坪内逍遥の史劇改良 :『桐一葉』における<型>の破壊

Abstract

Tsubouchi Shōyō composed the three works Kiri hitoha (A Leaf of Paulownia), Maki no kata (Lady Maki), and Hototogisu kojō no rakugetsu (A Sinking Moon over the Lonely Castle Where the Cuckoo Cries) with the intention of re-inventing historical plays through the kabuki genre. In particular, Kiri hitoha, serialized in the magazine Waseda bungaku from November 1894 to September 1895, is a highly significant work as it was not only the starting point of this effort but also the first of Shōyō’s plays that was premiered in the kabuki theater. In previous research, it has been argued that Shōyō attempted to depict emotion (ninjō) and to focus on portraying the tragedy of characters who are tormented by fate rather than the personality of individuals. He named this form of drama “the circumstance tragedy” (kyōgu higeki) in Kiri hitoha, referring to his treatises Shosetsu shinzui and Wagakuni no shigeki. On the other hand, some studies have examined the influence of contemporary issues such as the Sino-Japanese War, and of iconic literature such as Shakespeare’s dramas, on the play. Although these perspectives are useful for analyzing the play, they seem obscure, and they do not indicate clearly what elements of so-called “traditional kabuki” (kyūgeki) that Shoyo tries to re-imagine. In this paper, I clarify how Shōyō attempts to implement his own philosophy in the re-invention of historical plays by referring to his commentaries and to critiques by contemporary literary figures, and by analyzing the characters in Kiri hitoha in terms of the way they subvert or escape conventional patterns or forms (kata). For example, most criticism has been directed at the ambiguous personalities of the protagonists Katagiri Katsumoto and Kagerō, as well as at the undecidability of the good or evil of the supporting characters, the nun Shōeini and Watanabe Kuranosuke. However, Shōyō endeavors to break away from institutions in the field of kabuki and the conventions of historical plays by employing these unorthodox characters. Meanwhile, he criticizes the dreams in traditional kabuki for not being genuine, but instead a foreshadowing of the drama, making them merely devices and not organic. To overcome this, he attempts to create a realistic and pure dream, absent theatrical calculation, in the form of Yodogimi’s nightmare. To sum up, throughout Kiri hitoha the spirit of overthrowing the formality and conventions of traditional kabuki plays is the essence of the re-invention of historical dramas that Shōyō aims for.