Mari Yoshihara - Orientalism

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Flight of the Japanese Butterfly
I 975
The Flight of the Japanese Butterfly:

Orientalism, Nationalism, and
Performances of Japanese Womanhood
Man Yoshihara
written by American author John Luther Long in the year of the

Spanish-AmericanWar, Madame Butterflyis one of the quintessential
Orientalist narratives.Through the tragic relationship between Lieutenant Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton, an American naval officer stationed in
Nagasaki, and Cio-Cio-San (Madame Butterfly), a self-sacrificing Japanese
heroine who kills herself at the end, the narrative exemplified the gendered
dynamics of East-West relations founded upon unequal power relations. Following David Belasco'sstage adaptationof the story,Italiancomposer Giacomo
Puccini produced the now-famous opera Madama Butterflyin 1904, the year
of the Russo-JapaneseWar. While Butterflycertainly echoed the numerous
existing texts of European Orientalism, the specific narrativeof Butterflyand
the timing of its productions were also symbolic of Americas power in creating its own Orientalism at a time when the geopolitics of East-West relations
underwent a rapid change. On the one hand, the Spanish-Americanand Filipino-American wars followed by the U.S. conquest of the Philippines, along
with the Open Door Policy vis-a-vis China, epitomized the United States'
full-fledged entry into Asia-Pacific as an imperial power and the coming of the
"Americancentury." On the other hand, Japan'svictory in the Sino-Japanese
and Russo-Japanesewars and its growing military and economic expansion in
Asia demonstrated the nation'sentry among the Western powers as a modern
imperial power. The cross-Pacific dynamics of nation and empire building
manifested in these events were embodied in Butterfly's narrativeconstruction
as well as its performances on stage. The multilayered nature of the operatic
text- expressedthrough its narrative,theatrical,and musical constructionsfurtherenhanced the dramatizationof the highly racializedand gendered original story, inscribing onto popular memory not only the tragic narrativebut
also the visual and sonic images of Cio-Cio-San.1
Ironically,in most productions of Puccini's Butterfly'in the United States in
the early twentieth century, Cio-Cio-San's tragic Japanese womanhood was

976
I American Quarterly
enacted by the white divas who played the role on stage. Trained in the most
spectacular form of European high culture, performing the roles of the heroines on stage, and leading highly public lives offstage, these divas in fact embodied modern American womanhood much more than Japanesefemininity.
Most notably, Geraldine Farrar,who played the role of Cio-Cio-San for the
Metropolitan Opera in the first two decades of the operas production in the
United States, was hailed by her young female fans as "thegreat Glamour Girl
of [the] era,"and became a forerunnerin the history of divaworship in America.
The production and reception of these white divas' performancesof the Japanese heroine illustratednot only the gendered and sexualized nature of Butterfly but also the unequal racialand class relations between those who performed
the role on stage and those who were presumably representedby those performances.2
Yet, Butterflydid not simply remain a white female performance of white
male Orientalist fantasy. As Japan gained legitimacy as a modern, civilized
nation, the Japanese themselves entered the stage and created their own Butterfly.The Japanesecomplicity in the production of Butterflyand their efforts
to revise it to their own end illuminate the multiple forces involved in the
shaping of Western cultural hegemony. In the Meiji (1868-1912) andTaisho
(1912-1926) periods, Japan pursued modernity and sought recognition from
its Western peers in part through the adoption of Western arts and culture. At
the same time, the rapid social change also brought about a growing disenchantment with the West, and various forms of Japanese "tradition"were reconstructed and reinforced both by the state and the intellectuals.3 In this
cultural climate, Butterflybecame an important stage where Japan was presented to the Western world through the figure of Cio-Cio-San. The Japanese
efforts to create their own Butterflyalso demonstrate the ways in which nationalist resistanceto Western hegemony is often accompanied by patriarchal
gender politics and the contestations over forms of womanhood befitting a
modern nation. Thus, while Japanesewomen who made it onto the national
and international stage exercisedtheir own agency in creating and performing
their own Cio-Cio-San, their male peers, both in Japan and abroad, projected
their own ideals of gender and sexuality onto them and their character.At the
same time, male cultural leaders of modern Japan also tried to take control of
the representationsof their nation through their own production of the opera.
The Japanese Butterfly was thus much more than a Japanese female singer
playing the charactercreatedby Westernmen. The Butterflyplayedand claimed
by the Japanesewas also a performance of the Japanesenation-state as a modern, civilized peer of the Western powers, a performance of Japanesewomen's

I 977
newly gendered identity in multiple publics, and a performance of Japanese

people abroad intent on proving their status to their neighbors. Hearing the
many voices in these performances helps us move beyond a simplistic binary
between "resistance"and "complicity"to better understand the multiple forms
of agency in the construction of Western hegemony and U.S. imperialism in
particular.It also sheds light upon why, despite such agency and resistanceon
the part of the Japanese, Orientalist performances continue to have a strong
appeal not only for Western audiences but also for those represented in such
productions: the performances function as a powerful political, cultural, and
artistic tool for asserting their racial, national, and cultural identities.
Butterfly Crosses the Pacific
The Japanesesensitivity to Madama Butterflywas shaped not only by its narrative of United States-Japan/male-female relations but also by the medium
in which it was delivered. Prior to the arrivalof Butterfly,the entire genre of
Western music- and opera in particular- had already been given a special
meaning in Japan. As Urry Eppstein demonstrates, the Japanese adoption of
Western music differed from that of other non-Western countries in that it
happened suddenly through the deliberate decisions of authorities and a carefully planned policy, rather than under pressure from European colonizing
powers or as a result of gradually increasing mutual contacts with the West.
The introduction of Western music to Meiji Japanwas advocated not so much
because of aesthetic evaluations or any considerations of the art for its own
sake, but largely for the very practical purpose of bringing standardizedharmony and rhythm to the military establishment and the educational system.4
While Western music- particularlyinstrumentalperformance- was thus programmatically introduced through the establishment of the state-sponsored
Tokyo School of Music, opera developed relatively late in Japan.5Although
the faculty and students at the Tokyo School of Music attempted the production of Charles Gounod's Faust as early as 1894, the cost and complexity of
producing Western opera was often prohibitive for state-sponsored conservatories and private companies. More significant, Western opera- where male
and female students dressed in costumes and engaged in romantic performances in the evenings- was considered "morallyquestionable" by the Ministry of Education, putting a halt to extensive operatic training in Japan until
well after WWII.6 Given such a sexualized characterizationand treatment of
Western opera as a whole, it is not surprising that Madama Butterfly,a story
about an interracial relationship between an American man and a Japanese
woman, provoked a particularlycomplex reception in Japan.

978
The first performance of Butterflyin Japan took place in 1914, with the
leading musician of the time, Takaori Shuichi,7 conducting and his wife,
Sumiko, playing the role of Cio-Cio-San. The Takaoriswere among the first
Japanese to study music in the United States at the turn of the century, and
during their stay in New York, Sumiko studied with Geraldine Farrar,who
was then becoming famous for her Butterfly role.8Upon returning to Japan in
1913, the Takaorisperformed Butterflyat the Teikoku Theater in Tokyo. This
was only a partial performance of the highlights of act 2 and could not be
characterizedas a full opera. In the following decade, the Japaneseattempted
several productions of Butterfly,most of which were more akin to operettas
than full operatic performances.The first full performance of Puccini's opera
in Japan was done by the touring Russian Opera in 1921, followed by the
Italian Opera company in 1922. The first production of the piece with a Japanesecast also took place Figure 1.
in 1922, when the Asakusa Opera performed But- Matzene studio (Chicago),
TamakiMiura, theJapanese Lyric
terflytranslated by Tokunaga Masataro. This was Soprano; gelatin silver print
followed by severalproductions, both Japaneseand photograph,ca. 1915-1917.
foreign, in the ensuing decade.9
In the creation of the Japanese Butterfly, by far the most important figure
was Miura Tamaki (1884-1946). As the only Japanese singer who attained
international acclaim in the prewarperiod, Miura made a name for herself as
the "JapaneseButterfly"and was an extremelyvisible celebrity in Japan.10One
can safely say that it was Butterflythat gave her access to the international
scene that she would not have entered otherwise. In this sense, the multiple
layers of Orientalism in Butterflyh production and reception were precisely
what gave voice and power to Miura and, as I will demonstrate, to the Japanese nation. The choices Miura made in forging her careerand the audience's
receptions both in the United States and Japan shed light upon the politics of
race, gender, and nation in individual and collective efforts to create Japans
self-image within the largercontext of Western Orientalism.
Born Shibata Tamaki to a bourgeois family in Tokyo in 1884, she came of
age at the turn of the century when the original Madame Butterflywas being
written and produced in Europe and the United States. After high school, she
enrolled in the new Tokyo School of Music against the wishes of her family;
her father approved her enrollment in the school on the condition that she
would marry Fujii Zen'ichi, a military physician. As a student, she rode her
bicycle- a symbol of the "modern girl" to school every day and became
famous as a "Bicycle Beauty"among her peers, her suitors, and later the press.
She performed in the earliest staging of Western opera by a Japanesecast, and


I 979
o8o
her reputation as a singer was established. She marriedFujii in 1900, but eight
years later, shortly after she joined the faculty at her alma mater, she created a
major scandal by divorcing him. She soon caused another scandal by running
off to Singapore with her new lover, Miura Masataro, also a physician.
Returning to Japan in 1913, the couple married and left Japan for their
respective studies in Germany. This was the beginning of Miura's international career.Although the couple's study was interrupted by the outbreak of
World War I, Miura Tamaki made a successful debut in London in 1915
when she was invited to play the role of Cio-Cio-San. Although she had never
even seen the opera performed, she was persuaded that her lack of exposure to
other singers' performanceswas an advantage in creating her original Butterfly. After this performance, she became the best-known Japanesesinger in the
international opera scene and toured extensively around the world, performing Butterflyin such cities as New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San
Francisco,Portland, Baltimore, Honolulu, Havana, San Juan, Caracas,Milan,
Rome, Monte Carlo, and Lisbon. While her husband completed his study
and returned to Japan, she continued her tour alone and did not reunite with
her husband until 1922, when she returned to Japan after eight years of international travel. After a brief performance tour acrossJapan, she again left the
country- despite her family's attempt to stop her- for further tours in the
United States. When Miura received the news of her husband's death while
she was in Honolulu in 1929, she decided: "With the death of my husband
who was waiting for my return, there was no longer any point in my rushing
to Japan. The best tribute to my husband was to continue to sing as a prima
donna and give as much pleasure as possible to the people of the world. And
thus from Honolulu I went back to the United States and continued to sing
Madama Butterfly."u Miura finally returned to Japan in 1932, after which she
made numerous performances both on stage and on the air. Her health declined while she and her mother moved to the countryside during the war,
and she died in May 1946.
According to Miura'sown account, during her careershe performed CioCio-San more than two thousand times, although this number seems to be
exaggerated and must include all the performances of select arias from the
opera at various concerts and recitals.Today, the shared assessment of Miura's
ability as a singer is that, while she was certainly the most accomplished Japanese singer of the time, she was no comparison to the top Western singers,
such as Geraldine Farrar,in terms of her vocal capacities.A comparison of the
extant recordings by Farrarand Miura confirms this view.12Furthermore,

I 981
Miura's"internationalacclaim"also seems to have been quite exaggeratedbecause of both the divas flamboyant nature and the Japanese public who eagerly praised the birth of an international star among their citizens. Nonetheless, Miura was one of few Japanesesingerswho not only performedextensively
around the world but also could sing in the original language, and her accomplishment as a pioneer Japanese Butterfly is undeniable.
The American audiences response to Miura typified the Orientalist perception of Japanesewomanhood and revealedthe cultural and discursive contours within which women such as Miura had to operate. The American audience saw Miuras performanceof Cio-Cio-San as "natural"and "innate"simply
because of her race and ethnicity. In assessing white singers' performances of
the Japanese heroine, American critics often presumed a great differencebetween the performers'American womanhood and the Japanesefemininity they
impersonated and praised the singers for conquering that wide gap through
their performative mastery.13In contrast, in the case of Miura, the identification between the singer and her role was taken for granted. Therefore, the
same exoticizing and Orientalizing discourse about the characterof Cio-CioSan was used to describe Miura the performer.American reviews repeatedly
made referencesto Miura as "thedainty little Japanesesinger,"reinforcing the
image of diminutive and fragile Cio-Cio-San, with comments such as:
TamakiMiurawasthe "realthing."So dainty,so Japanese,wasshe thatwe wereremindedof
a cute, quaint little doll, wound up to act and sing for severalhours, then, after being
carefullydustedto be put backon the shelf at Vantines . . . She patteredabout on those
funnylittlefeet of hersand gavesome prettyimitationsof an Occidentalprimadonna;but
she remainedinvinciblyNipponese.14
According to this commentary, Miura was not impersonating her Japanese

character but was imitating an Occidental prima donna- in vain. Even her
limitations as a vocalist became an asset in the face of Orientalist notions of
Japanesefemininity: "She is a diminutive woman and she has a tiny voice- a
voice that would be completely lost, probably,in another opera and character.
But it is just such an infantile voice as the Butterfly of John Luther Longs
conception might be expected to possess and so there is no shock to illusion."15The press further exoticized Miura by commenting on the "charming"-ness of her "quaint English-speaking effort."16The commentaries that
appeared in the Honolulu Advertiser,which reflected the voice of the white
dominant power whose ideologies and policies vis-a-vis Native Hawaiians and
Asian immigrants shaped the islands' colonial history, exemplified the
Orientalism underpinning the response to Miura:

982
Formy singleself alone,afterlisteningto the daintylittle artisteat the LibertyTheaterlast

evening,I preferto rememberherstandingkimono-cladin the midstof a bowerof Hono- pouringout of hermysterilulu blossoms- roses,Africandaisies,gladiolasandoleanders
ous FarEasternsoul throughthe mediumof "kuruka kuruka to,"a dramaticlittle nagauta
song of her own country.17
Americas Orientalist fantasies about Japanese femininity that gave birth to

the character of Cio-Cio-San were thus projected onto the body of Miura,
who, in fact, was a quite untraditionalJapanesewoman of the modern times.
Indeed, in her real life, Miura was far from the dainty, self-sacrificingcreature that she impersonated on stage. As indicated by the choices she made in
her personal life, she conformed neither to the Western Orientalist fantasy of
exotic, delicate femininity nor to the Japanese ideal womanhood of "good
wife, wise mother (rydsaikenbo)"propagatedby the state. In many ways, Miura
signified what the Japanesemedia of the period depicted as the "Modern Girl
(moga)"18Already a celebrity before leaving Japan, Miura was often portrayed
by the media- both mainstream and popular- as a woman of the new age,
and she happily took on the role, publicly commenting on her views about
women and femininity. In one article, Miura argued that, while "cuteness"
was an indispensable quality for a woman, especially for an actress,what gave
virtue to this "cuteness"was the woman's "dignity.""Gone are the days when
wives were called okusama[the word used to referto marriedwomen, derived
from the word meaning "women of the inner court"] and women distanced
themselves from associating with men," she claimed, and "today,we women
must possess 'dignity' and actressesmust 'face the world with divine dignity'
and faithfully pursue art."19
Not only did Miura hold- and live out- such an unconventional and
"modern"view of womanhood in her real life, but she was also remarkably
savvy about the creation and performance of her role on stage. Miura'spublished commentaries about Madama Butterflydemonstrate her understanding
of the Orientalist nature of the Butterfly narrative,even prior to launching her
international career.In 1912, she edited and published a collection, Sekai no
Opera[The Opera of the World], which introduced the plots of seventy-some
operas to Japanese readers.20She made a bold commentary in the section introducing Butterfly."Seen from our Japanese eyes, the Japanese culture and
customs that appear in this opera are not merely extremely strange but rather
infuriating. However, judging in terms of its musical value, it seems understandable that the piece received unprecedented acclaim in Europe and
America."21In her description of the first act, Miura further remarked:"This

Figure 2.
Anonymous photographer,
Tamaki Miura, Chicago Opera
Co.\ gelatin silver print

photograph,ca. 1918-1 926.
I 983
first act is almost thoroughly absurd to

the Japanese, and one can see this as an
unfiltered expression of the fantasies of
the foreignerswho have no understanding of Japan."22
While she thus understood Butterflys
distorted representation of Japanese
culture and Orientalism of the Western audience, Miura did not refrain
from performing her role in ways that
were intended by the operas creators
and expected by its non-Japaneseaudience. In fact, once she began performing outside of Japan, Miura quite consciously and skillfully enacted the
character of Cio-Cio-San to appeal to
her Western audiences. Performing in
the Butterflythatwas directedby Western
producers, accompanied by Western
singers, and seen by Western audiences, Miura had
to act upon her independent ideas and exercise her
own creativity in performing her Cio-Cio-San. Her
own account revealsher thinking in this process:
After all, this story was first written by a foreigner based on his imagination; and then a
foreign genius composed the music out of his own head by incorporating melodies of Japanese music here and there. Therefore, no matter how hard I try to perform in an authentically Japanese fashion, such a performance would not fit neatly with the opera as a whole.
One has to harmonize Japanese emotions and manners into the opera.23
Miura thus made adjustments, such as tying the sashes flatly rather than in a
round, Japanesestyle so that she wouldn't appearhunchbacked to the Western
audience. She also convinced the director to make minor changes to the original libretto in act 1 to hold the exchange of sakeduring the wedding ceremony
in order to introduce to the Western audience what would appear to be an
exotic Japanese custom.
Beyond Miuras crafting of Cio-Cio-San s character,in a broader sense she
also voluntarily performed the role of the Japanesewoman created by Western
Orientalism. In addition to Butterfly^on her tour in Europe and the United

984 I AmericanQuarterly
States she often played the heroine in other Orientalist operas- such as
Message's Madame Chrysantheme,Jones s The Geisha, Mascagnis Iris, and
Franchettis Namiko-san- all of which cast the diva in the stereotypicalfemale
24
Japaneserole of the geisha. Not surprisingly,such Orientalist casting did not
change throughout Miura'scareerabroad. Miura did not seem to mind such
casting, however, as it gave her access to the international audience. In fact, it
seems that Miura increasingly mastered the ways to please her Western audience as her international tour progressed. She typically dressed in a kimono
when appearing in front of a Western audience, even though by the time
Miura was touring around the world Japanesewomen of her social status commonly wore Western clothing. When performing in recitals,her program usually mixed Western classical songs by Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and
others with traditional or folk Japanese songs such as "Sakura"and "Kuruka
kuruka to," and closed with "Un bel di," the most famous aria from Butterfly}5 Such fashioning of her self and her musical role indicates Miura'sawareness about how Western Orientalism worked and the skillfulness with which
she capitalized on her Japaneseidentity in dealing with her Western audience.
Yet Miura did not simply pander to the Western taste; she also activelyand selectively- "authenticated"her performance. She was upset that the costume staff, ignorant of Asian cultures, often gave Chinese apparelto Japanese
characters.26She was deeply dissatisfied by the inaccuracies of the stage sets,
props, and makeup in the productions around the world.27She did her best to
take control over her performance amid such surroundings: she adopted the
movements of traditional Japanese dance into her performance and sought
instructions on her choreography from the wife of a Japanese actor.28She
claimed that she went to Philadelphia to visit Rosa Long, who told her brother
John Luther Long about the woman who became the model for Cio-Cio-San,
to hear the story behind Madame Butterfly; and that upon her first return to
Japanshe traveledto Nagasaki to meet the American consul.29She also boasted
that during her trip to Italy in 1920 she met Puccini, who welcomed her with
much enthusiasm.30Furthermore, she was highly concerned with the emotional rendition of her characterand studied the ways to convey "thevirtues of
a chaste and affectionate Japanesewoman" to the Western audience.31
Miuras ideas about Butterflyand her efforts in creating her own Cio-CioSan demonstrate the highly performative and carefully constructed nature of
Miuras Butterfly. Operating within the Orientalism of the opera and of her
Western audience, she consciously crafted and performed a form of Japanese
womanhood that she believed meshed with the operatic genre and appealed
to the Western audience. Her choices and performances expressed the ten-

I 085
sions and negotiations between individual agency and cultural ideology, between the singer's aspirations for professional recognition and her desire for
authenticity, and between the rise of Japan onto the international scene and
the prevalent culture of Western Orientalism.
Managing Cio-Cio-San in Japan:
Japanese Debates over Miura's Womanhood
In the negotiation between Japan'sself-image and Western hegemony, Miura
had to contend not only with Western Orientalism but also with a Japanese
public ambivalent about her international success and her place in Japanese
society. Precisely because of Miura's international visibility, Japanese society
was invested in her performance- less of the role of Cio-Cio-San than that of
a "proper"Japanesewoman befitting the nation's role in the world.
In the period when Miura's career was at its peak, the role of women in
Japanese society was undergoing a rapid change, generating heated debates
about "women's issues." Introduced to Western feminist thought, Japanese
women began to challenge the ideals of "good wife, wise mother" popularized
by the Meiji state and to protest the ban on women's political participation. In
1911, Hiratsuka Raicho founded the literary magazine Seitd (Bluestockings)
to showcase the creative talents of women. Throughout the 1920s, Japanese
feminists such as YosanoAkiko, YamakawaKikue, and YamadaWaka debated
issues such as legal, educational, and social rights for women; state protection
of mothers; and the women's subordination to the system of private property.
Women were also entering the wage labor force in factories,department stores,
and office buildings in growing numbers. Women's entry into the urban public sphere forced redefinitions of womanhood, and the "moderngirl"was variously characterizedby the media as a self-respecting, independent woman or
as the epitome of moral decadence and threatto family life and national unity.32
While Miura may or may not have identified herself as a "modern girl," she
certainly embodied the transgressionsof the "moderngirl"and the anxieties it
provoked.
Beyond the domestic debates about the "new woman," Miura's musical
careerwas of particularconcern to the Japanese because of her international
visibility. At a time when Japanwas trying to prove its equal status with Western nations, the representationsof Japanesewomen abroad had a particularly
potent meaning for the nation. The Japanesegovernment was highly sensitive
to the representationsof Japan in sites like the "JapaneseVillage" exhibitions
and geishas and performers traveling abroad. In Ayako Kano's words, "The
very idea of Japanesewomen performing under Western eyes raised the hack-

086
les of those men who would equate guarding Japanesewomen's chastity with
The government thus attempted a
protecting Japanesenational sovereignty."33
series of "reforms"of the Japanesetheater and controlled the overseastravelof
Japanese performers, especially women. Women were thus assigned a special
role of performing a national identity at a time when Japans status in the
Western world was at stake.
A Japanesefemale opera singer had a particularlyunique role to play in this
performance of national identity. On the one hand, as can be seen from the
governments suspicion about the "morality"of operatic performances, opera
was given sexualized meanings, and Japanese women performing in it were
therefore particularly under the watchful eyes of both the Japanese government and Japanese society in general. On the other hand, Japanese singers'
achievements in the world of opera were highly effective symbols of Japan's
entry into the ranks of the Western powers, as opera was an entirely Western
form of high art. The fact that a Japanese singer could now perform in this
cultural form symbolized Japans legitimate position in Western civilization.
Yet, in orderfor opera to serveJapans objectivesof nation and empire building, the Japaneseprima donna herself needed to act in ways that were appropriate for the modern Japanesenation. Such proprietywas defined not only in
terms of the singer's accomplishment in the Western art form and international success, but also in terms of her conformity to "traditionalJapanese"
ideals of womanhood. While Miura was skillful in performing that role on
stage, she had no intention of playing it in her real life offstage. The representations of Miura in the Japanese media exemplify the patriarchalattempts to
manageJapanesewomanhood at a time when the "modernwoman" disrupted
prescribednotions of decorum and female subservience.34
Many Japanese eagerly praised Miura'saccomplishment and hailed its significance for the nation. Upon seeing Miura'sperformance in St. Paul,Takaori
Shuichi, who conducted the first performance of Butterflyin Japan, wrote an
extensive review for a leading music journal in Japan. On the one hand, he
pointed out the limitations of Miura's performance skills. According to his
observations, despite the tragic narrativethat usually drives the audience into
tears, hardly anyone in the audience was crying at Miura'sperformance. His
criticisms indicate his awarenessabout the racism and sexism involved in the
Western audience's response to Miura's performance that is independent of
her artistic accomplishment:
Everyone[in the audience]hada smileon the face,andwith Mrs.Miura'severylittlemove,
they all said, "Awfullycute!"And it is true that she lookedverycute . . . her performance

Flight of the Japanese Butterfly I 987
evoked no other feeling besides it being cute, interesting, and earnest ... It is not that
Western opera demanded Mrs. Miuras skill; rather,Butterfly demanded a Japanese woman.
It is no wonder that the New YorkTimesreviewed it as worth seeing once but not twice.35
Given the extensive criticisms Takaori had of Miuras performance, it is significant that he distinguished between "Mrs. Miura as seen by the Westerners" and "Mrs. Miura as seen by the Japanese,"and from the latter point of
view, he wholeheartedly praised her accomplishment and saw its significance
for Japans national pride:
and otherJapanese
It is a greatpleasureforour nation'smusicworldthatMadamaButterfly
the
are
on
the
same
Western
where
of the realscene
top professionals
opera performed
stage
...
that
Mrs.
Miura
stood
to
the
It
is
trulypraiseworthy
up
top singersof the world
appear
andperformedin thewayshe did. In thissense,I as aJapanesecannothelpbut shouta great
"banzai"forJapanand for our nations music.36
According to such a view, Miuras performancewas much more than a musical

performance of a theatrical role; it became an embodiment of Japan'sperformance as a nation. In this formulation, the Western music that Miura performed was not simply a foreign cultural form but a medium of Japans modernity and national status.
The largerJapanesepublic, with far less musical and artistic expertise than
Takaori,also extolled Miura, not simply praisingher personal success but linking her accomplishments to Japans national status. She was hailed as the one
who exposed Japans cultural achievement to the largerworld. Such views were
expressed particularly profusely upon Miuras first return to Japan in 1922.
One critic exclaimed in a mainstream national newspaper:
Welcomethe homecomingof Ms. MiuraTamaki- the genius,the extraordinary
talentof
the musicworld!Showrespectto the only world-classartistour countryhasproduced!. . .
Weareindebtedto Ms.Tamaki,who introducedJapanesecultureto theworld,who brought
us the sympathyof innumerablepeoplein manycountries.37
Here again, Miuras success was seen as the nations success. In performing in
Western opera and playing the role of a Japanesewoman created by Western
Orientalism, Miura became the carrierof Japaneseculture to the world. These
responses indicate that Japans assertion of its national identity and power was
not only compatible with but very much dependent upon its eager adoption
and successful performance of Western culture.
However, the Japanesepraise for Miura was by no means granted unconditionally. Nor was her "success"defined solely in terms of her artistic achieve-

o88
ments. Her gender was always central to the Japanesediscussion of Miura. In

venues ranging from serious music journals to tabloid newspapersand magazines, the Japaneseavidly debated Miura'swomanhood in relation to her artistic career.Just as Miuras international success in music was significant for
Japan'snational pride, her propriety as a Japanesewoman was important for
Japan'ssocial norms.
Even before Miura entered the world stage, it was clear that her character
and life path were subject to national scrutiny and debate. The mainstream
newspapers as well as the tabloid press eagerly reported her divorce from her
first husband in 1909 and speculated the reasons.38Beyond the sensational
reports, her divorce also provoked debates on the question of "the woman
artist."Some sympathetically argued that the few women endowed with special artistic talent should devote themselves to their pursuit ratherthan being
confined to domestic life.39Yet others criticized the divorcee for not properly
performing the role of a woman. One writer expressed a particularlystrong
view in a prestigious music journal:
I would like to say a word to Ms. Tamaki. Which do you think is more important, music or
your husband? Do you believe that you are a great enough genius to become a musician at
the expense of morality?What is your understanding of the sanctity of music? . . .Yourart is
no longer sacred . . . tainted art cannot be in the service of the world . . . Once a woman has
wedded a husband, she should help her husband and manage the household and never
dream of leaving that family ... I am sure that you have responsibilities and obligations to
the music world. Yet those cannot be so great that you need to fulfill them by leaving your
husband. How do you intend to teach others when you don't value young women's chastity?
Can you remain a music teacher in this way? ... I am afraid that this incident of yours [the
divorce] will have an effect on the world of music and ultimately corrupt Western music . . .
Ms. Tamaki, you have already become a person of immorality. I grieve for the music world,
and I lament for Ms. Tamaki. 40
According to this logic, Miuras divorce symbolized a threat to Japanesefamily

life and, by extension, to national unity; her failure to perform the proper role
of a woman also meant her failure to perform her role as a singer for the
nation. Such logic was premised upon the idea that Western music was an
important tool for Japan'sperformance of its national identity. Furthermore,
the patriarchaldisciplining of Miuras "chastity"and the linkage of her personal life and "the music world" demonstrated that, at this early stage in her
career,her gender and sexuality were already becoming a site of contestation
over Japanesewomanhood.
The Japaneseconcern over Miura'sgender and sexualitywas furtherheightened once Miura became an international figure. Especially after her husband

I 989
returned to Japan alone, rumors spread that Miura was having an affairwith
Aldo Franchetti, an Italian composer and conductor who toured with Miura
in Latin America and accompanied her on her trip to Japan in 1922. The
numerous reports of Miura'sreturn and her performances across Japan were
mixed with commentaries about her marriage and her relationship with
Franchetti.Priorto her return, one reporterinterviewed her awaiting husband
and asked, "Isit true that you wish to use her return as an opportunity to turn
her toward domestic life?"to which he answered, "No, I understandTamakis
art, so I would never do such a thing ... I don't intend to intervene."41Indeed,
it seems that the media was more concerned with domesticating Miura than
her husband was. Reports often used sensational vocabulary to dramatize her
husband'spresumed agony and her family'sefforts to tie her down to domestic
life. Once Miura'splans to leaveJapanafter her brief tour were revealed,newspapers reported sympathetically on her husband's woes. The gossipy Tokyo
Nichinichi Shinbun wrote under the headline, "The Suffering Heart of Dr.
Miura, Who Cannot Give Up Even After Being Stepped On and Kicked
Around." The article reported that while Miura was preoccupied with constant streams of performances and receptions, her husband confined himself
to their house in Tokyo "with a dark and lonely heart."The reporter sympathized with the husband: "Yeteven as he is treated in such a manner, he has no
wish to end his marriagewith her; his heart burns with the desire to maintain
the relationship at any cost. A tortured husband! . . . He is already eagerly
waiting for their reunion next spring, but will that turn into a sad dream?"42
The grosslyone-sided and patriarchaljudgments on Miura'sdeviations from
the norms of domesticity notwithstanding, the media was right on one prediction that the couple would not see each other again. Miura did not return
when her husband earned his doctorate in 1923. Throughout her tour in the
United States in the following decade, the media continued to publish articles
about her awaiting husband. She did not return even when she received the
news of her husband'sdeath. When she finally did step on the soil of her home
country in 1932, newspapersportrayedher as a disingenuous performerprone
to eye-catching theatricality.According to the reports,she visited her husband's
grave, embraced the tombstone, cried out loud, and sang. The language used
in the reports highlighted the theatrical nature of her demeanor and mentioned that the town's residentswere astonished by such melodramatic behavior and flamboyant manners.43One college student even wrote to the editor of
a newspaper that Miura'sbehavior was a shame to the nation. The newspaper
further highlighted deviant meanings assigned to Miura's age, gender, and
sexuality by publishing the letter under the heading, "SleazyOld Maid a National Humiliation."44

990
All of these portrayalsof Miura point to the Japanesepublic's confusion by

her various performancesand dismay at her refusalto play the role of a proper
Japanesewoman. Because the charactershe played on international stage was
associated with quintessential Japanesewomanhood, many Japanesefound it
particularlyalarming that the realwoman playing that role did not behave like
what they considered a "proper"Japanese woman; they thus tried to define
her gender role and limit her sexuality.
It seemed that Miura couldn't have cared less about such concerns, however. Whether the Japanesepublic saw her as a symbol of national pride or of
national humiliation, she saw herself as serving her nation. She went on with
her diva performance both at home and abroad. But as the Pacific War escalated and the Japanesegovernment enforced a series of sanctions againstWestern music and urged the creation and performanceof "Japanese"music, Miura
joined the war effort and agreed not to perform Butterflyor any other "Western" music.45 She wrote a patriotic article shunning the blind adoption of
Western music and calling for the appreciation and performance of Japanese
music. 46Once the war was over, despite her declining health, she performed
in several recitals, including the one for the occupying American officers in
January 1946. Shortly before her death, she was baptized- just like Cio-CioSan- by John G. Chapman, a pastor for Douglas MacArthur'sGeneral Headquarters.
Despite the complex and multiple roles she played for diverse audiences
the Western audience, the music world, and Japanesesociety- she clearly did
not see them as contradictory.Throughout her life, by playing the role of the
Japanese Butterfly, Miura engaged in multiple performances: she enacted a
Japanesewomanhood created by Western imagination; she performedJapan's
national identity, status, and pride; she embodied Japan'srebellious and independent "modern girl";she dutifully served as Japans loyal citizen during the
war,and she performedthe roleof America'sjuniorallyin the aftermathof the war.
The paradox of Miura'slife and career was that, while she bravely transgressed the established boundaries of gender, sexuality,and nation, her ability
to make such transgressionswas dependent on those very categories held by
both herAmericanand Japaneseaudiences,expressedin the form of Orientalism
and nationalism. On the one hand, Miura'ssuccess derived from her ability to
navigate the sea of multiple currents that drove her identity as a woman of
modern Japanworking in an internationalcultural terrain.On the other hand,
Miura'schoices and maneuverings amid such forces exemplify the limitations
of individual acts in the face of cultural hegemony in both global and national
settings.

I 991
Transplanting Japanese Womanhood: Miura for Japanese Immigrants

In addition to the Western audience and the Japanese public, there was another important audience for Miura's performance: Japanese communities
abroad.While the Westernaudience projectedOrientalistfantasiesonto Miura,
and the Japanesepublic showed mixed and ambivalent reactions to her behavior, Japaneseimmigrants abroad displayed yet another response to her performance and career.47They too invested specific racial and national meanings
into Miuras performance, but their reactions to Miura were distinctly shaped
by their own status as Japaneseliving in the United States and elsewhere. For
Japanese immigrants and expatriates in such cities as New York and Honolulu, the visibility of a Japanesewoman like Miura served multiple purposes:
to heighten their national pride as Japanese, to prove their assimilability into
Western civilization, and to demonstrate the superiority of Japanese women
to Western- that is, American- women. In the period of growing anti-Japanese movements both in Hawai'i and the continental United States- as manifested in the immigration restrictions of the 1907 Gentlemen's Agreement
and later the 1924 Immigration Act- Miura's performances effectively met
such objectives on the part of the Japanese immigrants and expatriates.
Miuras 1922 performance in Hawai'i took place at a critical moment for
the islands'Japanese who made up more than 30 percent of the population.
The vast majority of Japaneseimmigrants in Hawai'i were laborersworking in
the rigidly racializedclass system on the sugar plantations amid growing antiJapanese agitation.48 Especially after the Japanese organized industry-wide
strikes on sugar plantations in 1909 and 1920, the Japanese presence in the
islands came to be seen as a subversive,alien "menace,"and the United States
military devised various mechanisms to combat this "JaPaneseproblem." In
this political and social climate, many Japaneseleaders- both issei (first-generation immigrants)and nisei(second-generation)- activelyengaged in Americanization campaigns to prove the Japanese acculturation to "American"and
"Western"life through professional, educational, and cultural activities.49
In this context, for the leaders of the Japanese community in the islands,
Miura symbolized the possibility of transcending race and ethnicity. Thus,
upon Miura'sperformance in Honolulu in 1922, the editorial in the Nippu
Jiji, one of the city'sJapanese-languagenewspapers, commented:
The audience,no matterin whatpartof the worldit maybe, listensto the wonderfulvoice
of the primadonnawith raptattention.The questionof raceor nationalityof the singeris
entirelyforgotten.The suprememeritof artlies in the fact that it standsabovenationalor

raciallines.The Japanesemaywell be proudof the factthat theirracehas producedsuch a

paramountsingeras MadameMiura.50
To advance such an argument, one needed to claim that Miuras performance

had merit beyond authenticity based on her national identity; one had to
prove that she had reached the highest artistic standards of the West. The
same newspaper thus ran a series of articles citing reviews of Miuras performance in major newspaperson the continental United States that praised her
"artistic"achievement and "universal"appeal.51The editor furthercommented
that "Madame Miura is championing the cause of Japanesewomen who are
more or less backward.At the same time she is representingthe artistic side of
the Japanesepeople."52In an environment where the assimilation of Japanese
immigrants- and raising the reputation of Japanesewomen, many of whom
were arriving in the islands as "picturebrides"- was an urgent issue, Miura
was thus hailed as a model of a Japanese woman who attained the highest
form of Western civilization and thus gained "universal"acclaim.
The terms of discussion were much different in New York, where most
Japanese men were middle-class professionals, merchants, and students, and
many of their wives were active in a social and cultural milieu that crossed over
with the elite whites.53While anti-Japanese sentiments certainly existed in
New York, the small number of Japanese residents, the city's cosmopolitanism, and especially the widespread culture of Japonisme, as well as the Japanese community's bourgeois orientations, shaped the gender politics of the
community in ways distinct from Honolulu. Throughout the 1910s, there
had been an ongoing debate in the Japanese-AmericanCommercialWeekly
>the
city'sJapanese-languagenewspaper,about the relativevirtues of Japaneseand
Western (i.e., American) women. Some male writers made simplistic and sexist commentaries about the vulgarity of American (i.e., white) women and
praised the traditionalJapanesegender distinctions.54While Japanesewomen
also had a significant say in these debates,55the overall discussion was dominated by the Japanesemale projection of an "ideal"Japanesefemininity. Such
imperativeswere manifested in the responses to Miuras performancesas well.
Whereas in Honolulu the question of "authenticity"was submerged under
the discussion of "universal""artistic"attainment, the Japanese in New York
responded much more enthusiastically to the "genuinelyJapanese"nature of
Miuras performance. One (male) writer did not hesitate to criticize some aspects of Miura'ssinging but complemented the critique by saying, "The success of Madame Miura's Butterfly rests not in her voice but in her skills of
movement. In other words, the audience is amply fulfilled by her Japanese

I 993
manners that cannot be imitated by any Caucasian."56Another (male) writer

was even more explicit in basing his praise of Miura in contrast to Farrar:
Butterfly\s the best role that Farrarplays. In terms of vocal performance, it is undeniable
that you [Miura] have to take a step behind Farrar.
However, Madame Butterflyis a Japanese woman. Even though Farraris the best opera
singer in the world, how can she impersonate the character of a foreign race with entirely
different manners and customs, and compete on stage with the Butterfly played by you, a
Japanese? The way of dressing in kimono, holding the fan, walking in sandals- all the
elegant movements of a Japanese girl is impossible for a Caucasian to imitate, and only
can
the
role.
No
matter
how hard she tries, Farrarwould not even come close
you
perform
to you in these regards.57
For the Japanese in New York'smetropolitan Western culture, the projection

of an ideal Japanese femininity was a more pressing issue than proving the
assimilability of the Japanese. In this context, Miura was hailed, not as a New
Woman of modern Japan, but as an ideal model of "traditionalJapanesewomanhood," much in the same way that American Orientalist discourse constructed her and the Japanesepublic at home tried to mold her.
Butterfly by the Japanese, for the Japanese, of the Japanese
While Miura'scareeras a Japanese Butterfly illustrates her gendered negotiations and navigations between Western Orientalism and Japanese patriarchy
and nationalism, the creation of the Japanese Butterfly was not only a Japanese woman's business. Japanese men at home also made their own attempts
to gain control over the nation'srepresentationsthrough Butterfly.In the early
Showa period, when Japan'sgrowing desire to break from the West and to be
a leader and model for Asia was expressed in its escalating militarism and
imperialism, Japan'scultural elites had high stakes in creating a "proper"image of Japan and presenting it to both their Western audiences and Asian
neighbors. The ways in which Butterflywas used toward this goal revealcomplex intersections of nationalism and imperialism in the cultural dynamics
across the Pacific.
The most notable event in this context was the 1930 production o Butterfly at the Kabuki-za Theater in Tokyo. This four-day performance was directed and conducted by YamadaKosaku (Kocak), the foremostJapanesecomposer of the period, and used the libretto translated by Horiuchi Keizo.
Cio-Cio-San was played by Matsudaira Satoko (1896-1931), a graduate of
the Tokyo School of Music. What was distinctive about this production was

994
the great deal of liberty the Japaneseproducers exercised in creating their own
Butterfly,TranslatorHoriuchi's own account demonstrates the Japaneseawareness about the insulting Orientalist nature of the original opera: "EvenWesterners must find it absurd that these characterswith chonmage[top-knot] appear onstage- one cannot tell whether the setting is supposed to look like
Japan or China- in shuffling steps, put their hands on the ground, and bow
up and down."58Horiuchi was not alone in investing national pride in this
Japanese production of Butterfly.Even prior to the actual performance, the
media discussed the significance of this production in upholding Japan'sdignity. One newspaper article praised the producers' struggle "to eliminate the
national humiliation generatedby the quasi-Nippon performancesof this opera
traditionally done by the Westerners."59
Horiuchi and Yamada made various changes and adaptations to correct
what they saw as the inaccuraciesand absurdities of the original opera. On a
most basic level, they "authenticated"the performance by casting Japanese
singers for Japanese roles and Caucasian singers for American roles. Horiuchi
translated the libretto so that the dialogues among the American characters
were in English; since Lieutenant Pinkerton was not supposed to know any
Japanese, all the conversations and songs involving Pinkerton were done in
English; but Consul Sharplesshad lived in Japan for a long time, so when he
talked with Japanese charactershe did so in Japanese. On a more substantial
level, Horiuchi and Yamada raised Cio-Cio-San's age to twenty-two; they
thought given the plot (in which Cio-Cio-San falls in love and marries
Pinkerton against her family'swishes and gives birth to his child), it was implausible that the heroine be fifteen as she was in the original. Furthermore,
the characterGoro, who in the original was, according to Horiuchi, a "highly
unpleasant fellow who serves as a vulgar broker and treats women as commodities and engages in various sleazy activities," was transformed into an
"intelligent translator."As for Count Yamadori,it was impossible that a count
would be meandering in Nagasaki neighborhoods, so he was changed into an
import-export businessman, as befitting the plot, in which he was on friendly
terms with the American consul.
In addition to these changes in character,the producers made adaptations
to the plot as well. Because Pinkerton and Cio-Cio-San's wedding in act 1 was
"utterlyinfuriating,"they deleted the entire wedding scene. In act 2, the scene
in which Cio-Cio-San spreads flower petals on the floor was "beautiful in
terms of the music, but spreadingflowers on the floor is ridiculous, so she puts
a flower in the vase instead." A Japanese woman would never poke a hole in
the shoji door to peek at the harbor as Cio-Cio-San did in the original, so

I 995
Matsudaira was instructed to slide the door open instead. It was crude that
Goro took advantageof Cio-Cio-San, and thus through deletions and adaptations his character was made into a gentleman, which heightened the dramatic effect of the tragic ending. Horiuchi and Yamadanot only changed the
story to make it more acceptable to the Japaneseaudience, but they even tinkered with Puccini's music. As they felt that the occasional "JaPanese"tunes
sounded absurd, Yamada changed some of Puccini's melodies and tempo to
In this way, Horiuchi and Yamadaappropriated
make them more "natural."60
Butterflyto assertJapanese control over self-representation.
Just as Horiuchi and Yamada adapted the libretto and the score, the soprano MatsudairaSatoko also exercisedher imagination and performativeskills
in acting out her own interpretation of Cio-Cio-San. Unlike Miura, who had
to work with Western producers,cast, and audience, Matsudairahad Horiuchi
and Yamada as well as her Japanese audience as her allies in authenticating
Butterfly,and she took advantageof such an opportunity. She wrote after the
performance:"In the first scene of act 2, Yamadoriarrivesand there is a series
of exchanges between him and Cio-Cio-San. In the Italian performance, Madame Butterflyin that scene makesfun of Count Yamadoriand giggles throughout. But since the rehearsals,I've acted that scene to show Cio-Cio-San trying
her best to push back her tears of anger.That's the sentiment that came most
naturally to me during practice."61
This unique production brought about mixed reactions on the part of the
Japaneseaudience. While many praised Horiuchi and Yamada'sefforts to authenticate the operas setting and story, severalcritics questioned some of their
decisions. One reviewercommented:
Therearetwo questionablepoints about this production.One is that Butterflyand other
wereso realisticboth in theircostumeand in theiractingthatthe exotic
Japanesecharacters
flavorof the originalis almostentirelyeliminated.Of course,it is understoodthat in the
caseof thisparticularopera,whatis exoticin theWestis not at all exoticin Japan.Nonetheless,sinceone of the strengthsof this operais in its exoticism,is it appropriateto directthe
piece in waysthat lose thatelement?62
Such commentaries indicate the complex and competing demands the Japanese audience had of Butterfly.On the one hand, the Japanese, aware of the
Orientalistnatureof the operas narrativeand its Westernperformances,wanted
to take control over how Japan was represented to the world. When Japan's
place in world affairs was becoming increasingly visible with its expanding
military and economic power not only vis-a-vis the West but also as a colonial
presence in Asia "liberating"fellow Asians from Western imperialism, the Japa-

996
nese sensitivity about its self-image and its confidence in creating its own representations called for "authentic"portrayalsof Japan- and Asia- on the international stage. On the other hand, in the period when Japan was eagerly
learning and adopting Western art forms, the Japanesealso wanted to follow,
- authenticityto the form,
achieve,and maintain anotherkind of "authenticity"
genre, and aesthetics of Western high culture that opera exemplified.
In this context, Butterflyprovided a highly useful, albeit problematic, medium for the Japaneseto perform their role as a civilized nation. Composed by
a renowned Italian composer and performed all around the Western world,
Butterflybecame a mainstream representation of Japan and thus gave a stage
for the Japanese to perform Western high culture for the world audience in
the period when Europeans and Americans recognized few Japanese practicing Western art forms. The role of Cio-Cio-San gave Japanesewomen such as
Miura and Matsudaira a distinct role in which they could perform both for
the Western audience and on their nation s behalf, even when their vocal and
artisticskills did not directlytranslateto the standardsof Western opera.Therefore, even as the Japanese were aware of, and were often repulsed by, the
Orientalist nature of the opera, Japans nationalist goal of claiming its place in
the Western world was better served by working within the framework of
Western Orientalism and taking advantage of it than by ignoring such portrayalsand trying to create a new self-representationaltogether.Japaneseperformances of Butterflytook place within this paradox of relying on, and eagerly adopting, Western art forms and Orientalist representationsin order to
domesticate the performance in Japanese terms.
Conclusion
In its "original"form, Madama Butterflywas a product of American and European Orientalism that used the figure of an innocent, self-sacrificingJapanese
woman to fulfill the racializedand gendered imaginary of East-West relations.
The lasting power of such a gendered construction of East-West relations has
been evidenced by the various reworkings of the Butterflynarrativein different historical and political contexts, as seen in such cultural productions as the
novel and the film Sayonara,David Henry Hwang's play M. Butterfly,and the
musical Miss Saigon.
Yet, to see Madama Butterflysimply as a cultural product of racializedand
sexualized Western fantasies misses the complex layers of its functions for the
performers and audiences across the Pacific. As the Japanese men and
women - tried to claim Cio-Cio-San for themselves, they made their own

I 997
meanings of the performance and used it for their own objectives. For Miura,
the JapaneseButterfly,the opera provided an international stage on which she
could demonstrate her nations rise to power and also allowed her to live a life
that was quite atypical of Japanesewomen of the time. While Miuras own life
and identity resembled nothing of Cio-Cio-San's, for the Western audience in
particular, her public persona offstage was closely tied to her performance
onstage, and she shrewdlymanipulated the relationshipbetween her own identity and that of her character.Miura's performances set the stage for subsequent performances by Japanese singers- such as Koike Hisako (a.k.a. Hizi
Koyke), Miyagawa Yoshiko, and Tanaka Michiko- all of whom made their
international careerthrough the performance of the Butterfly role.63Thus, as
problematic as the character was, Butterfly also provided Japanese women
with a voice, power, and an audience. For Japanesemale cultural leaders such
as Horiuchi and Yamada, the production of a Japanese Butterfly was their
attempt to gain control over the representation of Japan to the West and to
redefine the terms by which the Japaneseparticipated in the world of Western
culture.
At the same time, the audiences brought their own agendas to the performances and projected their own objectives onto the figure of Butterfly and the
Japanesewoman who played the role. Whether it be the racism and sexism of
the Western audience that saw the "dainty little creature"in Cio-Cio-Sans
characterand Miura'sbody; Japanesesociety'sdesire to present a "proper"Japanese womanhood to the West; or Japanese immigrant communities' projection of nationalist and universalist objectives, the forces that surrounded the
Japanese Butterfly's trans-Pacific flight were shaped by the politics of race,
gender, and nation on both sides of the ocean. In these trans-Pacificflows of
diverse motives and aspirations,the medium of Western music became a powerful channel for both its exporters and importers, and Butterfly'ssongs carried the dynamic voices of both performersand audiences.
Looking at Japanese responses to, and uses of, Butterflyhelps us see the
multidirectional ways in which cultural hegemony operates and the diverse
forms of agency in shaping and sustaining the cultural dynamics of East-West
relations. The "success"of Orientalism derives only in part from its exoticist
appeal to its Western practitioners. To better understand the power of
Orientalism that crosses time and space, we must also pay attention to the
ideological, political, and cultural uses it brings to those portrayed by such
representations.The Japanesewere not merely "complicit"in the construction
of Butterflys Orientalism because they were ignorant of, or bought into, Western cultural hegemony; rather,they deliberately appropriatedthe Western art

form and its representationsfor their own goals of furthering national pride
and pursuing artistic and personal success. Furthermore, the culture of
Orientalism maintains power through, rather than despite, its ability to address and incorporate the contradictions within, and resistancesto, its dominant discourse. Opera- the performance of which involves numerous layers
of construction beyond the "original"text- was particularly useful in both
expressing and containing such varied motivations.
In the cross-Pacificcontext of growing U.S. hegemony in Asia-Pacific and
Japans quest for modernity and assertion of parity with the Western powers,
the two nations' projects converged in the performance of Butterfly.Broadening our analysis of Western Orientalism and American imperialism in this
way enables us to see that cultural hegemony operates in ways much more
complex than a one-directional flow of power from the West to the rest. It
further helps us understand why even a conscious nationalist resistanceand a
deliberatesearchfor authentic representationsoften resultin sustaining a larger
cultural hierarchy.Finally, it also guides us to see that, despite its complicity
and limitations, individual as well as collective agency is central to creating,
performing, and defining one s racial, national, and gender identity.
Miura may be seen as a forerunner of Asians in Western art music, who
have grown tremendously in both number and visibility in the international
scene, especially since the 1960s. It is possible to see this phenomenon as an
expressionof continuing Western culturalimperialism and Asians'blind adoption of foreign cultural forms. Yet the course of the flight of the Japanese
Butterfly suggests that such cultural crossings involve far more complex operations of identity formation, artistic interpretation, and individual expression, and defy any essentialist notions of "authenticity"or "universality."Once
a cultural form enters the transnationalsphere, it often exceeds the ideals and
objectives of those who produce it, consume it, and/or try to control its flow.
That is where the analysisof diverse acts of performance, in the broad sense of
the word, becomes crucial.
Notes
Earlier versions of this article were presented at the Organization ror American Historians meeting in
Washington, D.C., in 2002, and at the Conference on Race, Globalization, and New Ethnic Studies at
Brown University in 2003. I would like to thank the colleagues and friends who read earlier versions of
this article and helped me clarify my ideas: Monisha Das Gupta, Cynthia Franklin, Linda Lierheimer,
Laura Lyons, and Naoko Shibusawa; Elaine Combs-Schilling and Timothy Taylor; AQ editor Marita

Flight of the Japanese Butterfly I 999
Sturken,the AQ managingboard,and the anonymousreviewers.The researchassistanceof Makiko

Nishikawaas well as the staffat Nihon KindaiOngakukanin Tokyowas indispensableto this project.
I thankRobertLancefieldfor generouslysharingthe materialsin his collection.
1. Forexamplesof studiesthatanalyzeopera'sabilityto constructvarious,often competing,meaningsat
once throughmusicaswell as narrative,visual,andhistrionicmeans,see CatherineCle'ment,Opera,or
the UndoingofWomen,trans.BetsyWing (Minneapolis:Universityof MinnesotaPress,1988 [1979]);
SusanMcClary,FeminineEndings:Music,Gender,
andSexuality(Minneapolis:Universityof Minnesota
Music(Boston:NortheasternUniversityPress,
Press,1991);JonathanBellman,TheExoticin Western
1998). On MadamaButterfly,see ArthurGroos, "LieutenantF. B. [sic] Pinkerton:Problemsin the
of MadamaButterfly"in ThePucciniCompanion,
ed. WilliamWeaverand
Genesisand Performance
SimonettaPuccini(New York:Norton, 1994), 169-201.
2.
See Mari Yoshihara, Embracing the East: White Womenand American Orientalism (New York: Oxford
UniversityPress,2003), ch. 3.
Invented
3. On the culturalclimateof Japanduringthis period,see StephenVlastos,MirrorofModernity:
Traditions
ofModernJapan(Berkeley:Universityof CaliforniaPress,1998);HarryHarootunian,Overcome byModernity:History, Culture,and Community in InterwarJapan (Princeton: Princeton University
Taisho:Japan1900-1930," in TaishoChic:JapaneseMoPress,2000); SharonA. Minichiello,"Greater

dernity,Nostalgia,and Deco(Honolulu:HonoluluAcademyof Arts,2001), 9-15.
4. Urry Eppstein, TheBeginningsof Western
Musicin Meiji EraJapan(Lewiston:Edwin Mellen Press,
1994).
5. On the historyof opera in Japan,see Nihon Opera Shinkdkai,ed., Nihon no Opera-shi([Tokyo]:
- Meiji kara Taishoe
ZaidanHdjin Nihon Opera Shinkokai,1986); Masui Keizo, Nihon no Opera
Min-on
1984).
([Tokyo]:
OngakuShiryo-kan,
6. Nihon no Opera-shi,80-81; AkiyamaTatsuhide,Nihon no YogakuHyakunen-shi
([Tokyo]:Dai-ichi
HokiShuppan,1966), 262.
7. In this article,Japanesenamesare writtenwith the familyname first followedby the given name,
exceptin caseswherethe personhaspublishedhis/herwritingswith his/hernamein theWesternform.
8. In her interviewsand autobiography,Farrarmentionsa Japaneseactressby the name of "Madame
Fujiko"whom she hiredas a maid and from whom she learnedJapanesemovements,gestures,and
manners.The identityof this "Mme.Fujiko"hasnot beenascertained,but it is highlylikelythatFarrar
wastalkingaboutTakaoriSumiko.SeeYoshihara,
theEast,88-90. On theTakaoris'travelin
Embracing
the United Statesand theirproductionof Butterflyupon their returnto Japan,see Masui,Nihon no
Opera,208-17.
9. YotsuyaSamon,"Nihonni okeru'Chd-cho-fujin,'"GekkanGakufu25 (June1936): 76-79.
10. The mostcomprehensive
biographyof MiuraisTanabeHisayukis KoshoMiuraTamaki(Tokyo:Kindai
Bungei-sha,1995).
11. YoshimotoAkemitsu,ed., OchoFujin:DenkiMiuraTamaki(Tokyo:Ubunsha,1947), 285.
12. Farrar's
andMiura'svoicescanbe heardin somerecentre-recordings,
Farrar,comp.
includingGeraldine
MetropolitanOpera Guild, Inc. (RCA SpecialProducts,1990); Miura TamakiZenshu1912-1943
(The CompeteWorksofTamakiMiura,1912-1943) (Nippon Columbia,1995).
theEast,ch. 3.
13. Yoshihara,Embracing
14. TheNew YorkWorld[nA., n.p.], quotedin the MusicalCourier,February12, 1920, 9.
15. "Mme.Miuraa Captivating'Butterfly':A Wholly FascinatingInpersonationof Puccini'sHeroineat
the ManhattanOperaHouse by the BostonOperaCompany'sJapanesePrimaDonna- SpiritedRevivalsof 'Otello'and 'Carmen- PavlowaConspicuousin Week'sPerformances
of RabinoffOrganization,"MusicalAmerica23.1 (November6, 1915): 3-4.
16. The Honolulu Advertiser,April 12, 1922.
17. The Honolulu Advertiser,April 15, 1922.
18. On the genderideologyof "goodwife,wisemother"andthe challengesposedby the "moderngirl,"see

SharonH. Nolte and SallyAnn Hastings,"TheMeiji State'sPolicytowardWomen, 1890-1910," in
JapaneseWomen,1600-1945, ed. Gail Lee Bernstein(Berkeley:Universityof California
Recreating
Press,1991), 151-74; MiriamSilverberg,"TheModernGirlasMilitant,"in ibid.,239-66; KendallH.
Brown,"Flowersof Taisho:Imagesof Women in JapaneseSocietyand Art, 1915-1935," in Taisho
Chic,17-28.
19. ShibataTamaki,"Joyoni tsukite, ChudKoron26.12 (December1911): 100.
20. ShibataTamaki,Sekaino Opera([Tokyo]:KyoekiShosha,1912).

iooo
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
Ibid., 467.
Ibid., 469.
Yoshimoto,OchoFujin,58-59.
Tanabe,KoshoMiuraTamaki,189-207.
Forexample,see ibid., 358-62.
MmrzTzmakl,KarekiOchoFuiin([Tokyo]:OngakuSekai-sha,1937), 141.
MiuraTamaki,"Watashino Ocho Fujin5,"Jiji Shinpo,December25, 1935, 7.
Yoshimoto,OchoFujin,58.
On the storyaboutthe Japanesewomanafterwhom MadameButterflywas presumablymodeled,see
Kusudo Yoshiaki, Mou Hitori no Cho-Cho-Fujin:Nagasaki Gurabaa-tei no Onna Shujin Tsuru(Tokyo:
MainichiShinbun-sha,1997).
30. MiuraTamaki,"Watashino Ocho Fujin4, Jiji Shinpo,December24, 1935, 7.
31. Yoshimoto,OchoFujin,58.
32. Bernstein, RecreatingJapanese Women,chs. 7-11.
33. Kano, Acting Like a Woman in Modern Japan, 6, 15-16, 92-93.
34. Silverberg,"TheModernGirlas Militant.

35. TakaoriShuichi,"SokokuSeinenGakkawa IkanishiteShin-tenchini HattenSubekika 2, Ongakkai
179 (September1916): 19.
36. Ibid., 17.
37. "Nihonni KaerumadenoMiuraTamakisan to sono Uramenno Kushin, YomiunShinbun,May 1,
1922.
38. TokyoMainichi Shinbun, March 26, 1909; TokyoNichinichi Shinbun, March 27, 1909; YomiunShinbun,
April2, 1909; YomiunShinbun,April3, 1909.

39. Geijutsuto Kekkontono Mondai, Ungakkai1.5 (May lVOVj:V-l 1; ikutaAoi, Matsuisumakoto
ShibataTamaki,"ChudKoron27.7 (July1912): 140-41.
40. "FujiiTamakishi ni," Ongakkai2.5(May 1909): 29.
4 1. TokyoAsahi Shinbun, March 29, 1922.
42. TokyoNichinichi Shinbun, July 29, 1922.
43. YomiuriShinbun, May 28, 1932; TokyoAsahi Shinbun, May 28, 1932.
44. NihonShinbun,May28, 1932.

45. On the contradictorynatureof governmentsanctionson Western music duringthe waryears,see
409-10.
Akiyama,Nihon no YogakuHyakunen-shi,
46. MiuraTamaki,"Nihonno Uta wo," OngakuBunka1.1 (1943): 42.
m theJapanesecommunityin
47. ShuheiHosokawapresentsan insightfulanalysisof responsesto Butterfly
Brazilin his "NationalizingCho-Cho-San:The Significanceof 'ButterflySingers'in a Japanese-Brazilian Community,"JapaneseStudies19.3 (1999): 253-68.
48. On the racialpolitics of Hawai'iduring this period, particularlyaroundthe Japanese,see Ronald
Takaki,PauHana:PlantationLifeand Laborin Hawaii, 1835-1920 (Honolulu:Universityof Hawai'i
Movementin Hawaii, 1865-1945 (PhiladelPress,1983);GaryOkihiro,CaneFires:TheAnti-Japanese
phia:TempleUniversityPress,1991).
in Hawaii
and EthnicIdentity:TheNisei Generation
Acculturation,
49. EileenH. Tamura,Americanization,
(Urbana:Universityof IllinoisPress,1994).
50. TheNippuJiji (Honolulu),April 12, 1922.
51. TheNippuJiji, April 13-14, 1922.
52. TheNippuJiii,April 12, 1922.
53. On theJapanesecommunityin New Yorkduringthisperiod,see MitzikoSawada,Tokyo
Life,New York
Dreams:UrbanJapaneseVisionsofAmerica,1890-1924 (Berkeley:Universityof CaliforniaPress,1996).
Commercial
54. Japanese-American
(New York),June6, 1915;August1, 1915.
Weekly
55. Forexample,a womanwrotea scathingcriticismof the abovecommentaryaboutAmericanwomen,
claiming that "unfortunatelyfor us, Americanwomen are generallymore advancedthan Japanese
of Japanesewomen.
women."Anotherwoman protestedthe sexist discussionof the "importation"
1915.
24,
Commercial
27,
1914;
July
February
Weekly,
Japanese-American
November13, lVO.
Commercial
56. Japanese-American
Weekly,
57. Japanese-AmericanCommercial weekly,January 25, 1Vl V.
58. HoriuchiKeizo, Kageki MadamuBatahiraiJoen ni tsuki, n.t., (1930), /0. YamadaRosakuCollection, Microfilm90, Scrapbook16, frame290. Nihon KindaiOngakukan.

I 1001
59. "Katakotomajiride KokujokuKaifukuno Iki (With Smatteringof English,ActressDeterminedto

RectifyNationalHumiliation),"n.t., (1930), n.p. YamadaKosakuCollection,Microfilm90, Scrapbook 16, frame285.
60. Horiuchi,"Kaeeki'MadamuBatafurai'Joenni tsuki,"77-79.
61. MatsudairaSatoko,"Hatsu-butai'Ocho-fujin'no Kanso,"n.t., (1930), 91. YamadaKosakuCollection, Microfilm90, Scrapbook16, frame317.
62. "'OchoFujin'wo Miru,"n.t., (1930), n.p. YamadaKosakuCollection,Microfilm90, Scrapbook16,
frame288.
63. ChristopherN. Nozawa,"Maboroshino MeibanDensetsu:Amerikade GurandoOperanoTaishuka
ni KokenshitaHiji Koike,"String(Tokyo)16.10 (October2001): 36-41.


Mari Yoshihara - Orientalism

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Flight of the Japanese Butterfly

The Flight of the Japanese Butterfly:

written by American author John Luther Long in the year of the

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This content downloaded from 157.82.32.20 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 22:34:09 PM

Flight of the Japanese Butterfly

newly gendered identity in multiple publics, and a performance of Japanese

This content downloaded from 157.82.32.20 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 22:34:09 PM

This content downloaded from 157.82.32.20 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 22:34:09 PM

Flight of the Japanese Butterfly

This content downloaded from 157.82.32.20 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 22:34:09 PM

This content downloaded from 157.82.32.20 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 22:34:09 PM

Flight of the Japanese Butterfly

According to this commentary, Miura was not impersonating her Japanese

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Formy singleself alone,afterlisteningto the daintylittle artisteat the LibertyTheaterlast

Americas Orientalist fantasies about Japanese femininity that gave birth to

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Flight of the Japanese Butterfly

Tamaki Miura, Chicago Opera

Co.\ gelatin silver print

first act is almost thoroughly absurd to

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This content downloaded from 157.82.32.20 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 22:34:09 PM

Flight of the Japanese Butterfly

This content downloaded from 157.82.32.20 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 22:34:09 PM

This content downloaded from 157.82.32.20 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 22:34:09 PM

Flight of the Japanese Butterfly I 987

According to such a view, Miuras performancewas much more than a musical

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ments. Her gender was always central to the Japanesediscussion of Miura. In

According to this logic, Miuras divorce symbolized a threat to Japanesefamily

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Flight of the Japanese Butterfly

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All of these portrayalsof Miura point to the Japanesepublic's confusion by

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Flight of the Japanese Butterfly

Transplanting Japanese Womanhood: Miura for Japanese Immigrants

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raciallines.The Japanesemaywell be proudof the factthat theirracehas producedsuch a

To advance such an argument, one needed to claim that Miuras performance

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Flight of the Japanese Butterfly

manners that cannot be imitated by any Caucasian."56Another (male) writer

For the Japanese in New York'smetropolitan Western culture, the projection

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Flight of the Japanese Butterfly

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Flight of the Japanese Butterfly

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Flight of the Japanese Butterfly I 999

Sturken,the AQ managingboard,and the anonymousreviewers.The researchassistanceof Makiko

Taisho:Japan1900-1930," in TaishoChic:JapaneseMoPress,2000); SharonA. Minichiello,"Greater

18. On the genderideologyof "goodwife,wisemother"andthe challengesposedby the "moderngirl,"see

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Kusudo Yoshiaki, Mou Hitori no Cho-Cho-Fujin:Nagasaki Gurabaa-tei no Onna Shujin Tsuru(Tokyo:

34. Silverberg,"TheModernGirlas Militant.

April2, 1909; YomiunShinbun,April3, 1909.