Podcast appearances and mentions of Linda C Ehrlich

Amy asks Poulton to explain the difference between reading Noh plays and seeing a Noh performance. Poulton goes into great detail on the subject, including why and how the same Noh play covered in a few pages of text becomes a one-and-a-half hour play when performed. He quotes from Arthur Waley's The Noh Plays of Japan to explain the concept of length and time.He further introduces Kan'ami and Zeami, father and son, who elevated the art of Noh to what it has become and discusses the Tokugawa Shogunate's influence on Noh and gagaku (court music). Poulton notes that the flute, drum, and howling in Noh are designed to help take the audience into a different time and space. This is especially important to plays that focus on stories of ghosts, demons, and natural spirits (such as those of trees and plants).Noh performances are known for their ability to induce drowsiness and even sleep among the audience. Poulton explains how this induced hypnotic state can effectively transport the audience to a liminal awareness between reality and dreams."There is a transcendental boredom to Noh. We have to slow down our consciousnesses to get into the space of the performance. Time and space expand into infinity and eternity and this is how we can contact those things." —Cody PoultonNext Poulton expands on the structure of Noh plays and the use of dreams as devices in two well-known performances: "Hagoromo," an encounter of a human being and a supernatural creature, and "Yamamba" the mountain crone (See BOA Podcast 14: Yamamba: Japanese Mountain Witch with Rebecca Copeland and Linda Erlich). He explains the role of Noh masks and costumes. He further comments on "Funabenke" a demon play.Amy mentions "Takasago" and its continued reference in modern-day Japan.  Poulton responds that Noh often has a liturgical purpose, a way of blessing or commemorating an event similar to a requiem, and gives three modern examples of Japanese tragedies linked to Noh plays. He sum up his comments with:When bad things happen, we go back to ceremony, to ritual, to try to give shape to our feelings, and Noh is a beautiful device for doing that.Next is a discussion about the author Izumi Kyōka and how he came from a long line of Noh musicians and artists. Kyoka himself wrote plays about the supernatural and became a model of the counterculture of the 1960s in Japan. His uncle, Matsumoto Kintaro, was a famous Noh actor of the Meiji period. Poulton mentions the plays "Uta andon" and "Ama.""Saigyozakura" (Saigyo's Cherry Tree) is a play about the poet's trip to a temple to get away from the crowds at cherry-viewing time in search of a quiet and peaceful place to view the trees. But the cherry tree he finds at the temple chastises Saigyo for being a party pooper, telling him that people partying under the blossoms are celebrating his and the other trees' beauty. Poulton uses this as an example of how flowers and trees come to life and talk back to the humans via Noh plays.Lastly, Amy asks Poulton to recommend some books for those wanting to learn more about the Japanese performing arts:History of Japanese Theatre (Cambridge University Press, 2016), edited by Jonah SalzTraditional Japanese Theater (Columbia University Press), edited by Karen BrazellJapanese No Dramas (Penguin Classics, 1993) by Royall TylerKabuki Plays on Stage (4 Vols) (University of Hawaii Press, 2002-3) by James R. Brandon and Samuel L. LeiterBackstage at the Bunraku (Weatherhill, 1985) by Barbara C. AdachiThe Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Drama (Columbia University Press, 2017), co-edited by M Cody Poulton with Thomas Rimer, Mitsuya Mori, et al.Anthology of Japanese Short Stories (Oxford University Press, 2010), edited by Theadore W Goosen, which includes the story "Portrait of an Old Geisha" by Okamoto Kanoko (trans. Cody Poulton)About Cody Poulton:Cody Poulton taught Japanese literature, theater, and culture in the Department of Pacific and Asian Studies at the University of Victoria, Canada, for thirty-two years before retiring in 2021. Active as a translator of Japanese fiction and drama, he is author of Spirits of Another Sort: The Plays of Izumi Kyōka (2001) and A Beggar's Art: Scripting Modernity in Japan, 1900-1930. He is also co-editor, with Mitsuya Mori and J. Thomas Rimer, of The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Drama and a contributing editor to History of Japanese Theatre. He is editor and chief translator of Citizens of Tokyo: Six Plays by Oriza Hirata (2019) and co-editor, with Barbara Geilhorn, Peter Eckersall, and Andreas Regelsberger, of Okada Toshiki and Japanese Theatre (2021).The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press. Check out their books on Japan at www.stonebridge.com. Read a BOA review of their publication Yamamba: In Search of the Japanese Mountain Witch (edited by Rebecca Copeland and Linda C Ehrlich).Your podcast host is Amy Chavez, author of Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan, and The Widow, the Priest and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island.Don't miss out on upcoming episodes with Asia's best authors and translators by subscribing to the Books on Asia podcast.

Alluring, nurturing, dangerous, and vulnerable, the yamamba, or Japanese mountain witch, has intrigued audiences for centuries. What is it about the fusion of mountains with the solitary old woman that produces such an enigmatic figure? And why does she still call to us in this modern, scientific era? Co-editors Rebecca Copeland and Linda C. Ehrlich first met the yamamba in the powerful short story “The Smile of the Mountain Witch” by acclaimed woman writer Ōba Minako. The story revealed the compelling way creative women can take charge of misogynistic tropes, invert them, and use them to tell new stories of female empowerment.  Yamamba: In Search of the Japanese Mountain Witch (Stone Bridge Press, 2021) represents the creative and surprising ways artists and scholars from North America and Japan have encountered the yamamba. Matthew Hayes is the Japanese Studies and Asian American Studies Librarian at Duke University and a researcher in the area of early modern Japanese Buddhism. You can find him on Twitter at @_matthewhayes_. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/folkore

Alluring, nurturing, dangerous, and vulnerable, the yamamba, or Japanese mountain witch, has intrigued audiences for centuries. What is it about the fusion of mountains with the solitary old woman that produces such an enigmatic figure? And why does she still call to us in this modern, scientific era? Co-editors Rebecca Copeland and Linda C. Ehrlich first met the yamamba in the powerful short story “The Smile of the Mountain Witch” by acclaimed woman writer Ōba Minako. The story revealed the compelling way creative women can take charge of misogynistic tropes, invert them, and use them to tell new stories of female empowerment.  Yamamba: In Search of the Japanese Mountain Witch (Stone Bridge Press, 2021) represents the creative and surprising ways artists and scholars from North America and Japan have encountered the yamamba. Matthew Hayes is the Japanese Studies and Asian American Studies Librarian at Duke University and a researcher in the area of early modern Japanese Buddhism. You can find him on Twitter at @_matthewhayes_. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

Alluring, nurturing, dangerous, and vulnerable, the yamamba, or Japanese mountain witch, has intrigued audiences for centuries. What is it about the fusion of mountains with the solitary old woman that produces such an enigmatic figure? And why does she still call to us in this modern, scientific era? Co-editors Rebecca Copeland and Linda C. Ehrlich first met the yamamba in the powerful short story “The Smile of the Mountain Witch” by acclaimed woman writer Ōba Minako. The story revealed the compelling way creative women can take charge of misogynistic tropes, invert them, and use them to tell new stories of female empowerment.  Yamamba: In Search of the Japanese Mountain Witch (Stone Bridge Press, 2021) represents the creative and surprising ways artists and scholars from North America and Japan have encountered the yamamba. Matthew Hayes is the Japanese Studies and Asian American Studies Librarian at Duke University and a researcher in the area of early modern Japanese Buddhism. You can find him on Twitter at @_matthewhayes_. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Alluring, nurturing, dangerous, and vulnerable, the yamamba, or Japanese mountain witch, has intrigued audiences for centuries. What is it about the fusion of mountains with the solitary old woman that produces such an enigmatic figure? And why does she still call to us in this modern, scientific era? Co-editors Rebecca Copeland and Linda C. Ehrlich first met the yamamba in the powerful short story “The Smile of the Mountain Witch” by acclaimed woman writer Ōba Minako. The story revealed the compelling way creative women can take charge of misogynistic tropes, invert them, and use them to tell new stories of female empowerment.  Yamamba: In Search of the Japanese Mountain Witch (Stone Bridge Press, 2021) represents the creative and surprising ways artists and scholars from North America and Japan have encountered the yamamba. Matthew Hayes is the Japanese Studies and Asian American Studies Librarian at Duke University and a researcher in the area of early modern Japanese Buddhism. You can find him on Twitter at @_matthewhayes_. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies

Alluring, nurturing, dangerous, and vulnerable, the yamamba, or Japanese mountain witch, has intrigued audiences for centuries. What is it about the fusion of mountains with the solitary old woman that produces such an enigmatic figure? And why does she still call to us in this modern, scientific era? Co-editors Rebecca Copeland and Linda C. Ehrlich first met the yamamba in the powerful short story “The Smile of the Mountain Witch” by acclaimed woman writer Ōba Minako. The story revealed the compelling way creative women can take charge of misogynistic tropes, invert them, and use them to tell new stories of female empowerment.  Yamamba: In Search of the Japanese Mountain Witch (Stone Bridge Press, 2021) represents the creative and surprising ways artists and scholars from North America and Japan have encountered the yamamba. Matthew Hayes is the Japanese Studies and Asian American Studies Librarian at Duke University and a researcher in the area of early modern Japanese Buddhism. You can find him on Twitter at @_matthewhayes_. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies

Alluring, nurturing, dangerous, and vulnerable, the yamamba, or Japanese mountain witch, has intrigued audiences for centuries. What is it about the fusion of mountains with the solitary old woman that produces such an enigmatic figure? And why does she still call to us in this modern, scientific era? Co-editors Rebecca Copeland and Linda C. Ehrlich first met the yamamba in the powerful short story “The Smile of the Mountain Witch” by acclaimed woman writer Ōba Minako. The story revealed the compelling way creative women can take charge of misogynistic tropes, invert them, and use them to tell new stories of female empowerment.  Yamamba: In Search of the Japanese Mountain Witch (Stone Bridge Press, 2021) represents the creative and surprising ways artists and scholars from North America and Japan have encountered the yamamba. Matthew Hayes is the Japanese Studies and Asian American Studies Librarian at Duke University and a researcher in the area of early modern Japanese Buddhism. You can find him on Twitter at @_matthewhayes_. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/japanese-studies

Today on the Books on Asia Podcast, host Amy Chavez talks with the co-editors of Yamamba: In Search of the Japanese Mountain Witch, just released by Stone Bridge Press. Rebecca Copeland is a professor of Japanese literature, a writer of fiction (The Kimono Tattoo) and literary criticism, and a translator of Japanese literature (Grotesque, The Goddess Chronicle). Linda C. Ehrlich is an independent scholar and poet who has published on world cinema and traditional theater.Podcast Show NotesAmy asks Linda and Rebecca how they came to publishYamamba: In Search of the Japanese Mountain Witch, and why, of all Japan'syōkai, they chose the mountain witch.Rebecca starts off explaining that the Yamamba is often depicted as a wicked old woman who takes advantage of hapless travelers. But she is also described as a nurturing entity who helps the weaver at the loom and the farmer with the fields. She is complex, representing all the mysterious and unexplainable as played out on the noh stage, the setsuwa and folklore stories over the centuries. Rebecca is interested in modern, 20th-century portrayals of the Yamamba image and how contemporary women writers have drawn on her subversive powers. This led both the co-editors to explore how art inspires and how it is diverse and dynamic, resulting in this anthology that includes poems, shorts stories, and interviews, comprising an eclectic array of presentations of the Yamamba.Amy asks about the image of the Yamamba as old crones living in the mountains, and Rebecca confirms this is so, adding that it is usually villagers who encounter the Yamamba on their way through the mountains.Linda Ehrlich, who comes from a background of traditional theater from the University of Hawaii, explains more about the noh play that appears in the beginning of the anthology. She says that Ann Sherif translated the interview about the production, which was unique in that the two noh performers were women. In the play, she says, "Yamamba is mysterious but not as grotesque as she is portrayed as elsewhere. She is a force of nature but controlled by nature, so she is beyond all binaries. So we have different voices for the Yamamba that work together." Rebecca later conducts an interview with a performer who portrays a more current, updated version of the Yamamba reflecting the body, gender, and so on.Rebecca discusses Ōba Minako's "The Smile of the Mountain Witch" describing how she was one of those 20th-century writers who reappropriated the Yamamba image, challenging the idea of the Yamamba as always being an old woman. Perhaps she could have been a young girl at times too? How did she become a Yamamba? The story charts how a young girl who can mind-read and who has a capacity for great joy is taught to deny her talents in order to fit in. So to Rebecca this suggests all women have a Yamamba potential for strength and reliance that we've been taught to deny ourselves. Oba uses an ancient legend to comment on contemporary gender discrimination.Amy mentions that Aoko Matsuda has, with her recent book Where the Wild Ladies Are, done something similar, recasting and updating traditional Japanese folktales with strong contemporary female characters.Amy asks Linda and Rebecca about how they put together the anthology. They relate there was lots of editing, discussion, compromising, and refining and they mention the uniqueness of the anthology's hybrid approach containing both scholarly and creative writing, a result of reaching out to writers, scholars, and visual artists. They talk about contributing articles themselves: Linda's poem translated into Japanese and Rebecca's short story. It took a year to collect the material for the manuscript and another year for editing.Linda says that the book isn't just for women, and that there is one male contributor. Linda points out that when the noh actors portray the Yamamba, it hasn't so much to do with gender but more to do with the performance of power and awesomeness.Linda talks about the images in the book, combining some that were specific and some that were abstract to give a mix. Amy mentions that Jann Williams, who reviewed the book for Books on Asia, wrote that "readers are left to imagine the Yamamba in her various forms and the freedom to do so adds depth to the reading experience."Amy asks both Linda and Rebecca about projects they are currently working on. Amy mentions she saw Rebecca's name mentioned as writing an introduction or foreword for a new book by Liza Dalby. Rebecca confirms, saying Dalby has translated Setouchi Jakucho's work called "Places," a self-reflective study of the places that Jakucho has been and how these places have influenced the Buddhist nun, writer, and activist. Rebecca also mentions she has just published her first novel, The Kimono Tattoo, a mystery set in Kyoto.Linda has just finished audio commentary for the new DVD for Hirokazu Koreeda's film Afterlife that will appear from Criterion in August. She has a new poetry collection called Citron just released.Lastly, Amy asks Rebecca and Linda about their favorite books on Japan:LindaThe Pillow Book by Sei ShonaganEssays in Idleness by Yoshida Kenko"Take Kurabe" a short story by Higuchi Ichiyo (translated as either "Growing Up" or "Comparing Heights")In the Shade of Spring Leaves, about Higuchi IchiyoRebeccaDangerous Women, Deadly Words by Nina CornyetsThe Uses of Literature in Modern Japan by Sari KawanaMaiko Masquerade: Crafting Geisha Girlhood in Japan by Jan Bardsley Read our review ofYamamba: In Search of the Japanese Mountain WitchThe Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, publisher of fine books on Asia for over 30 years. Sign up for the Books on Asia Podcast here.

The Films of Kore-eda Hirokazu: An Elemental Cinema (Palgrave MacMillan, 2019) draws readers into the first 13 feature films and 5 of the documentaries of award-winning Japanese film director Kore-eda Hirokazu. With his recent top prize at the Cannes Film Festival for Shoplifters, Kore-eda is arguably Japan’s greatest living director with an international viewership. He approaches difficult subjects (child abandonment, suicide, marginality) with a realistic and compassionate eye. The lyrical tone of the writing of Japanese film scholar Linda C. Ehrlich perfectly complements the understated, yet powerful, tone of the films. From An Elemental Cinema, readers will gain a special understanding of Kore-eda’s films through a novel connection to the natural elements as reflected in Japanese traditional aesthetics. An Elemental Cinema presents Kore-eda’s oeuvre as a connected whole with overarching thematic concerns, despite frequent generic experimentation. It also offers an example of how the poetics of cinema can be practiced in writing, as well as on the screen, and helps readers understand the films of this contemporary director as works of art that relate to their own lives. Linda C. Ehrlich—writer, teacher, editor—has published extensively about world cinema, art, and traditional theatre in a number of acclaimed academic journals. Takeshi Morisato is philosopher and sometimes academic. He specializes in comparative and Japanese philosophy but he is also interested in making Japan and philosophy accessible to a wider audience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm

The Films of Kore-eda Hirokazu: An Elemental Cinema (Palgrave MacMillan, 2019) draws readers into the first 13 feature films and 5 of the documentaries of award-winning Japanese film director Kore-eda Hirokazu. With his recent top prize at the Cannes Film Festival for Shoplifters, Kore-eda is arguably Japan’s greatest living director with an international viewership. He approaches difficult subjects (child abandonment, suicide, marginality) with a realistic and compassionate eye. The lyrical tone of the writing of Japanese film scholar Linda C. Ehrlich perfectly complements the understated, yet powerful, tone of the films. From An Elemental Cinema, readers will gain a special understanding of Kore-eda’s films through a novel connection to the natural elements as reflected in Japanese traditional aesthetics. An Elemental Cinema presents Kore-eda’s oeuvre as a connected whole with overarching thematic concerns, despite frequent generic experimentation. It also offers an example of how the poetics of cinema can be practiced in writing, as well as on the screen, and helps readers understand the films of this contemporary director as works of art that relate to their own lives. Linda C. Ehrlich—writer, teacher, editor—has published extensively about world cinema, art, and traditional theatre in a number of acclaimed academic journals. Takeshi Morisato is philosopher and sometimes academic. He specializes in comparative and Japanese philosophy but he is also interested in making Japan and philosophy accessible to a wider audience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Films of Kore-eda Hirokazu: An Elemental Cinema (Palgrave MacMillan, 2019) draws readers into the first 13 feature films and 5 of the documentaries of award-winning Japanese film director Kore-eda Hirokazu. With his recent top prize at the Cannes Film Festival for Shoplifters, Kore-eda is arguably Japan’s greatest living director with an international viewership. He approaches difficult subjects (child abandonment, suicide, marginality) with a realistic and compassionate eye. The lyrical tone of the writing of Japanese film scholar Linda C. Ehrlich perfectly complements the understated, yet powerful, tone of the films. From An Elemental Cinema, readers will gain a special understanding of Kore-eda’s films through a novel connection to the natural elements as reflected in Japanese traditional aesthetics. An Elemental Cinema presents Kore-eda’s oeuvre as a connected whole with overarching thematic concerns, despite frequent generic experimentation. It also offers an example of how the poetics of cinema can be practiced in writing, as well as on the screen, and helps readers understand the films of this contemporary director as works of art that relate to their own lives. Linda C. Ehrlich—writer, teacher, editor—has published extensively about world cinema, art, and traditional theatre in a number of acclaimed academic journals. Takeshi Morisato is philosopher and sometimes academic. He specializes in comparative and Japanese philosophy but he is also interested in making Japan and philosophy accessible to a wider audience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Films of Kore-eda Hirokazu: An Elemental Cinema (Palgrave MacMillan, 2019) draws readers into the first 13 feature films and 5 of the documentaries of award-winning Japanese film director Kore-eda Hirokazu. With his recent top prize at the Cannes Film Festival for Shoplifters, Kore-eda is arguably Japan’s greatest living director with an international viewership. He approaches difficult subjects (child abandonment, suicide, marginality) with a realistic and compassionate eye. The lyrical tone of the writing of Japanese film scholar Linda C. Ehrlich perfectly complements the understated, yet powerful, tone of the films. From An Elemental Cinema, readers will gain a special understanding of Kore-eda’s films through a novel connection to the natural elements as reflected in Japanese traditional aesthetics. An Elemental Cinema presents Kore-eda’s oeuvre as a connected whole with overarching thematic concerns, despite frequent generic experimentation. It also offers an example of how the poetics of cinema can be practiced in writing, as well as on the screen, and helps readers understand the films of this contemporary director as works of art that relate to their own lives. Linda C. Ehrlich—writer, teacher, editor—has published extensively about world cinema, art, and traditional theatre in a number of acclaimed academic journals. Takeshi Morisato is philosopher and sometimes academic. He specializes in comparative and Japanese philosophy but he is also interested in making Japan and philosophy accessible to a wider audience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Films of Kore-eda Hirokazu: An Elemental Cinema (Palgrave MacMillan, 2019) draws readers into the first 13 feature films and 5 of the documentaries of award-winning Japanese film director Kore-eda Hirokazu. With his recent top prize at the Cannes Film Festival for Shoplifters, Kore-eda is arguably Japan’s greatest living director with an international viewership. He approaches difficult subjects (child abandonment, suicide, marginality) with a realistic and compassionate eye. The lyrical tone of the writing of Japanese film scholar Linda C. Ehrlich perfectly complements the understated, yet powerful, tone of the films. From An Elemental Cinema, readers will gain a special understanding of Kore-eda’s films through a novel connection to the natural elements as reflected in Japanese traditional aesthetics. An Elemental Cinema presents Kore-eda’s oeuvre as a connected whole with overarching thematic concerns, despite frequent generic experimentation. It also offers an example of how the poetics of cinema can be practiced in writing, as well as on the screen, and helps readers understand the films of this contemporary director as works of art that relate to their own lives. Linda C. Ehrlich—writer, teacher, editor—has published extensively about world cinema, art, and traditional theatre in a number of acclaimed academic journals. Takeshi Morisato is philosopher and sometimes academic. He specializes in comparative and Japanese philosophy but he is also interested in making Japan and philosophy accessible to a wider audience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Films of Kore-eda Hirokazu: An Elemental Cinema (Palgrave MacMillan, 2019) draws readers into the first 13 feature films and 5 of the documentaries of award-winning Japanese film director Kore-eda Hirokazu. With his recent top prize at the Cannes Film Festival for Shoplifters, Kore-eda is arguably Japan’s greatest living director with an international viewership. He approaches difficult subjects (child abandonment, suicide, marginality) with a realistic and compassionate eye. The lyrical tone of the writing of Japanese film scholar Linda C. Ehrlich perfectly complements the understated, yet powerful, tone of the films. From An Elemental Cinema, readers will gain a special understanding of Kore-eda’s films through a novel connection to the natural elements as reflected in Japanese traditional aesthetics. An Elemental Cinema presents Kore-eda’s oeuvre as a connected whole with overarching thematic concerns, despite frequent generic experimentation. It also offers an example of how the poetics of cinema can be practiced in writing, as well as on the screen, and helps readers understand the films of this contemporary director as works of art that relate to their own lives. Linda C. Ehrlich—writer, teacher, editor—has published extensively about world cinema, art, and traditional theatre in a number of acclaimed academic journals. Takeshi Morisato is philosopher and sometimes academic. He specializes in comparative and Japanese philosophy but he is also interested in making Japan and philosophy accessible to a wider audience. Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/japanese-studies