Many emperors and princes appear in the traditional Japanese stage arts of Kabuki and Joruri in the Edo period. These incarnations generally take the form of an exiled traitor, vagrant, vagabond, pauper, or prisoner. These emperors are simultaneously powerless and absurd figures. There is no such thing as a "happy emperor."
Depicting an emperor as a disparate and degraded character on stage allows the townspeople to better identify with him as "one who has fallen from grace," while maintaining his unique character. This duality allows for a pouring forth of profane language, dialogue, and turns of speech on the emperor portrayed on stage. Indeed, this is the very thing which brings the portraiture to life.
Meanwhile, emperors cease to appear in Kabuki from the Meiji period to the pre-war Showa period, but reappear during the post-war occupation in new Kabuki productions. In these incarnations, with the advent of "free expression," emperors have come to be depicted as "human beings" in contrast to any portraits previously seen. However, the charms of the emperor's mentality are lost, colored as his countenance is by a dark, profound gloom following his divorce from his otherworldly qualities transcending human bonds or ethics. I wish to touch upon one aspect of this transition.
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