Lecture 2 Japanese Ghosts

Review: How do you become a ghost? 1. Die a sudden or violent death, accidental (eg. drowning) or murder 2. Die with deep passion in your heart (in Buddhism, regardless whether good emotions or bad emotions) 3. Leave unfinished business to attend to 4. The proper religious rituals haven't been performed

What happens if any of these four things occur? Tama will not proceed as it should towards becoming a Kami or Buddha, but instead remains tied to this world, to the suffering of the flesh. The tama, no longer attached to a living being, but not deified and enlightened either, becomes what we would call a ghost, caught between two worlds.

The mechanism by which ghosts come into existence stays pretty much the same throughout Japanese history (and actually stays pretty consistent across cultures) However, what ghosts look like and how they are pacified is culturally specific and even within Japan changes a lot from 800.C.E. to the 20 th century.

What do ghosts mean? aGhosts and other supernatural beings both in the premodern and modern period, in the West and in Asia, dramatically reenact both publicly and privately the failure of political, social, and religious structures.

Ghosts as expression of cultural anxieties So one thing we think about when we see a ghost is: what is going wrong in society? e.g. How do ghosts relate to contemporary anxieties and fears?

Critical Analysis: Analyzing Ghost Stories 1) Who is the author/creator? Male or female? Socio-economic class? 2) Who is the patron responsible for having the image/story created? 3) Who is the intended audience? Male or female? Socio-economic class?

4) What is the religious belief system and historical context framing it? For example: –Christian attitude toward ghosts –Japanese religion’s attitude toward ghosts

5) How is the story or image supposed to affect that audience; i.e. what is the goal of the story? Didactic? Entertainment? 6) Are there any political and economic issues at stake? Who benefits from this version? 7) Genre: History? Fiction? Play? Image? Anime? Movie?

Encouraging Critical Thinking How are images and stories being used to manipulate people? How do ghosts and the supernatural relate to contemporary anxieties and fears? X Files (paranoia: the truth is out there) Alien abduction Horror movies (“Last Girl” phenomenon)

Function of Angry Ghosts in 9 th - 11 th c. Japan 1) Explanatory (rational, “scientific”) 2) Political issues/class oppression 3) Issues of gender oppression 4) Religious Issues

Explanatory Function Natural disasters Epidemic and individual disease

Political Situation in 9-11 th c. Japan (Heian period) How does political situation contribute to development of belief in angry ghosts? Heian aristocratic politics Northern branch of the Fujiwara clan killing off their rivals –What are political rivals likely to become?

Social Situation of 9-11 th c. Japan Urbanization Social problems –Overcrowding –Bad water (cholera) –Malnutrition –Increase in crime

Political Function of Angry Ghosts How did angry ghosts and disease deities become tied to social protest/unrest? One reason: underlying belief in harmony between virtuous ruler and state of nature "Disasters of all kinds were a barometer of social injustices" (Neil McMullin)

Second reason for ghosts being tied to problems in political and social context: Ghosts hold grudges So they are often used as symbols of political rebellion and subversion

Angry ghosts become rallying points for protest Peasant rebellions –Peasant martyrs as angry ghosts –e.g. Sakura Sôgorô Exiled/murdered aristocrats –Used by aristocratic families opposing the ruling faction

Examples of Exiled Aristocrats Prince Sawara (died 785) Sugawara no Michizane (died 903) –First raijin (thunder deity) –After pacification: Tenman Tenjin

How Ghosts Get Power Two major correlates to power in ghosts: 1) The level of political ranking in life 2) The level of anger just before death The more public political power they control in life, the more dangerous they are to the general public after death. Sugawara no Michizane ( ): very high ranking minister, died in exile Became God of Thunder after death; caused epidemics, earthquakes etc. Eventually was pacified as Tenma Tenjin, the deity of scholarship

Social Issues: Oppression of Women Female ghosts often represent suppressed anger about how society treats women Female ghosts who appear battered and disfigured reveal the mistreatment of women (e.g. Oiwa) Women who have been abandoned by their husbands can turn into very horrific, vengeful ghosts. Anxiety about pregnancy

Power and Gender Women rarely have political power Therefore female ghosts are not usually understood as causing disasters on a national level, but tend to cause problems only for the men who mistreated them. Nevertheless, they can become voices of dissent within the narrower realm of gender politics

Summary In 9-12 th century Japan, angry ghosts function in a number of useful ways to deal with social and political issues Next section: look at examples from 10 th century and 15 th century Japan to see how female ghosts were functioning in premodern Japanese society

Lady Rokujô of The Tale of Genji: historical context Written around 1000 C.E. Society: about 10,000 literate aristocrats living in Kyoto. Social structure: Polygamy (men can have as many wives and mistresses as they wish or as many as they can afford) Women sit at home waiting for their husbands or lovers to come visit them (very passive and frustrating)

Critical Analysis Questions 1) Who wrote the story? –Lady-in-waiting at court, Murasaki Shikibu 2) Who was her patron? –Main patron was the Consort she served and the Consort's father, Fujiwara Michinaga, the most powerful man at court. –Marriage politics are important reason for MS being able to write

3) Intended audience besides Empress and her father? –Very high class: other ladies-in-waiting; the Emperor, other male courtiers 4)What is the religious belief system and historical context framing it? --Belief in angry ghosts, possession illness, esoteric Buddhist rituals of exorcism --marriage system of the time

4) What was her goal? Entertainment alone? 5) Are there any political and economic issues at stake? Who benefits from this version? –MS keeps her job; Empress Shoshi’s salon is made more attractive so Emperor will spend time with her and prefer her and her children 6) Genre: “novel” with illustrations (read aloud or, more rarely, privately)

Main Characters Prince Genji (about years old) Main Wife: Aoi (or Aoi no Ue) is about 8-9 months pregnant with their son –pregnancy a very dangerous time for women, easily susceptible to possession (real life example from Murasaki Shikibu’s diary) Neglected Mistress: Rokujô, about 25 years old, the widow of a Crown Prince

Basic Plot Carriage incident at Kamo Parade Rokujô is infuriated, hurt pride In dreams she attacks her rival, beating her She suspects that her tama leaves her body Wakes up with her clothes and hair smelling like burnt mustard seeds used in exorcism Aoi no Ue is indeed very ill and exorcists are called in to try and find out who is possessing her

Tale of Genji Exorcism Scene In Tale of Genji Buddhist priests fail to exorcise or even identify Rokujô Instead Rokujō reveals herself to Genji directly and tells him how angry she is Rokujô manages to kill Aoi just after Aoi gives birth to a son –anxiety about dangers of pregnancy

Rokujô as a “living spirit” Rokujô very ambivalent -- her torment causes her tama to wander and attack others As a woman with no public office, her angry spirit can only cause personal anguish to Genji and his family Nevertheless, Rokujô functions as a voice of dissent, a dramatic means of expressing for all Heian women the pain and resentment caused by polygamy.

What happens to Rokujô later in the book? Meets Genji one last time before she goes to Ise Shrine with her daughter (Chapter 6, “The Sacred Tree”) Dies four years later, after her return to the capital. Entrusts her daughter and her estate to Genji (her estate funds Genji’s political ascent) Many years later, after her daughter has become Empress through Genji’s support, she attacks Genji’s current wife through possession illness after he slights Rokujô in conversation. Angry voice of dissent to the very end of the book, even after death.

Summary What might the author Murasaki Shikibu’s goal be in Tale of Genji? What does Rokujô serve as? –“Madwoman in the Attic” concept developed by scholars Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar from studying Jane Eyre –Rochester’s mad wife in the attic is able to express anger over gender oppression that the “good heroine” wouldn’t be allowed to state

What Rokujō represents Rokujô as male ideal’s antithesis Her negative qualities: jealous, resentful, strong-willed and destructive, ambivalent How she fares in the novel: Within the structure of the narrative, she is condemned for her behavior -- she loses Genji, leaves the capital, and dies early in the story.

negative: Rokujo's inability to suppress those forbidden emotions turns her into a symbol of excessive attachment and an emblem of chaos and destruction. positive: Her spirit becomes a dramatic means of expressing for all Heian women the pain and resentment caused by the marriage system.

Psychological Complexity Very complex character psychologically. Her wandering spirit expresses 1) her own repressed and ambivalent feelings 2) the guilt and unconscious fears of the hero, Genji, who caused those conflicts. 3) the feelings of her victims, who remain silent but are inwardly tortured.

Rokujō 400 Years Later: Aoi no Ue (Noh play) Noh theater: highly refined form of masked dance-drama that had its origins in theatricalized shamanic rituals (Carmen Blacker, The Catalpa Bow, pp , 31) Aoi no Ue is a reenactment of a dramatic exorcism and pacification of the angry spirit of Rokujô

Noh Theater Plots often involve ghosts: 1) Ghost appears as an ordinary person (usually to a wandering priest) 2) Turns out to be a ghost, who has returned to this place because they have an attachment to it -- this is where they have died, or where some important event (good or bad) occurred 3) Returns in true form and re-enacts traumatic events (dance/song) 4) Priest recites Lotus Sutra and performs rituals etc. 5) Ghost achieves enlightenment and vanishes

What Noh ghosts want: Release from their passionate attachment Appearance as ghost is therapeutic: –Re-enactment through dance and song is cathartic –Prayers of priest are ritually effective

Politics/Economics Is Noh subversive/critical of social issues? Why? Patronage: –Early: Buddhist temples –Late: Samurai warriors

What female supernatural beings look like in Noh First half: ordinary people/villagers (often very young or very old) Second half: appear in true form (deity, benign ghost, demon or demonic ghost)

Ordinary village woman Here, very young, in the prime of her beauty

100 year-old woman poet, Ono no Komachi Mask: Rōjō Komachi (Aged Komachi)

Benign Ghost Ghost of an aristocratic woman longing for long- lost love

Supernatural Beauty Heavenly Maiden from Hagoromo (The Feathered Robe) This mask is also sometimes used for Rokujō in the first half of another play, Nonomiya (The Shrine in the Fields)

Symbolic features of Female Demonic (Angry) Ghosts Horns = jealousy and lust Bulging gold eyes, mouth etc. = supernatural power Deep red color=carnal attachments

Demon stick = torimono (used to call down possessing spirit by shamans) Wild red hair = tangled emotions Triangle scales on robe = serpent scales Long red hakama (split) trousers = serpent-like, but also worn by female shamans

Noh Play: Aoi no Ue Basic Plot: Rokujô, Aoi no Ue, shamaness (Teruhi); famous mountain priest Exorcism of the spirit of Lady Rokujô, who is attacking Genji's wife Aoi no Ue for having humiliated her at the Kamo Festival parade.

First Half Shamaness (Teruhi) is asked to come and see if she can find the source of Aoi no Ue's sickness; when she strums her catalpa (birch) bow, a beautiful woman (Rokujô) appears in a carriage

Why does Rokujô appear? A. Sound of the catalpa bow pulls her from the other world to this one B. She wants to vent her anger on Aoi no Ue, but also wants help with her passionate anger which is torturing her

Rokujo’s entrance scene Note: Teruhi describes her entrance as riding in a carriage with a maid servant clinging to the side Not portrayed this way in current stage performances, but probably was originally

“Riding the Three Vehicles of the Law Others may escape the Burning House. Mine is but a cart In ruins like Yugao’s house; I know not how to flee my passion. Like an ox-drawn cart, this weary world Rolls endlessly on the wheels of retribution. Rokujo’s entrance speech

Like wheels of a cart forever turning Are birth and death in all living things; Six Worlds and Four Births You must journey; Strive as you will, there is no escape.” (p. 93)

Imagery Burning House from the Lotus Sutra Allusion to Yugao: another of Genji’s mistresses who Rokujō killed in an abandoned mansion Three vehicles of the Law Law= dharma, the teachings of Buddha Carts/carriages/vehicles/wheels

Meaning of Carriage imagery Trapped in the broken carriage = her resentment and anger, she cannot reach detachment and enlightenment This world = a carriage whose wheels of karmic retribution turn round and round. No escape except through the Mahayana vehicle of Buddhist enlightenment

Story Continued Teruhi tries to argue with her, that she's only hurting herself by giving in to her anger. But she has no power to get Rokujo to listen. Instead Rokujo tries to strike at Aoi with her fan. Rokujô wants to grab Aoi and make her ride in her broken carriage, so Aoi can feel the humiliation that she felt.

Rokujō striking Aoi no Ue Aoi no Ue is represented simply by a robe placed at the front of the stage Teruhi, the shamaness, is seated at back

Female Shaman vs. Male Mountain Priest Female shaman is passive; can only become possessed, cannot exorcise or pacify Have to call in a male exorcism specialist (mixture of shamanism and Buddhism) Mountain priests have performed special austerities to gain their powers Calls on Fudô Myôô: "He who heeds my sermon attains perfect wisdom, he who knows my mind attains the Buddha form."

Second Half Having identified herself, Rokujō returns in a demonic form Exorcism scene At the end Rokujō accepts enlightenment

Rokujō accepting enlightenment and bowing to the priest to indicate that she will not return

Why these differences between two versions? Authorship Patronage Audience Religious and historical context Goals

Authorship: ToG: Heian period aristocratic female; Murasaki Shikubu, lady-in-waiting to Empress Shôshi (1000 CE) AnU: Medieval male actor/playwright (lower class); anonymous probably around late 14th century. Used “Cliffs notes” handbook rather than original text.

Patronage: TofG: Fujiwara no Michinaga/ marriage politics AnU: probably patronized by a temple

Audience: TofG: small group of literate aristocrats surrounding Empress Shôshi AnU: probably illiterate commoners but also courtiers/samurai

Religious Context: TofG: aristocratic attitude toward Buddhism somewhat detached. Not MS’s major concern. AnU: Newer sects of Buddhism (Pure Land, Nichiren, Zen) argue for Universal Salvation, that even women can attain enlightenment.

Historical Context: TofG: –aristocrats in power –Fujiwara marriage politics AnU: –aristocrats have lost power to samurai –System of marriage politics ends (and with it female authorship)

Major differences between Noh play and original story 1. What is the main conflict in the story? In the play? What does Rokujô want in each? 2. Is Rokujô alive or dead in each version? 3. Is Rokujô conscious of what she is doing? Why would this be different? 4. Does Rokujô manage to kill Aoi no Ue? Why the difference? 5. Who does Rokujô appear to? What is the role of the priests? Why doesn’t Genji appear in the play? 6. Does Rokujô get enlightenment in the book? In the play?

Section Discussion Given you the basic historical context for each text How do you think the differences in the two texts reflect those differing historical contexts? That is, given what you know about the changed historical context, authorship, goals etc., why did the Noh playwright change so much of the story?

What is the main conflict in the story? In the play? What does Rokujô want in each? ToG: Rokujô's ambivalent feelings about Genji, her anger at Aoi no Ue, her embarrassment about the public humiliation at the Kamo festival; all clearly related to issues of the marriage system at the time, that allowed one man to have a number of women as wives and lovers.

► AnU: whether she'll give up her anger at Aoi no ue and accept Buddhist enlightenment or not. Ambivalence: The personality characteristic of being ambivalent in Tale of Genji -- not being able to decide how she should feel about Genji -- now becomes her inability to decide between her desire for revenge and her desire for enlightenment and release from her passions.

Summary of conflict difference: The play is not concerned about whether Rokujō is justified in her feelings or not; not interested in the gender issues of Heian period. Only concerned with whether Rokujō will get release from her anger.

Is Rokujô alive or dead? ToG: clearly alive AnU: not clear, but apparently dead: pg. 95: I am the ghost of Princess Rokujô. In those olden days when I walked the world, on spring mornings I was invited to the flower feasts of the Palace, and on autumn nights I viewed the moon in the royal garden….Fallen in life, I am today no more than a morning-glory that withers with the rising of the sun.” p. 97: “Even were I living, our love is already an old tale, never to be revived even in a dream.”

Is Rokujô conscious of what she is doing? ToG: She's unconscious of what she is doing -- her living spirit is attacking Aoi no Ue without her conscious volition AnU: She's conscious of what she is doing and knows it is wrong

Summary: Why the difference? In ToG important that Rokujō’ not be conscious so we are sympathetic In AoU enlightenment is central to the play. Rokujō must be fully aware that she's caught in a delusory passion that goes against Buddhist teachings. Otherwise she won't be able to consciously choose enlightenment. In Noh, Rokujô gets salvation in the end -- she becomes symbol of possibility of Universal Salvation.

Does she kill Aoi no Ue? ToG: yes AnU: no Summary: Why the difference? ToG: need to get Aoi out of the story to make way for another woman who will be Genji’s wife AnU: Noh has to demonstrate power of Buddhism

Who does Rokujô appear to? What is the role of the priests? ToG: a.She only appears directly to Genji b.Very little interest in the exorcists, who are basically treated as having little or no power over Rokujō c.All emphasis is on the triangle between Aoi, Genji and Rokujō d. The exorcism scene is just there to further the plot

AnU: Genji doesn't even appear on stage Aoi is reduced to a robe All emphasis is placed on the power of the mountain priest: focus of the play is now on the struggle between a powerful priest and a malevolent spirit which he attempts to subdue and convert to Buddhist understanding.

Does she get Enlightenment? ToG: She definitely doesn't get enlightenment. Remains a voice of dissent. AnU: She gets enlightenment in the end.

Didactic goal: a spirit that has been enlightened won't come back so demonstrates power of shamanic Buddhism. Whether her anger is justified or not, is not considered particularly important. BUT NOTE: A woman’s salvation, her ability to choose enlightenment, is taken seriously, so Rokujō’s complex psychology remains

Summary: This Rokujo is fully aware of what she's doing. She's a vengeful ghost (dead) and she knows that what she's doing is completely against the Buddhist path to enlightenment. She's torn between gaining enlightenment and getting revenge -- and typically human she goes after revenge. The other Rokujô was unconscious. Didn't think about it in Buddhist terms at all.

Novel and play: women, in their demonic rage, are very powerful indeed. Treat them with respect! Gender issues around marriage no longer considered important, BUT women are not discounted completely. The fact that a woman's spiritual struggles were important enough to write a play around them would be out of the question in the western medieval period.

Images from Aoi No Ue Looking at the symbolic meaning of the costumes

Comparison of two demonic women: Rokujo and Dojoji serpent woman

Why are Noh ghosts so embodied compared to Heian period ghosts? A. Genre differences B. Historical differences (change in attitude towards visibility of ghosts btw 11 th and 14 th centuries) C. Concept of inherent carnality of women

Why are these fantasy women so powerful? Psychoanalytic issues? Revenge of the repressed? Entertainment Buddhist didacticism –Carnality of women –Universal Salvation