Writing a fiction : A Moment in Japanese Medieval History of Street Entertainment
When I was young, I came across with a picture of two entertainers in Medieval Japan, called Kusemai dancer, and Shrabyoshi.
They were one of the prominent street performers
in Medieval Japan, and they were mentioned in a book called “Seventy One Songs on Craftsmen",
illustrating various craftsmen which was established at the end
of 1500’s
Here is the link to the original painting
of Kusemai dancer and Shirbyoshi.
(On the bottle left)
狂言・能楽の歴史｜文化デジタルライブラリー (jac.go.jp)
(Kusemai dancer on the left, Shirabyoshi on the right )
So, what are Kusemai dancer and Shirabyoshi ?
Kusemai, also known as Mai-Mai (Roughly translated as "dance, dance") is a male street dancer, usually paired up with a singer, and dance while holding a folding fan.
Shirabyoshi is a female dancer dressed in men’s clothe and sing song while dancing.
Kusemai | the-Noh.com
| Noh Terminology
In a book of “Seventy One Songs on Craftsmen”, they are written as competitors. It is interesting to see the figure
of these entertainers, which unfortunately most of their dance routines are not
passed on to present as they were (Except Shirabyoshi, as some shrines keeps
very old dance routine and perform probably once a year at a shrine festival) .
Some of their dances were integrated into Noh
dance and Kabuki. However, it seems hard to tell which movement came from
Kusemai dancers or Shirabyoshis.
As I looked the picture, I came up with an idea –
what if, these people were actually married to each other? This idea was
lurking in my mind quite a while.
During Covid-19 restrictions, I had several
jobs which allowed working from home. As I had more time for myself, I cam up
an idea to write a fiction on these Medieval dancers, as well as court noblemen
and noble women in that period.
As I wrote the book, my father told me if
that will lead to any income as I was writing for two and half week without
stopping.
When I finish it, I put it to Kindle Direct
Publishing under a pen name, and printed a book.
Also, as a token that I lived through
Corona pandemic, I published an e-book on Amazon. As I have no idea how to
promote the book, it will be there for God knows for how long.
Perhaps I will leave it until the world
announce the end of Covid-19 pandemic.
Link to the 3rd book "Strolling players"
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