Japanese games
The Japanese Games are a carnival game tradition in the municipality of Schwyz (Switzerland) that goes back to 1857 . The focus of the open-air play is always the figure of the Japanese Emperor Hesonusode , who visits his subjects in Yeddo-Schwyz .
The customs of the Japanese Society of Schwyz are unique, but have certain parallels to the Dietfurt Chinese Carnival in Bavaria.
history
In Schwyz, Carnival, Mardi Gras and Mardi Gras have a long tradition, just like everywhere else in Central Switzerland, which is dominated by Catholicism . In 1857, only a few years after the lost Sonderbund War , a carnival society called Friends of Great Life ran a revue entitled Circus Carneval. Fall of nature, triumph of art . The game was a welcome distraction and an addition to the usual street carnival. Historic Volksschauspiele, initiated by the educated middle class , at that time were often used as idealization and the formation of the Swiss national myth.
When a Swiss business delegation set out for Japan in 1862 to conclude a trade and friendship treaty with this country, the Schwyz carnival was inspired to give a new performance. Even before the arrival of the delegation, the first Japanese game took place in 1863 with the grotesque play Switzerland in Japan and the company named itself Japanesengesellschaft Yeddo-Schwyz , which it still bears today. "Japanese" was the German name used at the time for the inhabitants of Japan, the Japanese , and "Yeddo" ( Edo , today: Tokyo ) was the seat of government (the seat of the emperor and thus the capital was Heian-kyō until 1868 , today: Kyōto ). Since the knowledge of distant Japan was still incomplete, the characters only partially matched reality, which is not a problem in a foolish theater.
The author and main initiator of the play from 1863 was the politically active entrepreneur and “universalist” Ambros Eberle (1820–1883). Until his death he wrote a total of six pieces. This was followed by a lack of creative minds, but the tradition never went down. At irregular intervals of three to six years, the Schwyz population was shown the fool's mirror at the Japanese game. In 1937, before the Second World War, world affairs were particularly thematized and the dictators Hitler , Mussolini and Stalin got their fat. In 1952 the local writer Meinrad Inglin , a great-grandson of Eberle, dealt with the arms race between NATO and the Warsaw Pact . In 1975 Paul Kamer sketched the gloomy vision of a concrete-covered Switzerland in which a cable car leads to every mountain and the farmers are nothing but folklore.
Hesonusode and other figures
At the beginning of the game, Tenno Hesonusode (a dialect word for "Be it") takes a seat on the throne above Schwyz's main square, from where he watches what the people of Yeddo-Schwyz are doing. He can be addressed by the title Taikun , although the correct Japanese name would be Mikado . His costume is made of silk and his hair is unbuttoned. At the solemn entry to the sound of fanfare , the emperor is accompanied by a court composed of mandarins and other dignitaries. The actually Chinese mandarins are further proof that the Schwyz Japanese were not inspired by Japan, but generally by the exoticism of the Far East.
Two opponents have also been part of the repertoire of the Japanese Games for decades: Jöretönel , a mountain farmer who cultivates the Muotathaler Alp Träsmeren, and the student Karlifranz , an old-style schoolmaster . In their disputes, as they might have happened in earlier times, it is always about the contrast between harsh mountain agriculture and being a scholar . Significantly, the two figures appear in costumes from the 19th century.
Anniversary game 2007
In February 2007 , on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Japanese Games, another performance with around 200 participants took place on six days. The Japanese ambassador to Switzerland attended the premiere as a guest of honor.
The anniversary play, written by Viktor Weibel, who appeared in the role of the schoolmaster, is entitled Am Naresäil . During the game, confusing surprise guests emerge from the huge birthday cake that is served to Kaiser Hesonusode, including the Swiss Federal Councilor in corpore, who are unable to impress the distinguished guest with their inadequacies. The cell researcher Dr. Würgeli , who gives people new organs. When this began to cause new calamities, the population began to think about the wonder drug Fasnacht. Ms. Fasnacht as her personification is again doing her joke this time, but in the end only she can make the Taikun conciliatory.
As a complement to the theater took place in the Forum of Swiss History , the anniversary exhibition Vivelun Tycoon! instead, in which the history of this unique game tradition was shown through photos, costumes and other objects.
Game 2013
The game, scheduled for 2012, was postponed for one year by the Japanese Society due to the Fukushima nuclear disaster .
The new piece written by Viktor Weibel is called Nii aber au and was performed from February 1 to 10, 2013. It is about the fact that the emperor, on his belated visit to Yeddo-Schwyz, encounters a huge construction site and misses his friends Jöretönel and Karlifranz. A dispute broke out among the people about their monument. As in the old carnival game of the 15th century, different parties come to court. As the game progresses, two younger counterparts of the two main characters emerge, and the bailiff as a fool can settle the dispute. She sends the corrupt judge Bärluus Koni into exile.
See also
- Chinese carnival in Dietfurt
- Honolulu fools guild in Solothurn
swell
- ↑ Bote der Urschweiz, February 13, 2007
- ↑ Bote der Urschweiz, January 18, 2007
- ^ Bote der Urschweiz, February 12, 2007
- ↑ Japanese game postponed ( memento of the original from February 23, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , SchwyzKultur, March 30, 2011.
- ↑ Richter flies high through the air ( memento of the original from March 13, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , SchwyzKultur, February 2, 2013.
literature
- Christian Jauslin: Japanesengesellschaft, Schwyz SZ . In: Andreas Kotte (Ed.): Theater Lexikon der Schweiz . Volume 2, Chronos, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0715-9 , p. 917 f.
- Viktor Weibel: Hesonusode. Theater, history and carnival culture. Triner Verlag, Schwyz 2006, ISBN 3-908572-37-1 .
