Nō Play Eguchi: Female Performers, Religion, and Sacred Courtesans in Medieval Japan

Abstract

At first sight, the Nō play Eguchi presents a moral lesson for those who seek the path of purity by using religion and sexuality as the core of its lesson. Using Eguchi Nō as a starting point, this thesis tries to reconsider the role of sexuality in Buddhist religion, and more concrete, the role of female prostitution as a didactic method. The history behind the play of Eguchi reveals an extensive past that scholars continue to speculate and argue about. A recapitulation some of those speculations in this work was used for the purpose of providing substantial information that reinforces the notion of sexuality as an integral component of religious life in Japan. In this manner I will try to go as far back as the Japanese pre-history and until the premodern era, to illustrate the integration progress of myths and costumes into Buddhism and their subsequent amalgamation. The method of integrating personal accounts, poems, theater plays, and artwork was to identify similarities with Eguchi Nō and its role in religion by providing both background and evolution of the complex relationship between prostitution and religion in Japan. The concluding focus is to present the beautification of prostitution and religion together as essential to understand the principles of impermanence and expedient means that constitute the pillars of Japanese Buddhism.