著者

武藤 美枝子

出版者

法政大学大学院 国際日本学インスティテュート専攻委員会

雑誌

国際日本学論叢 (ISSN:13491954)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.9, pp.1-22, 2012-03-23

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The tōgaku dance "Shunnōden" originated in Tang-dynasty China and was brought toJapan by the mid-ninth century at the latest. The name"Shunnōden" is composed of thethree Chinese characters 春鶯囀 ,literally 'spring,warbler,twittering /singing'. The birdreferred to by the second character is not the same in China and Japan,although bothbirds sing nicely. Here in Japan,this bird has been much loved as the little bird who tellsus of the coming of the long-awaited spring. "Shunnōden" was danced many times on theoccasions of imperial visits to the Emperor's parent(s),which customarily took place invery early spring,and also on birthday anniversaries in spring. Although this bird isclosely associated with plum trees in Japan,modern zoology has revealed that the bird inquestion has no habit of coming to plum trees.In the"The Festival of the Cherry Blossoms" chapter of the Tale of Genji,Genji dances"a brief passage"of a dance since "the crown prince himself presented a sprig of blossomsfor his cap and pressed him so hard to dance..." (English translation by E. G.Seidensticker). The text does not give the name of the dance, but most scholars,studyguidebooks and translations into modern Japanese have so far assumed it was"Shunnōden"that Genji danced here; "Shunnōden," as danced by professional dancers,wasthe preceding performance in the Festival, and it has been believed that Genji justrepeated a part of it. However, the author of this paper argues that the dance must havebeen a passage from"Seigaiha" ('Blue Sea Waves'), which Genji had danced so beautifullyon an autumn excursion in the preceding chapter ('Momiji no ga,' or "An AutumnExcursion"). The grounds for this interpretation include the following:・The brief passage Genji danced was"the quiet waving of his sleeves." The Japaneseword used here for'waving'is kaesu,and the word kaesu is customarily used to refer towaves that come and go (kaesu is the word for"go"); in contrast, kaesu is not used inassociation with the movements of the wings of birds.・The crown prince recalled Genji's dancing "Seigaiha"when he saw the setting sun,whose glow had enhanced the divine beauty of Genji's dancing,and then offered Genji asprig to use as a headdress (kazashi). "Shunnōden"does not have a particular tie to aheaddress. Although "Seigaiha"itself does not have one either,a headdress may haveserved as trigger to the crown prince's memory because Genji had danced "Seigaiha"with a sprig in his cap in the preceding chapter.・Lovers in olden days waved their sleeves to invite the soul of their loved one. Genji wassending his message of love to Empress Fujitsubo,just as he did in his dancing in thepreceding chapter. We know Fujitsubo understood his message when we see that she started her wistful poem with the expression ōkata ni,* the very expression she used in the preceding chapter as the closing of her response to Genji when he informed her thathe had performed the sleeve-waving part of "Seigaiha" with all his heart for her.*Note:It is hard to establish the precise connotation of this word in the two situations in translatedversions, since the word is translated differently by the various translators.