Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail

[Sarah Maline]

Just looked and I have the dvd if you want to borrow it for comparison.

On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 10:40 AM, Junkerman John <jtj at rf7.so-net.ne.jp>wrote:

> Hey Markus,
>
> I think this is a reference to the Kabuki play "Kanjincho" (The
> Subscription List). Benkei and Yoshitsune get through a checkpoint disguised
> as Buddhist priests, but since they're only in disguise, the "subscription
> list" Benkei reads from is actually blank. After they're let through the
> checkpoint, the chorus sings
>
> *
> Having trod the tiger's tail
> and escaped the viper's venom,
> they go on their way,
> on to the province of Mutsu.
>   *
>
> John
>
>
> On Jan 27, 2011, at 12:22 AM, Nornes, Markus wrote:
>
> In Kurosawa's Men Who Tread, there is a scene where Okochi Denjiro takes
> out a scroll, unravels it and reads it. However, Enoken is thrown for a loop
> when he sees that the paper is completely blank, which the camera
> dramatically emphasizes with a wonderful truck up and around the scroll.
>
> Is this a convention of Noh or Kabuki performance, writing not being
> necessary because of the formalist nature of the dramaturgy? Or is it a
> reference to a specific play (or plays?)?
>
> I have heard of Chinese opera films with the same phenomenon. Can anyone
> think of other examples?
>
> Markus
>
>
>
>
>
> *
> A. M. Nornes
> Chair, Dept. of Screen Arts & Cultures
> Professor of Asian Film, Dept. of Asian Languages & Cultures
> Professor, School of Art & Design
> ===============================
> Department of Screen Arts & Cultures
> University of Michigan
> 6330 North Quad
> 105 South State Street
> Ann Arbor, MI  48109-1285*
> *----------------------------------------------*
> *Office: 734-764-0147*
> *FAX: 734-936-1846*
>
>
>


-- 
Sarah Maline, PhD
Chair, Department of Sound, Performance, and Visual Inquiry
Associate Professor of Art History
University of Maine Farmington
Farmington, Maine 04938
207.778.7321
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