Wild actors and wrathful deities: Buddhist faith, entertainment, and the kabuki theatre of early modern Japan
This paper examines the relationship between the celebrated kabuki guild of Ichikawa Danjūrō actors and the popular Narita Fudō deity cult in the capital of Edo in early modern (seventeenth to nineteenth century) Japan. While the actors' worship of the cult and their personifications of the dei...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic/Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage
[2015]
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| In: |
Studies in religion
Year: 2015, Volume: 44, Issue: 1, Pages: 16-32 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Ichikawa, Danjūro 1660-1704
/ Japan
/ Narita
/ Theater
/ Kabuki
/ Acalanātha
/ Cult
/ Buddhism
/ Edo period
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| RelBib Classification: | AA Study of religion AG Religious life; material religion BL Buddhism KBM Asia TJ Modern history |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This paper examines the relationship between the celebrated kabuki guild of Ichikawa Danjūrō actors and the popular Narita Fudō deity cult in the capital of Edo in early modern (seventeenth to nineteenth century) Japan. While the actors' worship of the cult and their personifications of the deity on-stage have been well documented by scholarship, less known is how this patronage resulted in the transformation of the deity's character and worship among commoner audiences. By tracing the Danjūrō-Narita Fudō connection among popular media of the day, this paper argues that the guild's artistic incorporation of the deity did not merely represent a religio-commercial collaboration, but the creation of a uniquely contemporary deity specific to Edo’s theatrical culture. |
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| ISSN: | 0008-4298 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Studies in religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0008429814548173 |