| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,920,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
Fiscal Year 2007: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
Fiscal Year 2006: ¥2,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000)
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| Research Abstract |
The aim of this joint-research was to reconsider the characteristics of Okinawan drama as that of the World Theatre through the eyes of both a local Okinawan scholar and a Mainland Japanese scholar based in Kyoto. In our research, we broadened the term "actresses" and included women of the arts, or the entertainers and performers categorized as Geino-sha as professional actresses. This will include Tayu or Geiko in Kyoto as well as the Juri in Okinawa, who are categorized as Yujo. Such broadening of the term was necessary, for though there were almost no "official" actresses allowed to be on stage in Okinawa till the beginning of the twentieth century, female performing art was succeeded in the special entertainment district called Tsuji.
The highlight of the project was the symposium held in Okinawa on 24 October, 2007. We have invited Kitajima Sumiko, a representative actress of Okinawa, Higa Izumi, a young actress of the all-female Okinawan troupe, and the Akutagawa-prize winning writer Oshiro Tatsuhiro, as well as researchers from all over Japan to discuss on the female representations in Okinawa and Mainland Japan within a global context.
We also interviewed female performers, directors, and researchers in and outside Japan to compare their cases with those of Okinawa. The experience of chanting Noh in Miyakojima Island among the male performers also was a good chance to investigate the link between the almost all-male Noh and Kabuki actors and the female entertainers in mainland Japan and reconsider the meaning of "actresses" in Okinawa. We came to the conclusion that the Tsuji performers" (Juri) were the first "actresses" in Okinawa and the rightful successors of the traditions of sacred rites and entertainment which are in the danger of extinction in the region.
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