AN ONNAGATA is a male actor who plays a woman's role in a traditional Japanese drama called Kabuki.
This story is about a young man's disillusionment in the world of Kabuki.
"Masuyama's fascination did not reside in any surface illusion."
I think, in general, disillusionment is something that one cannot grasp. If it be a place, it is a place where one cannot have his foot in and have his other foot out. The very same thing about being an Onnagata. It was said that to be a skillful Onnagata, one must behave as a woman both onstage and offstage.
Mangiku, the Onnagata in the story, had a mystic air in him.
His exquisite appearance on stage lay concealed within him."
In our Japanese Literature discussion, it was pointed out that perhaps Mangiku was effective because of what he actually is—a homosexual; so one can conclude that being an Onnagata is something almost innate in him.
I find it interesting how the author wove the story around Mangiku without revealing so much about him. I feel that his identity was buried underneath the layers of characters he played throughout his career. The only instance I saw a glimpse of him was when he was described as someone being in love, although it felt as if only a thin layer has been peeled off.
I also find it interesting how the author was able to captivate different senses throughout the story. Some of my favorite lines are as follows.
"The drum, suggesting the dark sound of the waterfall and contributing constant agitation to the stage.."
"The pain she revealed outwardly is backed with joy like her robe, on the outside dark and shot with gold thread, but bright with variegated silken strands within.."
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After I read the story, it made me think of a Neapolitan writer, Elena Ferrante, and her work called “Frantumaglia” (a word she borrowed from her mother) which means “a malaise that could not be defined otherwise and that hinted at a crowded, heterogeneous mix of things in her head, like rubbles floating on a brain’s muddy waters”
On some level, I think what Masuyama went through is something that can be identified as “Frantumaglia”.
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