Having now studied Aoi No Uye by Zeami for a second time, I recall the same points of interest I held before. When I first read the play, I recall the translation aggravated me because there were so much mixed religious imagery involved. But now reading it from the point of a “global theatre,” I think the mixed imagery is pretty clever. The play is filled with spirituality through the basic plot line of a haunting ghost. There are references to witches, Buddhism, the rosary, saints, holy water of Yoga, scriptures, an exorcism, and demons. With this bizarre mix of religious and spiritual imagery, it seems the main goal of the characters is to simply get rid of Rokujo and her fierce disruptive jealousy in order to restore harmony. I would like to make the argument that the base of most of the spiritual practices is to restore harmony as well. It's as though the play uses many different tools in hopes of restoring harmony. Obviously this inaccuracy of imagery comes from a poor translation and this could be potentially misleading and mis-educating to a contemporary audience, but I understand the choices of mixing familiar Western and European religious imagery with a traditional Japanese spiritual practice to make the play more accessible to Westerners--- remembering also it was translated in early 1900s. If this was a contemporary translation I would have expected the translation to be more authentic and true to the original. But I note that this is when Noh theatre was first introduced to an American audience and translators probably understood the need to have some familiarity in order to deflect a backlash. At least that's my guess.
Also, to take into consideration, I found a website about Aoi No Uye which gives some backgound information. We know the story is taken from the novel The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki Shikibu, which was the started novel for many Noh plays. In the story, Prince Genji was married to Princess Aoi when he was only twelve. They lived separately when the were younger, and when Genji was sixteen he fell in love with Rokujo, who was eight years his elder. But he was not faithful to her either, and took another lover. That lover was supposedly ripped out of her bed by Rokujo while she was sleeping. Now knowing this, the jealousy of Rokujo is emphasized even more. Genji is reunited with Aoi. She later runs her carriage into Rokujo's carriage, (Rokujo's carriage was blocking hers) and there is a fight amongst the servents. Aoi's servants win the scuffle, but soon after she is taken ill and this is the beginning of the play. Just in terms of emotional connection, I might understand why Rokujo's spirit was so upset.
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