“Ｋｗａｉｄａｎ（ｏｒ Ｋａｉｄａｎ）”

　In the summertime,specially in August ,it is hot and humid in Japan.Perhaps in order to stand the unconfortable climate we have traditionally had some performances called “horror genre”.This is, of course, a kind of mental measure, not a phisical one.This mentality is based on the concept that we feel something chilly when we see some “horror” performances.Someone say it is a silly and ridiculous mentality,but we have kept on performing tradionally.This tradition is not lost even now though there are everywhere air conditioning systems.
There was a westerner named Lafcadio Hearn who was interested in Japanese ghostly phenomenon and collected “horror” stories.Most of them are folk tales.He called them “kwaidan”.One of them was made into movie in the title of “Kwaidan”.As it has been released in Europe,someone might have seen it even in Rumania.”Kwaidan”,which is “Kaidan” in Japanese, is not a word invented by Hearn but used by Japanese to indicate “horror” tales and plays.So you can imagine why “Kaidan” are often played in summertime.
From August 6 to 31 “Kaidan Botan Doro( Peony Lantern)was staged in Shibuya(the central area of Tokyo).This pkay was written by Nobuyuki Onishi and directed by Hidenori Inoue.Onishi is a playwright writing for contemporary theatre and Inoue a director good at rock musicals and kabuki-styled performances.
“Peony Lantern” was written by Ryoi Asai in 1666 but was adapted from a famous Chinese ghost story written in Ming era（１３６８−１６４４）..The Japanese tale was so well adapted that it was took it for a original one.The author Asai simplified the complicated Chinese story into a short tale.The plot is so simple.
A man named Ogihara, who is a widower、encounters a beautiful young lady at night during Bon Festival(the day of ancester) and invites her home.She accepts his proposal because she lives far and it is too dark . Since then they spend days in a utter bliss,but a suspicious old man living next door looks in and finds Ogihara enjoing talks with a skelton.Ogihara is surprised to know that and according to the old man’s advice he went to a temple where she lives.He finds there her tomb and a peony lantern she always holds.He runs home to put a paper charm on which Buddhist scriptures are written,at the gate.After that she comes no more.But one day when Ogihara loves to see her again and goes to her grave,she draws him down to his death.On rainy nights they emerge together.but appear no more when Ogihara’s family holds Buddhist memorial services for them.The author Asai was a Buddhist priest.We can draw a Buddhist moral from this tale.Kaidan reminds us of a strategy of catholicism in the era of counter-reformation.
In the age of Meiji Restoration a famous storyteller,Encho Sanyutei,rewrite “Kaidan Botan Doro” from this short story of Asai.This new version gets a big hit and gives birth to various kinds of performances such as Kabuki play and new theatres etc..The play I saw several weeks ago is based on the story told by Encho.(to be continued)