Page:Japanese Literature (Keene).pdf/73

Rh the texts must be alive and filled with action. Because jōruri is performed in theatres that operate in close competition with those of the kabuki, which is the art of living actors, the author must impart to lifeless wooden puppets a variety of emotions, and attempt in this way to capture the interest of the audience.” That Chikamatsu had mastered the requirements of the puppet theatre was demonstrated by the series of plays he wrote between 1705 and 1725, the most brilliant period in the history of the jōruri.

There must have been in Chikamatsu’s day critics who believed that realism was the one thing most to be sought by dramatists and producers. Chikamatsu understood that realism ran counter to the art of the puppet theatre and the kabuki as well, as the following account of one of his conversations demonstrates.

“Someone said, ‘People nowadays will not accept plays unless they are realistic and well reasoned out. There are many things in the old stories which people will not now tolerate. It is thus that such people as kabuki actors are considered skilful to the degree that their acting resembles reality. The first consideration is to have the retainer in the play resemble a real retainer, and to have the daimyō look like a real daimyō. People will not stand for the childish nonsense they did in the past.’ Chikamatsu answered, ‘Your view seems like a plausible one, but it is a theory which does not take into account the real methods of art. Art is something which lies in the slender margin between the real and the unreal. Of course it seems desirable, in view of the current taste for realism, to have the retainer in the play copy the gestures and speech of a real retainer, but in that case should a real retainer of a daimyō put rouge and powder on his face