The Judith of Shimoda

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The Judith von Shimoda is a play that was first published in book form in German in 2006 and is attributed to Bertolt Brecht (only the name "Bertolt Brecht" appears on the cover of the book edition).

Origin and performance history

In 1929 the Japanese playwright and novelist Yūzō Yamamoto (1887–1974) published the play Nyonin Aishi, Tōjin Okichi Monogatari . The text was translated into English by Glenn W. Shaw (title: The Sad Tale of a Woman, the story of Chink Okichi ).

In 1940 Bertolt Brecht got his hands on the play when he spent three months on the estate of the Finnish writer Hella Wuolijoki during his Finnish exile . There his colleague Margarete Steffin worked on the German translation of Judith von Shimoda . Afterwards, Brecht worked on the piece together with Wuolijoki so that it could be performed on European stages.

Five completed scenes authorized by Brecht (out of eleven planned) were found in Brecht's estate. After Hella Wuolijoki's death, Hans Peter Neureuter, Professor of Modern German Literature at the University of Regensburg, who wrote a post-doctoral thesis on the subject of “Brecht in Finland” in 1988, found a Finnish translation of the missing scenes in her estate. He translated them into German, added these scenes to the Brecht text and thus put together a version suitable for performance on European stages, which was published in 2006 by Suhrkamp Verlag .

Yamamoto's piece was to be performed in Finland after 1937 on the recommendation of Hagar Olsson. But that didn't happen. The version left by Brecht was premiered on December 20, 1997 by the Berliner Ensemble . Neureuter's adaptation was performed for the first time on September 11, 2008 in the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna . Shortly afterwards, on September 20, 2008, the German premiere of the Neureuter adaptation took place in the Osnabrück Municipal Theater . The first English-language production of Neureuter's version (translated by Markus Wessendorf) premiered on April 30, 2010 at the Kennedy Theater of the University of Hawaii (Honolulu) under the direction of Paul Mitri.

content

The drama The Judith by Shimoda is divided into an internal plot and a framework plot.

In the framework of the story, the actors discuss how politics deal with patriotism and heroes who have become annoying. The Japanese politician Akimura has the first scenes of a play about the historical heroism of the geisha Okichi performed for his western visitors . But the guests are not satisfied with the explanation that the heroine simply performed her deed and then disappeared again into the crowd. Scene by scene, they demand that the plot continue and that the truth about Okichi's entire fate be revealed:

The internal plot shows that the USA tried in the middle of the 19th century to force free trade on Japan ( opening of Japan ). Because the law forbids public contact with foreigners, the American consul has difficulties in recruiting service personnel. Since the Japanese authorities are not helping him and no contract is concluded with the emperor, he threatens to attack Japan by warships. Thereupon the administration of Shimoda obliges the geisha Okichi to be "at the service" of the consul. On the crucial night before the attack, Okichi saves her hometown by providing the sick consul with milk and so appeasing him that he gives up the already decided bombardment. Although Okichi saved Shimoda, the state has dropped her because Japanese law forbids milking and drinking cow's milk. The contempt of her compatriots for a "foreigner whore" makes her resort to alcohol, her marriage falls apart and she is visibly impoverished. Years later, her act has become a myth: A street singer praises a pure, heroic Okichi who never existed like this. Okichi's death is not shown, but appears as a logical consequence of her demise after she (like Jeanne d'Arc ) was "burned" by her compatriots (this is how she interprets her life).

Historical context

Okichi Saito

In 1854 the American Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry signed the Treaty of Kanagawa with Japan , through which the previously self-sufficient country should be opened to trade with the USA. As part of this treaty, Townsend Harris became the first US consul in Japan. He went ashore on August 23, 1856 and exercised his office from the converted Gyokusenji Buddhist temple in Shimoda. He lived there until 1857.

Townsend's negotiations with the Japanese dragged on. In his diary on January 8, 1857, the consul wrote: "They [the Japanese] are the greatest liars on earth." The disputes resulted in a chronic stomach ailment that resulted in bloody vomiting (diary note of March 15, 1857) .

In this situation, according to the Japan Times , Townsend had the Japanese request a nurse through his secretary and interpreter Harry Heusken. The Japanese authorities misunderstood this request, who believed that Townsend expected more comprehensive services. As a pious man, Harris had no interest in an intimate relationship.

Urs Schoettli rates this point of view as the “opinion of conservative Japanese”. In fact, Okichi was more likely Harris' "playmate". Robert Schroeder of “Time” also thinks that Harris and Okichi had an intimate relationship with each other.

According to another account, Harris saw Okichi Saito, referred to here as a young laundress and geisha, when she was leaving a bathhouse and was on her way home. Accordingly, he made his interest in Okichi known to the Japanese authorities.

Okichi Saito (civil: Saitō Kichi, 斎 藤 き ち , stage name: Tōjin Okichi, 唐人 お 吉 ) was born in Shimoda in 1841 as the daughter of a shipbuilder. According to Schoettli, she was intended for the life of a geisha because of her extraordinary beauty, according to her parents' wishes, but wanted to get married. The sources consistently report that Okichi was asked by authorities to look after Townsend Harris and appease him. She knew that for her service she would have to pay the price of being unclean; Anyone who was touched by a stranger was excluded from society in what was then Japan.

Okichi spent a few months with Harris until she developed a rash and he sent her away. Her healing was not complete until Harris left. Okichi remained - as was to be expected - rejected. It was henceforth called "Tojin Okichi" ("Barbarian Okichi").

Okichi became an alcoholic. She lived in Kyoto and Mishima for some time until she returned to Shimoda. She ran a restaurant there called Anchokuro, but it went bankrupt. Okichi became a beggar and committed suicide by drowning herself in 1892 at the age of 51.

Okichi is revered as a heroine in Japan. Her grave is in the Hofukuji Temple in Shimoda. Commemoration ceremonies are held there regularly. Okichi's restaurant has also been preserved and continues to operate today. On the first floor of the house there is a museum dedicated to Okichi.

Interpretations

The "Judith" complex

The title Die Judith von Shimoda refers to a story in the Old Testament in the Book of Judit (written around 150 BC): During the time of the Babylonian exile of the Jews, the beautiful and godly widow Judith went unarmed to the army camp of the Nebuchadneza general Holofernes and beheaded him with his sword. Judith indirectly takes on the role of Moses and saves the people of Israel.

By choosing a title, which is not specified by his templates, Brecht shows that he considers Okichi to be a "Judith" and Harris a "Holofernes". In his review of the drama, Kai Köhler states that Brecht replaced Old Testament harshness with Far Eastern mildness in his play, in that his "Judith" lacked any aggressiveness against the ruler.

As a schoolboy, Brecht had already written a one-act play entitled The Bible , in which the externally demanded sacrifice of Judith's virginity was in the foreground. Already here the “Old Testament activism” has been reinterpreted into a “Passion story”. Brecht's image of Judith is strongly influenced by Friedrich Hebbel's tragedy Judith (1840). The statement: “He did not defile or desecrate me with any sin” in Jud 13.17  EU was already assessed by Hebbel as implausible.

Time and again, female characters who sacrifice themselves for the community stand in the foreground in Brecht's dramas. Most likely, according to Neureuter, Okichi can be compared to the character Kathrin in Mother Courage and Her Children : "Okichi leaves in the end out of conviction, pressed, but voluntarily, fearful but selfless."

Brecht's choice of title was criticized: “His comparison lags in several places. In contrast to Okichi herself, the Hebrew woman suggests going to the camp of Nebuchadnezzar general Holofernes to cut off the besiegers' head. In addition, she is venerated lifelong by her people for the fact that many would have liked to have her as a wife. While Judith kept the Torah laws with the enemies, Okichi violated the Japanese because she got the consul's milk, which was strictly forbidden at the time. Although she is venerated as a heroine in songs, in reality she is mocked as a foreigner whore. "

Brecht's relationship to patriotism

Kai Köhler rates Brecht's drama as a “lesson of general validity about patriotism and its consequences. The consequences - especially for the patriot - are of more interest here than the deed itself. Almost two thirds of the play describe the aftermath ":" It must be like I wrote a ' Wilhelm Tell ' myself and the Tell 20 years later let the gossip live on ”, Brecht noted in his journal. In an interlude, Brecht makes the statement that patriotism is “no business - for the patriots. It's other people's business. "

Under the impression of the Second World War , Brecht kept asking himself questions on the subject of “resistance”: “Is it worth resisting the occupiers? What demands does society have to make of the individual? What happens to the hero after the feat? ”. According to Jürgen Hillesheim, these are by no means rhetorical questions : Brecht's works are “works in progress” that have changed over time.

According to Brecht's interpretation, patriotism cannot be true love. It's a propaganda ploy that ties free people to a selfish state called the Fatherland. In the end, the aged geisha - impoverished, lonely and shattered by alcohol - listens to the transfiguration of her deed by the street singers, her objection is hissed down by the ideologically deluded people.

Drama conception

According to his own account, Brecht's original already covers a period of twenty years, from 1856 to 1876. As a result, the piece, as a kind of “ station drama” (showing the stations of Okichi's social and human decline), has epic features from the start.

In the collaboration with Hella Wuolijoki, the question of how far the naturalistic and “Aristotelian” elements of the original should be preserved was a constant issue. It is noticeable that scenes 6 to 9, which Brecht did not work on, encourage the viewer to identify with "poor Okichi" and to feel pity more than is usual with Brecht plays. In scene 10, edited by Brecht, the author refrained from using an effect of the original that was highly effective in the “Aristotelian” sense, namely the confession of the protagonist, who had grown old, that she was Okichi.

Elements of the epic theater typical of Brecht can also be found in the play: The entire framework plot represents a meta-level on which what is played in the internal plot is reflected. Brecht's teaching (his criticism of patriotism) becomes clear.

As in other pieces by Bertolt Brecht, the songs in Judith von Shimoda have the function of interrupting the plot and introducing an element of reflection.

In scene 10, a double alienation effect can be found: On the one hand, the Okichi myth that has formed in the meantime is made ridiculous by an extremely kitschy song ("O horror! O bloody battle! / Okichi radiates from the house by the river.") made. On the other hand, Okichi's laconic reference to reality ("The bed is open. / The foreigner is waiting. / Here you have Saké, Okichi. The emperor wants it.") Exposes it as a myth.

literature

  • Bertolt Brecht: The Judith von Shimoda. Based on a piece by Yamamoto Yuzo. In collaboration with Hella Wuolijoki. Reconstruction of a game version by Hans Peter Neureuter. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 978-3-518-12470-3 .
  • Hans Peter Neureuter: Brecht in Finland. Studies of life and work 1940-1941. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-518-12056-9 .
  • Hans Peter Neureuter: The savior Judith as a victim. Introduction to Brecht's arrangement of "Judith von Shimoda". Original contribution to the program for the Osnabrück performance, 2008.
  • Jürgen Hillesheim : An archetype and its variation. For the German premiere of Brecht's “Judith von Shimoda”. Original contribution to the program for the Osnabrück performance, 2008.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Matthias Heine: How new is this Brecht piece really? In: Die Welt from September 8, 2008 https://www.welt.de/welt_print/article2410637/Wie-neu-ist-dieses-Brecht-Stueck-reallich.html
  2. ↑ http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2010/May/05/en/hawaii5050322.html
  3. ^ Burritt Sabin: Shimoda Story. Shame and the pious pioneer . In: Japan Times of June 1, 2003 http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20030601a3.html
  4. ↑ Urs Schoettli: An island nation as a master of adaptation. Rejection and acceptance of the foreign in Japan . NZZ from November 14, 2007 http://www.nzz.ch/nachrichten/startseite/eine_inselnation_als_meisterin_der_anammlung_1.584053.html
  5. ↑ Robert Schroeder: Where the barbarians landed Time of November 4, 2002 https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,386980,00.html
  6. ↑ Hanamachi: Famous Geishas http://www.hanamachi.de/27%20Beruehmte%20Geishas.html
  7. ↑ 日本人 名 大 辞典 + Plus : 唐人 お 吉 . Retrieved March 5, 2017 (Japanese).
  8. ↑ http://izu-sakuraya.jp/english/travelinfo/hofukujitemple/
  9. ↑ Kai Köhler: Who deserves patriotism . In: literaturkritik.de . Edition 8/2006.
  10. ↑ Hans Peter Neureuter: Afterword to "The Judith von Shimoda" . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2006, p. 134 f.
  11. ↑ Hans Peter Neureuter: The savior Judith as a victim. Introduction to Brecht's arrangement of "Judith von Shimoda" . Original contribution to the program for the Osnabrück performance. 2008
  12. ↑ Hans Peter Neureuter: Afterword to "The Judith von Shimoda" . Suhrkamp. Frankfurt / Main 2006. p. 136
  13. ↑ Heiko Ostendorf: The betrayed woman . In: Die Tageszeitung , September 22, 2008.
  14. ↑ Jürgen Hillesheim: An archetype and its variation. For the German premiere of Brecht's “Judith von Shimoda” . Original contribution to the program for the Osnabrück performance. 2008
  15. ↑ Evelyn Finger: Brecht - Dead or just died? Die Zeit , August 10, 2006.