Japanese Arts at Pennsic
Barbara Nostrand
This Summer, Solveig Throndardottir will be offering three intensive
workshops at Pennsic outside of the ordinary Pennsic University. These
courses will meet daily and will be organized as "clubs". These three
courses are: Bungaku Nyuumon (Introduction to Literary Arts), Chadou
Nyuumon (Introduction to Tea), and Nougaku Nyuumon (Introduction to Noh
Theatre). The web page will provide information about materials which
workshop participants might want to obtain before arriving at Pennsic.
Solveig Throndardottir will offer the following week-long workshops
organized as "clubs" at Clan Yama Kaminari:
* Bungaku Nyuumon includes: Japanese poetics, Japanese calligraphy,
sumie painting, inkan carving, and designing your own kao. The
goal is to create a complete work of art consisting of a sumie
painting with an accompanying signed and sealed poem. While there
are many genres which may be described in this way, we will be
paying special attention to haiga which are a comparatively modern
form. These paintings are often polychromatic and are accompanied
by haiku or imayou poems. While haiku are exemplified by the
seventeenth century poet Matsuo Basho, the form originated in the
sixteenth century and appears to derive from the much earlier
renge form of linked poems.
* Chadou Nyuumon includes: tea aesthetics and philosophy, basic
movement, courtesy, introduction to use of essential tea
implements, introduction to participating in a tea ceremony,
introduction to bunryaku temae, optional participation in a chaji.
The tea ceremony provides an opportunity to unify many aspects of
Japanese culture including: calligraphy, incense appreciation,
flower arranging, pottery, architecture, and many other things.
The style of tea will be loosely based on Urasenke tea practice
with modifications to restore original forms. However, Solveig
Throndardottir is not a licensed Urasenke instructor. Rather, we
will be following the precepts of the Seishinryuu (pure heart
school) of Muheki'an (the hut without walls).
* Nohgaku Nyuumon includes: noh dance, noh chant, noh music, noh
dramatics, kyougen dramatics, and production of a short play
cycle. The Noh theatre is over six hundred years old and dates
from at least Kan'ami the father of Ze'ami. This is the popular
theater form of the buke (military class) of the Muromachi period.
There are two independently evolved but linked theatrical forms.
Noh is the serious form while Kyougen the comic form. Noh plays
have enjoyed set scripts for six hundred years while kyougen was
an improvisational theatre similar to comedia del'arte throughout
period. You may have caught a glimps of kyougen during the recent
"Last Samurai" motion picture. Noh dance is very popular in
contemporary Japan with many amateur shimai performances. The
style of Noh performance will be loosely based on Kita Ryu which
is a fairly recent noh style. However, Solveig Throndardottir is
not a Kita Ryu instructor.
Solveig Throndardottir will offer the following short classes through
the Pennsic University:
* Religion of the Samurai. An exploration of medieval Japanese
religion from organized shintoh and folk religion through Zen
Buddhim.
* Mythology & Superstitution. An exploration of the gods, ghosts,
and monsters of medieval Japan. Includes folks tales and medieval
literature.
* Court and Folk Dance. An introduction to basic movement used in
Japanese dance and how these movements are used in Japanese dance.
Court dance derived from T'ang dynasty China and the folk dances
of the summer Bon Festival will be introduced.
Advanced Preparation and Materials. The accompanying web site:
http://www.DeMoivre.org/bunk/Pennsic.html
will provide advance resources which will help you acquire materials for
use during these classes. This web site is very much a work in progress,
so you should check it every couple of weeks to see what has been added.
For example, the web site will include notes about how to acquire or
make the fukusa which is used for the tea ceremony. Those who are
interested in "Japanese fan dances" should participate in the Nohgaku
Nyuumon workshop as Noh dance is the exemplar of medieval dances which
employ fans.