The Japanese Proverb “Parent-child Relations Last but One Lifetime” in Noh Plays

Abstract

Abstract Japan's six-century-old Noh theater appears on UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Noh librettos are literary works that contain expressions related to proverbs and allude to works written in both kanbun (Chinese) and wabun (Japanese) styles. Whereas Noh specialists are apt to focus on issues of interest only to other specialists, this study attempts to open up a new area of research in the hope that it will attract the interest of those in other fields. One more distinctive feature is that the plays investigated include those in and outside the current repertoire, works dating from both the Muromachi (c. 1338-1573) and from later periods. Through an investigation of Noh plays concerning parent-child relations, this study finds that the most frequently found expression is the proverb “Parent-child relations last but one lifetime”, or expressions conveying that meaning. They are employed in both sad and happy contexts by both parents and children. The paper argues that in most of these plays the playwrights emphasize the great strength of parent-child relations to the point that, contrary to this proverb, even death cannot break them. There are many plays using this expression in the context of a parent's grief while traveling in search of a lost child, waiting for his return, or after learning about his death. The paper argues that the expression is more likely to be employed not only to vent the grief of parents, but also to mask their protest against the belief expressed by this proverb. The paper also argues that this protest is more explicit when it is through the voice of mothers. These playwrights seem to be arguing against the proverb, which in full states, “Parent-child relations last but one lifetime. That of husband and wife, two lifetimes. That of lord and vassal, three lifetimes”. Male characters probably could not as easily reveal their weakness or their resistance to the values that feudal society wanted them to follow. In most of the plays using this kind of expression, the separated parent and child are reunited in a happy ending. The reunion in some cases is the result of the parent's travel in search of the child while in some it is due to the miraculous aid from deities. The playwrights may have wanted to propagandize faith in the deities mentioned in those plays.