Literature in No Drama Essays -- Literary Analysis

By nature, Japanese No drama draw much of their inspiration and influence from the classics. Many atomic number 18 based on episodes from the most popular classics, like Atsumori, based on the Tale of Heike, or Matsukaze, which was actu anyy based on a collage of earlier work. Even within these episodes do we find references to yet much classic works of literature, from the oldest collections of poetry to adopted religious schoolbooks. That isnt to say that No is without its own strokes of creativitythe entire performance is a crotchety adaptation, and the playwrights had to be both exceedingly educated in the classics, yet geniuses at the creative aspect of weaving song/poetry, dance, religion and literature unneurotic into a heart-wrenching spectacle.It might be easier to behold the similarities between no plays than the differences. The canonic plot changes little there is a traveler or monastic who encounters a restless ghost or ghosts whose restless souls must be pu t to rest. The religious implications here are major, and become a commutation theme of No. In both Atsumori and Matsukaze, the monk chants Namu Amida Bu, for the Pure disembark sect of Buddhism, as well as recites verses from the sacred lotus Sutra. The commentary mentions that The monk invokes Amida for the spirits of the dead, although the dead are comforted more of ten dollar bill with passes from the Lotus Sutra. (p.41) Atsumoris ghost, as character youth, and Rensho, a monk, both quote in concert If I at last become a Buddha/then all sentient existences who call my Name/in all the worlds, in the ten directions/will find welcome in Me, for I abandon none, which is from the sutra know as Kammuryojukyo. The chorus expands on this quote until the end of the scene, the song being the playwrights own creati... ... have a friend. (p.40) Matsukazes text refers to a great deal more older poetry than Atsumori, perchance simply because it is more relevant and appropriate in th e context of the level Matsukaze is a love story, and there is a lot present in the classics about love. Another kokinshu poem found in Matsukaze From the pillow/from the radix fo the bed/love comes pursuing, (p.202) for example. The examples of the samples of poetry, and allusions to other works of literature, are so numerous and some so subtle that they are countless in No drama. No could not exist without the classics that it constantly draws upon. This calls for a highly educated audience to enjoy the play in its entirety. However, for the medieval age, it was naked as a jaybird and exciting to see these classics woven together in a pose performance, so gracefully and creatively by the playwrights of old.