That the reception by medieval Japanese of Chinese culture offers a window on Japanese conceptions of self-identity during that period is an established idea in contemporary scholarship. Although Noh theater is often viewed as a quintessentially Japanese traditional performing art, about one-tenth of the plays in the current repertoire, commonly referred to as "Chinese plays (karagotomono)," actually retell stories of Chinese origin. Chinese motifs re-presented in these "Chinese plays" underwent different circumstances of assimilation and embraced such diverse arts as poetry, storytelling, dance, and painting, prior to the Noh versions. Thus, this group of "Chinese plays" provides a fruitful case study of the cross-cultural and interdisciplinary aspects of Noh.
This paper explores the transformation of a Chinese motif predominantly depicted in ink paintings (suibokuga) into a Noh play in Muromachi Japan. I examine the Noh play entitled Sanshô ("The Three Laughers"), which celebrates the unity of the three Chinese historical figures representing Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism who embraced the spiritual and intellectual freedom beyond religious and philosophical beliefs. In the light of the socio-cultural dynamic of Muromachi Japan, I seek to find out why the sociopolitically charged motif that is specific to the Chinese made sense to the medieval audiences of Noh. I trace the reception of the Chinese motif in different art forms preceding the Noh adaptation, in particular ink painting, and the appropriation made to conform the convention of different genres vis-à-vis the portrayal in Noh. By examining how the playwright, working within the artistic and socio-cultural contexts of his time, integrated material from these various disciplines to come up with their own re-presentations of the Chinese motif, I thereby suggest the employment of Chinese motif was not an random choice, but rather a necessity to convey a unique message to the Japanese audience.