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 * Among the Noh plays you have read, select one that appeals to you the most and discuss why you are drawn to it above all the other works. You may wish to refer to the video illustrations of the excerpts of the plays that we saw in class, as well as the scripts to compose your answer. **

The play I was most drawn to was 'Busu'. Ive been a student of Japanese for three years, and I have a strong interest in Japanese culture. Despite years of study there has been one aspect of Japanese culture that I have never been able to understand: Japanese comedy. Japanese comic routines are very structural, and they follow specific, familiar patterns and rhythms. I never found them funny, because they seemed to be comprised of five jokes repeated over and over again wherein one character is sensible, and the other says idiotic things, usually resulting in the former whacking the latter upside the head.

After studying kyogen, I have a new appreciation for Japanese comedy. While I still don’t find it particularly humorous, ‘Busu’ has helped me better understand the comic tradition and how it has developed. The dynamic between the master and his servants is a clear forerunner to the //tsukkomi// (straight man) and the //boke// (funny man) characters that are now typical of stand-up comedy. ‘Busu’ also features several instances of repetition of jokes, for example when the two servants approach the jar of “poison”. This style of repetition is still a mainstay of Japanese comedy. Often times the comedians will run through the same sequence of questions and replies, each time with a slightly different outcome, until the final punch line is revealed. I would also guess that the steady rhythm inherent to the routines developed from the percussive rhythms of Noh music.

After watching ‘Busu’ I feel like I have a new base from which to view Japanese comedy. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll even manage to find it funny.

SOURCES: Dr. Richmond's class lectures "Busu" film Personal study of Japanese culture  Word Count: 275