[paper/課程論文/論文] 能劇Noh/表演研究Performance Studies/The Fulling Block

 The “Block”

The Fulling Block can be read only as a story of dying for love. However, the story is complicated with the use, the meaning, and the position of a block. The block indicates some alternations of a woman and her relationship with her partner; furthermore, the push-and-pull relationship between theater and the audience.

The use of a block is very against the setting of a high-status woman and a authoritative Shite. Thus, the existence and even interaction with it are very striking. This consistency, both in the plot and the stage, lures the audience into the play but the appropriation also defies the audience with this unexpected experience of Noh drama. A great tension is already created besides the story itself.

As the stories goes, the lure intensifies because the block serves as multiple meanings. Due to the long distance and the long departure, the lovesick Wife madly calls for her lover according to a Chinese story. She degrades herself as a poor folk beating upon a block. However, she claimed this purpose is to “comfort [her] own heart,” (Tyler 163) which is a disguise for her overwhelming expression for the long departure with her husband. Soon after, The Wife reveals her agony, “angry and pain,” when beating the block. Just when she accepts her true feeling, her broken heart caused by the waiting that is no end in sight countdowns her death. It eventually differentiates the couple into different worlds. The Wife has the “blossom heart” (166) in spring, and her fickle husband only appears and reappears as a “summer robe,” (164) both of who will never meet up at the end of autumn. They belong to different time zone, spring and summer, life and death. Ironically, the block, which is later offered to the Buddha, connects them in Part II to make a successful communication when beating the block is a consequence of their early miscommunication. With the multiple meanings, the sentimentality has reached its peak with this forever goodbye and storms the audience into the world of The Fulling Block.

Meanwhile, the audience is also distracted by another unexpected event from the immersive scene. It is at this very end of Part I when a stage assistant moves the block. The position of the block also gives subtle hint to audience in two aspects. First, the block has some movement by an “outsider” of the plot rather than its stillness. The situation pushes the audience from the world in this Noh drama. It is never “exactly as it was” (167) because it has a significant change all of a sudden on this slow, controlled Noh stage. Also, an “intruder” of the story, reminds and thrills the audience that the actors on stage are extremely capable to control his actions but cannot lead their life at the moment. The human beings are clenched by time and timing with many description of a blink, of longevity and of seasons. As a result, the audience is awakened by the move of block from previous immersive phenomenon. Second, the spatial change of the block suggests that the stubbornness for her husband has gone. The relationship, as well, is not exactly the same and redefined is Part II. The dislocated block restages the desperate call for a beloved when his partner cannot physically respond to The Husband.   

Another strange thing brought by the block is that the explicit, extreme emotion of The Wife is not expected to see in a Noh drama. The exception, thus, has its meaning more than the ebbs and flows of two lovers. The uncontrolled emotion is a salvation of the Wife. As I have discussed in the beginning, the existence and the interaction with a block is already foreshadowing madness in the play. But beating a block is just imitation or the revisit of other figure’s madness. Fortunately, it has turned to a choice, an active action. Remember the last words of Spirit? The question, “[d]id you not hear me beating on the block and know my pain” is not beg for love as it was in the beginning but an introduction for harsh critic, “O you are hateful!” After this relief, finally, “a perfect flower is blossomed” with “seed of [The Wife’s] illumination” as the broken blossom heart has its new life. The burst of resentment, on the one hand, is an “altered and uncontrolled state of consciousness,” (Savas 144) and on the other hand, it is “within the constraints of the Buddhist belief” when she still tries to control her feelings in an alternative but still elegant way. That is, beating robes on a block in autumn.

Does The Wife really glow with happiness in the end of this play? I would say probably not. It is rather a salvation to a peaceful mindset. The Chorus in Part II, who are in her mind, still reminds us the sad tone of this story that the two figures are forever separated. She at first wished The Husband lives long as “long night” (164) when she now reassure if he hears her calling in “daylight” (169) or “dream.” The differentiation of the two lovers has the impact no matter in the beginning or in the end. But she definitely returns to calmness. She realized the fire turning from tears on a block is just a “wrongful clinging” (168). Her madness, which is a shame considered by herself, also reflects on her husband when she calls her “madman” (169) when his madness is doing too less for this relationship. In the end, a peaceful reconciliation is achieved when The Spirit shows her thirst for love and hate during her lifetime at the same time: she knees before the husband and accusingly points him with her fan. The husband, then, does not greet her not in a loving way as we expected between lovers, but with deep and solemn respect that is connected with Buddhism. The long night, which signifies long term loneness and The Husband, finally integrated with “briefly beat,” (170) and the “remorse” (167) embraces those “complaint” (170). Longevity and shortness, insufficient effort and excessive ones blended into one and all. This beautiful scene is impressive when the block, an insignificant daily facility, bridges the lovers and recalls controlled emotions, a significance in Noh drama.  

What we have to notice is that madness doesn’t cut down the effect of Noh drama to be like “a dream, an apparition, a bubble, or a shadow” (Zeami 28) with the multiplications above. The Fulling Block pushes and pulls the audience at the same time. Moreover, it creates a kind of aura similar to catharsis. The audience feels pity for this suffering for love but also feel glad they are not the suffered lovers. The audience feels fear when they see a high status woman could be abandoned and go mad for love but also feel relieved when she is rescued by the spirit of Buddhism. The piece of block not only bridges the two lovers but also the relationship between the theater and the audience.

In the very end of this paper, I would like to leave a question to my readers. What if The Maid is the most sober, clear thinking figure of Buddhism interacting with the block, hidden in the plot of love story? The Maid has sung that “dream follows dreams” (Tyler 161) when she was assigned to be a messenger between her masters, which suggests that the stubbornness in the world could just be a dream after all.  She can recognize the beating sound in forest at once, showing that she is down to earth and knows the life in village. Most importantly, she witnesses her mad mistress and “join[s] her” (163) with empathy and support to her mistress to encounter her crisis. Who wouldn’t say she is an unaware salvation for The Wife? Her company actually lasts for three life times, while the bond of husband and wife only lasts for two.  I suggest that it would be very interesting to analyze “the block” in The Maid’s narrative if it’s possible.

From the previous discussion one may conclude to it, the block in The Fulling Block doesn’t stay fixed as a piece of wood. It attracts and distracts the audience with its existence, interaction with actor and actress and position of it. It flavors this tragedy with the evolution of meanings, from melancholy, to madness and to ultimate tranquility. Without the presence of the block, The Fulling Block would never be as impressive as it always is. 

Works Cited

Tyler, Royall. Japanese Nō Dramas. London ; New York : Penguin Books, 1992.

Saves, Minae Yamamoto. “Voices from the Past: Symbolic Madness in the Noh Play Kinuta, the      Fulling Block.” Japan Studies Association Journal, vol. 11, 2013, pp. 144–157.

Zeami, and William Scott Wilson. The Flowering Spirit : Classic Teachings on the Art of Nō. Tokyo ; New York : Kodansha, 2006.