Buddhahood for the Nonsentient Reconsidered: The Case of Kakitsubata (The Iris) and Other Nō Plays by Konparu Zenchiku
In: Journal of Religion in JapanSearch for other papers by Susan Blakeley Klein in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
Donald Shively first considered the topic of “Buddhahood for the nonsentient” (sōmoku jōbutsu) as a theme in Nō plays back in 1957. In subsequent years there have been several major studies published on sōmoku jōbutsu in Japanese and one major study in English. This new research enables a more complex understanding of how popular conceptions of sōmoku jōbutsu play themselves out in Nō involving nonsentient beings, and in particular how the concept of Buddhahood for the nonsentient intersects with the possibility of enlightenment for women. The article takes as a case study the Nō play Kakitsubata, in which an iris, manifesting as a young woman attains enlightenment and release from her obsessive attachment to her deep purple color, which for her signals that she is the most important and beloved of the katami (fetishized poetic mementos) associated with Ariwara no Narihira, a Heian poet deified in the medieval period as the Bodhisattva of Song and Dance. In this play, as in others by Konparu Zenchiku, the solution that the playwright presents performatively to this doubled problem of salvation is ambiguous, but may well be representative of the popular understanding of the ontological and soteriological status of both nonsentient beings and women in late medieval culture.
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Meishukushū 明宿 Itō Masayoshi 伊藤正義 & Akira Omote 表章 Konparu Zenchiku 今春善竹 Konparu kodensho shūsei 金春古傳書集成. 1969 Tokyo Wanya Shoten
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[Kunaichō Shoryōbu shozō] Katagiri Yōichi 片桐洋一 Reizekeryū Ise monogatari shō 宮内庁所領部所蔵冷泉家流伊勢物語抄 Ise monogatari no kenkyū (shiryōhen) 伊勢物語の研究 (資料編) 1969 Tokyo Meiji Shoin
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Sanjūshika no kotogaki 三十四箇事書 Kōryū Tada 多田厚隆 et al. Tendai hongaku ron 天台本学論. Nihon shisō taikei 日本思想体系 1973 9 Tokyo Iwanami Shoten 151 185
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Shinjō sōmoku jōbutsu shiki 斟定草木成仏私記 Fumihiko Sueki 末木文美士 Annen 安然 Heian shoki bukkyō shisō no kenkyū: Annen no shisō keisei o shūshin to shite 平安初期仏教思想の研究―安然の思想形成を中心として. 1995d Tokyo Shunjūsha 705 774 725-785
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Itō Masayoshi 伊藤正義 “Yōkyoku Kakitsubata kō: Sono shūdai o tōshite mita chūsei no Ise monogatari kyōju to Narihira sō ni tsuite 謡曲「杜若」考―その主題を通して見た中世の伊勢物語享受と業平像について.” Bunrin 文林 1967 2 61 83
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Sueki Fumihiko 末木文美士 Heian shoki bukkyō shisō no kenkyū: Annen no shisō keisei o shūshin to shite 平安初期仏教思想の研究―安然の思想形成を中心として. 1995d Tokyo Shunjūsha
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Shinkawa Tetsuo 新川哲雄 “ ‘Sōmoku kokudo shikkai jōbutsu’ ni tsuite: sōmoku jōbutsu kan kenkyū e no oboegaki 「草木国土悉皆成仏」について―草木成仏観研究への覚え書.” Gakushūin Daigaku bungakubu kenkyū nenpō 学習院大学文学部研究年報 1982 29 23 65
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Shively Donald “Buddhahood for the Nonsentient: A Theme in Nō Plays.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 1957 20 135 161
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Tanabe George J. Jr. & Tanabe Willa Jane The Lotus Sutra in Japanese Culture 1989 Honolulu University of Hawai‘i Press
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| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
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Buddhahood for the Nonsentient Reconsidered: The Case of Kakitsubata (The Iris) and Other Nō Plays by Konparu Zenchiku
In: Journal of Religion in JapanSearch for other papers by Susan Blakeley Klein in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
Donald Shively first considered the topic of “Buddhahood for the nonsentient” (sōmoku jōbutsu) as a theme in Nō plays back in 1957. In subsequent years there have been several major studies published on sōmoku jōbutsu in Japanese and one major study in English. This new research enables a more complex understanding of how popular conceptions of sōmoku jōbutsu play themselves out in Nō involving nonsentient beings, and in particular how the concept of Buddhahood for the nonsentient intersects with the possibility of enlightenment for women. The article takes as a case study the Nō play Kakitsubata, in which an iris, manifesting as a young woman attains enlightenment and release from her obsessive attachment to her deep purple color, which for her signals that she is the most important and beloved of the katami (fetishized poetic mementos) associated with Ariwara no Narihira, a Heian poet deified in the medieval period as the Bodhisattva of Song and Dance. In this play, as in others by Konparu Zenchiku, the solution that the playwright presents performatively to this doubled problem of salvation is ambiguous, but may well be representative of the popular understanding of the ontological and soteriological status of both nonsentient beings and women in late medieval culture.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 450 | 116 | 14 |
| Full Text Views | 113 | 3 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 64 | 8 | 1 |
