A Comparative Study On Taniko By Zenchiko (A Japanese Noh Drama) and He, who Says Yes/He, Who Says No, By Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), a German playwright, thinker and social-political activist was one of the noteworthy writers who wrote many of their plays on the basis of eastern literature (especially Chinese and Japanese). The play in two episodes called He Who Says Yes/ He Who Says No, are among Brecht's works which he adapted from an original Japanese No drama, called Taniko by Zenchiko. At first, this play was translated into English by Arthur Waley, and then Elizabeth Hauptman translated it into Germany, the one which Brecht used as his source for creating He Who Says Yes. Both translations and Brecht's play has fundamental differences with the original text. The most important difference is that the religious atmosphere of Taniko in those two translations and Brecht's play became a secular one, resulting to major changes in the story and characters of Taniko. This paper aims to study these two plays, presenting their similarities and differences, furthermore, comparing philosophical, religious, social and aesthetic aspects of two plays.