The Mythic Experience: The Audiovisual Spectacle of the Biwa Hoshi Narrative and Performance in Ghost of Tsushima

Abstract

The Mythic Tales side quests in Ghost of Tsushima (2020) explore folkloric and supernatural narratives using the themes from legends and lore surrounding Tsushima Island. However, as a historical video game that reimagines a thirteenth-century medieval Japanese society during the events of the Mongol invasion of Japan in 1274, careful examination of its represented form is necessary since it can tell us how a player is instructed to play with the reimagined past or what about the past is deemed important (Chapman; Balela and Mundy; McCall). Furthermore, the side quests provide a deeper exploration of the game-world setting, which can provide a historical and sociocultural understanding of the represented past through gameplay. In line with this, this paper examines the Mythic Tales experience by exploring the representations of the in-game version of a Japanese traditional performance art called the heikyoku, performed by a medieval storyteller known as the biwa hōshi. This includes a discussion of the tradition and how it translates into a video game format, highlighting the special audiovisual spectacle that relies on familiar Japanese imageries such as the sumi-e and ukiyo-e, which are unique to this part of the game. A case study of one of the Mythic Tales, “The Curse of Uchitsune,” will serve as critical analysis toward the kind of in-game mythic narrative and experience the game provides.