Spectacle - Show

This refers to a show in which a temporary tent is set up in the precincts of temples and shrines or in the entertainment districts of cities on occasions such as festivals and fairs, and rare arts, rare animals, tricks, etc. are shown for money. The main attractions are physical performances such as acrobatics, acrobatics, dancing, martial arts, and magic, but in modern times, rare items from all over the world and optical shows using huge machines have attracted customers, and these new forms, represented by the World Expo, are claiming a place as modern spectacles. It is necessary to reconsider the concept of spectacles in relation to the visual culture of modern cities that makes spectacles possible. As symbolized by the fact that the term "spectacle" itself is from the Edo period onwards, it is closely and inseparably linked to the rise and fall of modern urban culture from the 17th century onwards, when the pleasure of seeing things with the eyes became more diverse due to the concentration of people and things, and people became interested in more stimulating rare items and tricks. In Japan, even though there were occasional fundraising performances such as Houka and Kumomai in the Muromachi period, and Kabuki dance in the early modern period, it was not until the Edo period that full-scale performances in which the performers in charge of the shows moved from entertainment district to entertainment district under the direction of a leader began. Among such entertainment districts, Shijo-gawara in Kyoto was an old one, and other entertainment districts such as Kitano Shrine and Shinkyogoku in Kyoto, Umeda, Sennichimae, Dotonbori, and Namba in Osaka, Ryogoku, Uenoyamashitahirokoji, and Asakusa Okuyama in Edo, which were integrated with the shows and reached their peak of bustle, became the "culture of the square" that was suppressed to the cultural periphery by modern cities striving for order, and became hare (extraordinary) places that stored the vulgar desires of the people. There, an astonishing repertoire of visual entertainment that could only be called miscellaneous arts was performed, including lively and dynamic physical performances, shows featuring freaks and unusual animals and birds, and elaborate crafts such as puppets and living dolls, as well as foot performances, 100-man performances, mountain men, snake girls, strong men, female sumo wrestlers, fire-eating monks, Rokurokubi dolls, and water tricks. The freak shows, where bodies came to life and monsters and freaks ran rampant, were a valuable space that gave the imagination of city residents the experience of traveling to other worlds and hell. Regular theater such as kabuki was also revitalized by incorporating elements of spectacle from the culture of shows. In short, it can be said that everyday life in the city developed by embracing the world of freak shows as a space for revitalization. In the Meiji period, places like Asakusa Park Rokuku and Shokonsha (now Yasukuni Shrine) became such venues, and Western arts like equestrian circus, photography, film, and panoramas became popular.

Similarly, in the West, acrobatics and other miscellaneous arts have existed since ancient Egypt and ancient Greece, and here, too, they have become more popular since the 17th century as cities have modernized. With the development of overseas exploration and colonial rule, strange creatures from non-European lands flowed in and became attractions. The fact that the natives of the colonies were called "noble savages" and exhibited in various European cities suggests an ideological pathology (a psychological feeling of superiority felt by the viewer towards what was being shown) that lies hidden in the taste for spectacles, which was tied up with the popularity of natural history. In conjunction with Orientalism towards China and the Middle East, the number of cultural artifacts exhibited increased rapidly. As visual culture developed, including art exhibitions and expositions, the culture of exhibitions reached its peak in the 18th and 19th centuries in places such as Regent's Park in London and the Grands Boulevards in Paris. Representative shows from this golden age of spectacle include the Aidfusicon, a mechanical theater by painter de Lauserburgh, the panoramas by R. Barker, the dioramas by L.J.M. Daguerre, Madame Tussaud's wax museum, William Brock's Egyptian Hall, and circus magnate Barnum's American Museum of Freaks.

Towards the end of the 19th century, cinema took over the world of spectacle. World's Fairs and Science Expositions became the freak shows of a new age, but just as with street performances, the physical vulgarity of the popular culture that once filled entertainment districts is disappearing in the face of the control of visual pleasure by large machines.

[Hiroshi Takayama]

"Freaks" by Musei Asakura (1928, Shunyodo Shoten)" ▽ "Freaks" by Leslie Fiedler, translated by Shunji Ito and Keisuke Dan (1986, Seidosha)" ▽ "Magicians and the Movies" by Eric Barnow, translated by Hiroshi Yamamoto (1987, Arina Shobo)" ▽ "London Spectacles" by Richard Altick, supervised translation by Shigeru Koike (1988, Kokusho Kankokai)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

寺社の境内や都市の盛り場で、祭礼や縁日といった機会をとらえて臨時に小屋掛けをし、珍しい芸能、珍品珍獣、からくりなどを見せて金銭をとる興行をいう。曲芸、軽業(かるわざ)、舞踊、武術、奇術など芸人が肉体を使う芸が中心だが、近代になるにつれてむしろ世界各地の珍しいものを集めたり、巨大な機械を使った光学的興行などが客を集め、科学万博に代表されるこうした新しい形態が現代の見世物としての位置を要求している。見世物を成り立たせる近代都市の視覚文化とのかかわりで、見世物という観念をとらえ直す必要があるだろう。「見世物」という呼称自体が江戸時代以降のものであることに象徴されるように、人と物の集中によって、目でものを見る快楽が多彩化し、より刺激的な珍品珍芸に人々が関心をもっていく17世紀以降の近代都市文化の消長と、それは密接不可分に結び付いている。日本でも室町時代に放下(ほうか)、蜘蛛舞(くもまい)といった勧進(かんじん)興行や近世初頭にかぶき踊などが散見されるにしても、見世物を担う香具師(やし)たちが頭(かしら)の差配を受けながら盛り場から盛り場へと移動していく本格的な興行は江戸時代に入ってからであった。そうした盛り場では京都の四条河原が古く、ほかにも京都の北野神社や新京極、大坂の梅田、千日前、道頓堀(どうとんぼり)、難波(なんば)、江戸の両国、上野山下広小路、浅草奥山といった、見世物と一体化して殷賑(いんしん)を極めた盛り場が、秩序を目ざす近代都市が文化の周縁へと抑圧した「広場の文化」、民衆の猥雑(わいざつ)な欲望を蓄えたハレ（非日常）の場となった。そこでは生き生きと躍動する肉体芸、異形(フリークス)や珍獣奇鳥のショー、からくりや生き人形などの細工ものを核として、足芸、百人芸、山男、蛇娘、力持ち、女相撲(すもう)、火食(ひく)い坊主、ろくろ首、水からくりなど、雑芸とよぶほかない視覚的大衆芸能の驚嘆すべきレパートリーが繰り広げられた。肉体が生動し、怪獣(モンスター)や因果物(フリークス)が跳梁(ちょうりょう)する見世物小屋は、都市市民の想像力に異界巡り、地獄巡りの体験を与える貴重な空間であった。歌舞伎(かぶき)など正統(レギュラー)な演劇もまた見世物文化からスペクタクルの要素を取り入れることで活性化した。要するに都市の日常生活は、見世物小屋の世界を活性化のための空間として抱え込むことで発展していったといえるのである。明治になると、浅草公園六区や招魂社（現在の靖国(やすくに)神社）がこうした場となり、西洋伝来の曲馬、写真、映画、パノラマなどが人気をとる。

　同じように西洋においても、古代エジプト、古代ギリシア以来、軽業や曲芸といった雑芸があり、ここでも都市の近代化に伴って17世紀以降が華やかである。海外探検と植民地支配の進展に伴い、非ヨーロッパ地域の奇禽珍貝(ききんちんばい)が流れ込んで見世物となった。植民地の先住民が「高貴な野蛮人」と称されてヨーロッパ各都市を見世物として回されたことは、博物誌の盛行とタイアップした見世物嗜好(しこう)に潜むイデオロギー的な病理（見る側が見られるものに対して抱く心理的優越感）をうかがわせる。中国や中近東に対するオリエンタリズムと連係して、見世物にされる文物はどんどん増大した。美術展や博覧会をも巻き込む視覚的文化の進展のなかで、18、19世紀、見世物文化はロンドンのリージェント・パークやパリのグラン・ブールバールなどでその極点を迎える。画家ド・ラウサーバーグによるからくり劇場エイドフューシコン、R・バーカーによるパノラマ、L・J・M・ダゲールによるジオラマ、マダム・タッソーの蝋(ろう)人形館、ウィリアム・ブロックのエジプシャン・ホール、サーカス王バーナムの奇形興行「アメリカ博物館」などが、この見世物の黄金時代の代表的な興行である。

　19世紀末にかけて映画が見世物的世界を引き継いだ。万国博や科学万博が新しい時代の見世物小屋となる反面、かつての盛り場に横溢(おういつ)していた民衆文化の肉体的猥雑さが、大型機械による見る快楽の管理の前に姿を消しつつある事情は大道芸の場合と同じである。

［高山　宏］

『朝倉無声著『見世物研究』（1928・春陽堂書店）』▽『レスリー・フィードラー著、伊藤俊治・旦啓介訳『フリークス』（1986・青土社）』▽『エリック・バーナウ著、山本浩訳『魔術師と映画』（1987・ありな書房）』▽『リチャード・オールティック著、小池滋監訳『ロンドンの見世物』（1988・国書刊行会）』

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