individual plays: one group translated the play, while others researched the play's connections to one or more antecedents in the Heike and related genres. The result is a series of translations and essays tracing the development of a number of key Heike episodes and characters as these are reanimated in a group of nō plays over the course of the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries. Most of the plays translated and discussed in the volume were presented at the workshop, but several others were added because of their close affiliations with these works. This volume offers a step toward a better understanding of a nexus of stories, characters, and arts central to medieval and early modern Japan, and particularly the significant variety of ways plays of the nō theater portray them

The chapters in this ground-breaking volume examine the complex practices of biographical writing in Ming and Qing China. The authors draw on a rich variety of sources to answer some basic questions: Who were the writers of these texts and the subjects of their biographical constructions? What motivated these textual productions and sustained the routes from (re)creations to (re)publications? The informed and fascinating readings illuminate the enduring appeal of representing and represented lives in Chinese history.