Botan Doro - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Botan Dōrō is a Japanese ghost story

Kaidan

Kaidan is a Japanese word consisting of two kanji: 怪 meaning “strange, mysterious, rare or bewitching apparition" and 談 meaning “talk” or “recited narrative.”-Overall meaning and usage:...

that is both romantic and horrific. It involves sex with the dead

Necrophilia

Necrophilia, also called thanatophilia or necrolagnia, is the sexual attraction to corpses,It is classified as a paraphilia by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. The word is artificially derived from the ancient Greek words: νεκρός and φιλία...

and the consequences of loving a ghost.

It is sometimes known as Kaidan Botan Dōrō, based on the kabuki

Kabuki

is classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing , dance , and skill...

version of the story. Most commonly translated as Tales of the Peony Lantern, it is one of the most famous kaidan

Kaidan

in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

History

Botan Dōrō entered the Japanese psyche

Psyche (psychology)

The word psyche has a long history of use in psychology and philosophy, dating back to ancient times, and has been one of the fundamental concepts for understanding human nature from a scientific point of view. The English word soul is sometimes used synonymously, especially in older...

in the 17th century, through a translation of a book of Chinese

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

ghost stories called Jian Deng Xin Hua (New Tales Under the Lamplight). The collection was didactic in nature, containing Buddhist

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

moral lessons on karma

Karma

Karma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....

.

In 1666, author Asai Ryoi

Asai Ryoi

was a Japanese writer in the early Edo period. A Buddhist priest who was at one time head of a Kyoto temple, he is held to be one of the finest writers of Kanazōshi. Kanazōshi was a form of popular literature that was written with little or no kanji, thus accessible to many. Though it spanned...

responded to the Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

craze for kaidan, spawned largely by the popular game Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai

Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai

was a popular parlour game during the Edo period in Japan.The game was a simple one. In a room, as night fell, one hundred candles were lit. Guests and players gathered around the candles, taking turns telling kaidan. After each kaidan, a single candle was extinguished, and the room slowly grew...

, by adapting the more spectacular tales from Jian Deng Xin Hua into his own book Otogi Boko (Hand Puppets). At the time, Japan was a closed society

Sakoku

was the foreign relations policy of Japan under which no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633–39 and remained in effect until...

, and very little was known outside of its own borders, so China was viewed as a mysterious and exotic nation. Asai removed the Buddhist moral lessons and gave the stories a Japanese setting, placing Botan Dōrō in the Nezu

Nezu Station

Nezu Station is a metro station on the Tōkyō Metro Chiyoda Line located in Tōkyō's Bunkyō ward. Its station number is C-14. It opened for service on December 20, 1969....

district of Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

.

Otogi Boko was immensely popular, spawning multiple imitative works such as Zoku Otogi Boko (Hand Puppets Continued) and Shin Otogi Boko (New Hand Puppets), and is considered the forerunner of the literary kaidan movement that resulted in the classic Ugetsu Monogatari.

In 1884, Botan Dōrō was adapted by famous storyteller Encho Sanyutei into a rakugo

Rakugo

is a Japanese verbal entertainment. The lone sits on the stage, called the . Using only a paper fan and a small cloth as props, and without standing up from the seiza sitting position, the rakugo artist depicts a long and complicated comical story...

, which increased the popularity of the tale. In order to achieve a greater length, the story was fleshed out considerably, adding background information on several characters as well as additional subplots. It was then adapted to the kabuki

Kabuki

stage in July 1892, and staged at the Kabukiza under the title Kaidan Botan Dōrō.

In 1899, Lafcadio Hearn

Lafcadio Hearn

Patrick Lafcadio Hearn , known also by the Japanese name , was an international writer, known best for his books about Japan, especially his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things...

, with the help of a friend, translated Botan Dōrō into English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

for his book In Ghostly Japan. He titled his adaptation A Passional Karma, and based it on the kabuki version of the story.

A more modern version of the play was written in 1974 by the playwright Onishi Nobuyuki for the Bungakuza troupe, starring Sugimura Haruko, Kitamura Kazuo and Ninomiya Sayoko. It was so successful that it was staged again a few years later in April 1976 at the Shimbashi Embujo. A new adaptation by Kawatake Shinshichi III was staged for the first time with a full Kabuki casting in June 1989, again at the Shimbashi Embujo. The Kawatake version is still occasionally revived but is less popular than the Onishi one.

Much like Yotsuya Kaidan

Yotsuya Kaidan

Yotsuya Kaidan , the story of Oiwa and Tamiya Iemon, is a tale of betrayal, murder and ghostly revenge. Arguably the most famous Japanese ghost story of all time, it has been adapted for film over 30 times, and continues to be an influence on Japanese horror today.Written in 1825 by Tsuruya Nanboku...

, there remains a superstition that actors who play the ghost roles in Kaidan Botan Doro will come to harm. This comes from a 1919 performance at the Imperial Theater, when the two actresses playing Otsuyu and her maid became sick and died within a week of each other.

Otogi Boko version

On the first night of Obon

Obón

Obón is a municipality located in the province of Teruel, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 75 inhabitants....

, a beautiful woman and a young girl holding a peony

Peony

Peony or paeony is a name for plants in the genus Paeonia, the only genus in the flowering plant family Paeoniaceae. They are native to Asia, southern Europe and western North America...

lantern stroll by the house of the widowed samurai

Samurai

is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...

Ogiwara Shinnojo. Ogiwara is instantly smitten with the woman, named Otsuyu, and vows an eternal relationship. From that night onward, the woman and the girl visit at dusk, always leaving before dawn. An elderly neighbor, suspicious of the girl, peeks into his home and finds Ogiwara in bed with a skeleton

Skeleton

The skeleton is the body part that forms the supporting structure of an organism. There are two different skeletal types: the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, and the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside the body.In a figurative sense, skeleton can...

. Consulting a Buddhist

Buddhism in Japan

The history of Buddhism in Japan can be roughly divided into three periods, namely the Nara period , the Heian period and the post-Heian period . Each period saw the introduction of new doctrines and upheavals in existing schools...

priest, Ogiwara finds that he is in danger unless he can resist the woman, and he places a protection charm on his house. The woman is then unable to enter his house, but calls him from outside. Finally, unable to resist, Ogiwara goes out to greet her, and is led back to her house, a grave in a temple. In the morning, Ogiwara's dead body is found entwined with the woman's skeleton.

Kabuki version

A young student named Saburo falls in love with a beautiful woman named Otsuyu, the daughter of his father's best friend. They meet secretly, and promise to be married. But Saburo falls ill, and is unable to see Otsuyu for a long time.

Later, when Saburo recovers and goes to see his love, he is told that Otsuyu has died. He prays for her spirit during the Obon

Obón

Obón is a municipality located in the province of Teruel, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 75 inhabitants....

festival, and is surprised to hear the approaching footsteps of two women. When he sees them, they look remarkably like Otsuyu and her maid. It is revealed that her aunt, who opposed the marriage, spread the rumor that Otsuyu had died and told Otsuyu in turn that Saburo had died.

The two lovers, reunited, begin their relationship again in secret. Each night Otsuyu, accompanied by her maid who carries a peony lantern, spends the night with Saburo.

This continues blissfully until one night a servant peeks through a hole in the wall in Saburo's bedroom, and sees him having sex with a decaying skeleton, while another skeleton sits in the doorway holding a peony lantern. He reports this to the local Buddhist priest, who locates the graves of Otsuyu and her maid. Taking Saburo there, he convinces him of the truth, and agrees to help Saburo guard his house against the spirits. The priest places ofuda

Ofuda

Ofuda, is a gofu or a talisman issued by a Shinto shrine. It may also be called shinpu . It is made by inscribing the name of a kami and the name of the Shinto shrine or of a representative of the kami on a strip of paper, wood, cloth, or metal.It is to be renewed yearly, typically before the end...

around the house, and prays the nenbutsu every night.

The plan works, and Otsuyu and her maid are unable to enter, although they come every night and call out their love to Saburo. Pining for his sweetheart, Saburo's health begins to deteriorate. Saburo's servants, afraid that he will die from heartbreak leaving them without work, remove the ofuda from the house. Otsuyu enters, and again has sex with Saburo.

In the morning, the servants find Saburo dead, his body entwined with Otsuyu's skeleton. His face is radiant and blissful.

Differences

The main differences between the two versions are the changing of the human lover from Ogiwara Shinnojo, an elderly widower, to Saburo, a young student, and the establishment of a pre-existing lover's relationship between Otsuyu and Saburo.

Where the Otogi Boku version was written during the isolated Edo period, the Rakugo/Kabuki version was written after the Meiji restoration

Meiji Restoration

The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...

, and was influenced by the flood of Western literature and theater that accompanied the modernization of Japan.

One of these influences was adding a romantic element to the story, something that was played down in older kaidan. The Otogi Boku version makes no mention of Otsuyu's death. The Rakugo/Kabuki version creates the idea of Otsuyu and Saburo's love being stronger than death, and emphasizes Saburo's peaceful expression when his body is found entwined with the skeleton.

Influences and references

Botan Doro establishes the theme “sexual encounter with a woman’s ghost,” which would be encountered in numerous Japanese ghost stories to follow. This theme follows the standard pattern of a Noh

Noh

, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...

theater katsuramono play, where the female ghost hides her spectral nature until the final reveal at the end of the story.

The nature of the ghost's

Yurei

are figures in Japanese folklore, analogous to Western legends of ghosts. The name consists of two kanji, 幽 , meaning "faint" or "dim" and 霊 , meaning "soul" or "spirit." Alternative names include 亡霊 meaning ruined or departed spirit, 死霊 meaning dead spirit, or the more encompassing 妖怪 or お化け...

return to Earth is either a lingering love, or a general loneliness. The Otogi Boko version of Botan Doro has no prior relationship, and Otsuyu merely wishes for a companion in the afterlife. The Rakugo/Kabuki version, however, has Otsuyu returning for a former lover.

The sexual ghost can be found in Kyōka Izumi's

Kyoka Izumi

is the pen name of a Japanese author of novels, short stories, and kabuki plays who was active from the late Meiji to the early Shōwa periods. He is best known for a characteristic brand of Romanticism preferring tales of the supernatural heavily influenced by works of the earlier Edo period in...

story Maya Kakushi no Rei (A Quiet Obsession) which features a sensual encounter with a female ghost in an onsen

Onsen

An is a term for hot springs in the Japanese language, though the term is often used to describe the bathing facilities and inns around the hot springs. As a volcanically active country, Japan has thousands of onsen scattered along its length and breadth...

.

Botan Doro is famous for the onomatopoeia "karannn koronnn", which is the sound of Otsuyu's wooden clogs announcing her appearance on stage.

Film

Boton Dōrō is one of the first Japanese ghost stories to be put to film, with a silent version in 1910. Six further adaptations were made between 1911 and 1937, although all of these have been lost to time and only the titles are still known. It is second only to Yotsuya Kaidan in film adaptations, with a new version released every decade as either cinematic releases, direct-to-video releases, or television versions.

Notable is Satsuo Yamamoto's 1968 version, filmed for Daiei Studios. It is variously known as Bride from Hell, Haunted Lantern, Ghost Beauty, My Bride is a Ghost, Bride from Hades, or Peony Lanterns. Yamamoto's film roughly follows the Otogi Boko version of the story, establishing protagonist Hagiwara Shinzaburo as a teacher who flees an unwanted marriage with his brother's widow & lives quietly some distance from his family. The usual encounter with Otsuyu follows, although the inevitable consequence is treated as a happy ending or at worst bittersweet since they are united beyond the grave & need never again be lonesome.

In 1972, director Chūsei Sone

Chusei Sone

is a Japanese film director known primarily for his stylish and popular Roman Porno films for Nikkatsu, particularly the first two installments of the Angel Guts series. Despite a somewhat uneven career, many mainstream critics consider Sone the best of Nikkatsu's Roman Porno directors.-Life and...

made a pink film version for Nikkatsu

Nikkatsu

is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. The name Nikkatsu is an abbreviation of Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company".-History:...

's Roman Porno series, entitled . Following the Rakugo\Kabuki version, Hellish Love places emphasis on the sexual nature of the relationship between the protagonist and Otsuyu. Otsuyu is killed by her father who disapproves of the match with such a lowly samurai, but she promises to return on Bon Odori to be reunited with her lover.

A massive change in the story is made in Masaru Tsushima's 1996 Otsuyu: Kaidan botan doro (Haunted Lantern). This version has Shinzaburo dreaming of a past life, where he promised a Double Suicide

Double Suicide

is a 1969 film directed by Masahiro Shinoda. It is based on the 1721 play The Love Suicides at Amijima by Monzaemon Chikamatsu. This play is often performed in the bunraku style...

with Otsuyu, but fails to kill himself after she dies. In his present life, he meets a girl named Tsuya who is the reincarnation of his past beloved, but Shinzaburo's father arranges a marriage for him with Tsuya's sister, Suzu. Shinzaburo's friend attempts to rape Tsuya, so that she would stop being a nuisance jealous of her younger sister. Devastated, the two sisters commit suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

together. The usual consequences follow, but the film ends with Shinzaburo and Otsuyu further reincarnated

Reincarnation

Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...

together, living happily in a future life.

External links

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