August 7, 2019

Japanese No Plays in Translation

For those who want to enjoy No plays in English translations, there are three collections, plus a number of plays in a general anthology, Shirane's Traditional Japanese Literature Vol I.

1. Japanese No Dramas translated by Royall Tyler (Penguin Classics). 
This is not only an excellent translation, but also a good selection, which above all contains the best introductions and notes with cultural background information to the 24 plays included. The plays have been arranged in alphabetical order. It still seems to be available as a back list item, so if you want to read only one book with translations of No plays, it should be this one. The only negative point is that as usual with Penguin books, low-grade paper has been used so that my copy, published in 1992, now is deep brown in color, and the spine is cracked from the first time I read it in the past.

2. Twenty Plays of the No Theatre edited by Donald Keene (Columbia U.P.). 
These 20 No plays were (mostly) not translated by the productive Donald Keene himself, but by his students and then numerous times revised, by Keene, by Royall Tyler and even two poets. There is a good, concise introduction to the book, and also to each individual play, but the cultural background is less detailed than in Tyler's book and the notes are mainly dedicated to identifying quotations of older poetry. The plays have been arranged by author: Kan'ami, Zeami, Zenchiku and 'anonymous,'; the last five plays have been arranged as a program of plays from the first to fifth categories. The collection was originally published in 1970. There are only five overlaps with the other important No play collection, by Royall Tyler in Penguin Classics, so those interested in the No theater should read both books. In contrast to Penguin Books, Columbia U.P. uses first rate paper and my copy of the book, although at least as old, looks still almost pristine.

3. No Plays of Japan translated by Arthur Waley.
Considering that this book was first published in 1921, it is quite an achievement as both Japanese and Western scholarship was much less developed 100 years ago and translators didn't have the large number of tools at their disposal we have today. However, the selection of 19 plays by Waley is not very representative - only a few of the plays which today are most famous have been included. The introduction is outdated, and contains errors - in his note on Buddhism, Waley confuses Amidism with Nichiren Buddhism, although the two schools are opponents. So, although this book is available from Gutenberg for free, I would only read it after having exhausted the above two collections.

4. Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600 by Haruo Shirane (Columbia). 
This is of course an anthology of the whole of classical literature, not only No plays, but the eight plays it contains form a well balanced and representative selection, and the translations (by Royall Tyler and others) are excellent. The book contains: Aoi no ue ("Lady Aoi"), Sotoba Komachi ("Stupa Komachi"), Matsukaze ("Pining Wind"), Takasago, Atsumori, Sumidagawa ("Sumida River"), Nonomiya ("Shrine in the Fields"), and Ataka.

Finally, here is an overview of the 54 plays translated in the above four collections (out of a repertoire of about 240 plays that are still regularly performed, and a total of about 2,000 ever written). I have also indicated the categories of the plays (1st = deity plays (waki-no or kami-no), 2nd = warrior plays (shura-no), 3rd = woman plays (kazura-mono), 4th = miscellaneous plays (yonbanme-mono or zo mono; also includes shunen-no, plays about mad persons) and 5th = demon plays or ending plays (oni-no or kiri-no).

Ama (The Diver) [Tyler] - 5th cat.
Aoi no Ue (Lady Aoi) [Shirane, Waley] - 4th cat.
Ashikari (The Reed Cutter) [Keene] - 4th cat.
Ataka [Shirane] - 4th cat.
Atsumori [Tyler, Shirane, Waley] 2nd cat.
Aya no Tsuzumi (The Damask Drum) [Tyler, Waley] - 4th cat.
Chikubushima [Tyler] - 1st cat.
Dojoji [Keene] - 4th cat.
Eboshi-ori [Waley] - 4th cat.
Eguchi [Tyler] - 3rd cat.
Funa Benkei (Benkei Aboard Ship) [Tyler] - 4th or 5th cat.
Hachi no Ki [Waley] - 4th cat.
Hagoromo (The Feather Mantle) [Tyler, Waley] - 3rd cat.
Haku Rakuten (Bai Letian) [Waley] - 1st cat.
Hanjo (Lady Han) [Keene, Tyler] - 4th cat.
Hashi Benkei (Benkei on the Bridge) [Waley] - 4th cat.
Hatsuyuki (Early Snow) [Waley] - 3rd cat.
Hokazo (the Hoka Priests) [Waley] - 4th cat.
Ikeniye (The Pool-Sacrifice) [Waley] - 4th cat.
Ikuta [Waley] - 2nd cat.
Izutsu (The Well-Cradle) [Tyler] - 3rd cat.
Kagekiyo [Waley] - 4th cat.
Kanawa (The Iron Crown) [Keene] - 4th cat.
Kanehira [Keene] - 2nd cat.
Kantan [Tyler, Waley] - 4th cat.
Kasuga Ryujin (The Kasuga Dragon God) [Tyler] - 5th cat.
Kayoi Komachi (Komachi and the Hundred Nights [Keene] - 4th cat.
Kinuta (The Fulling Block) [Tyler] - 4th cat.
Kumasaka  [Waley] - 5th cat.
Kureha [Tyler] - 1st cat.
Matsukaze (Pining Wind) [Keene, Tyler, Shirane] - 3rd cat.
Motomezuka (The Sought-for Grave) [Keene] - 4th cat.
Nishikigi (The Brocade Tree) [Keene] - 4th cat.
Nonomiya (The Shrine in the Fields) [Keene, Tyler, Shirane] - 3rd cat.
Obasute (The Deserted Crone) [Keene] - 3rd cat.
Ohara Goko (The Imperial Visit to Ohara) [Keene] - 3rd cat.
Saigyo-zakura (Sagyo’s Cherry Tree) [Tyler] - 4th cat.
Seiobo (The Queen Mother of the West) [Keene] - 1st cat.
Sekidera Komachi (Komachi at Sekidera) [Keene, Tyler] - 3rd cat.
Semimaru [Keene, Tyler] - 4th cat.
Shokun [Keene] - 5th cat.
Sotoba Komachi (Stupa Komachi) [Waley, Shirane] - 4th cat.
Sumida-gawa (The Sumida River) [Tyler, Shirane] - 4th cat.
Tadanori [Tyler] - 2nd cat.
Takasago [Tyler, Shirane] - 1st cat.
Taniko (The Valley Rite) [Keene, Waley] - 5th cat.
Tatsuta [Tyler] - 3rd or 4th cat.
Torioi-bune (The Bird-scaring Boat) [Keene] - 4th cat.
Tsunemasa [Waley] - 2nd cat.
Ukai (The Cormorant-Fisher) [Waley] - 5th cat.
Yamamba (The Mountain Crone) [Tyler] - 5th cat.
Yashima [Tyler] - 2nd cat.
Yokihi [Keene] - 3rd cat.
Yugyo Yanagi (The Priest and the Willow) [Keene] - 3rd cat.

Finally, here is an excellent website about the No theater, with summaries of the plays, photos of the masks etc.