What Is The Thesis Of On Farting By Hirgo Gennai

On Farting by Hiraga Gennai gives the reader a perspective into the world of various arts in the Edo Period. Not only are we told what is meant to be a proper practicing of the arts through his satirical character, Crankshaw Stonington Esquire, but Gennai counters with a claim that the arts were lacking in vivacity, passion, and ingenuity. They had become lackluster and outdated without any creativity being brought forth. To prove this point, he sings his praises for a fart artist, and engages in a lively debate about what truly marks art as meaningful. He believes a change to the traditions, to include passion and creativity, would improve the arts and civilization as a whole. However, though he makes several strong points, Gennai argues through …show more content…
The only evidence he briefely mentions is that the “fartist” is drawing more crowds then many of the smaller traditional art theaters and putting them out of business (Genna 398), which though interesting is a relatively weak argument. By presenting his arguments with merely strong opinion, it does not have the intended effect on his readers. Another reason his argument weakens is because he makes his points using severe observations to ridicule the traditional artists, for example, Gennai states, “he has incomparably greater talent between his buttocks than these third-rate musicians have between their lips” (Gennai 398). Again, he could be perceived as being insulting when he lists various practitioners of other arts, and refers to them as, “incompetent wretches” and, “equally useless quacks” (Gennai 399). Even the pseudonym he gives the man who creates a counter argument, “Crankshaw Stonington, Esquire” (Gennai 395), is used as a way to ridicule people who hold the traditional in high regard. It points the reader to derive from the name that those against Gennai’s argument should be viewed as cranky, stubborn and pretentious. Then as his very last statement he tells reader he does not care if he comes across rude and brash, “But perhaps my argument itself smells a bit suspicious to you, sir…You may be saying to yourself, better silent-but-deadly than this. Well, say what you will, I don’t really give a shit” (Gennai 399). This just shows he really is only interested in his own ideas and no counter argument. This makes the opposition question, if Gennai doesn’t care about their side, why should they care about his opinions? As the saying goes, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, and Gennai offers only vinegar in his arguments. When trying to capture his audience and show that the arts need to bring new life to them, he ends up falling flat because of his use of insults and