Ki. Shō. Ten. Ketsu.

Yes, that’s right. Kishōtenketsu. A Japanese word.

This is the plotting method about which I’ve just learned.

According to research, it is the plotting method of Asian narratives. Originating in China, the method is also used in Korea. The word Kishōtenketsu (which I have no idea how to pronounce, having only read it … and online pronunciation machines only get me so far.) is the Japanese word for that nation’s method.

All three follow the same 4-Act Structure, and supposedly the structure is not bound to conflict. The stages are

Structure

•      Introduction, then
•          Hardship or Complications (this is sounding very like Shakespearean 5-Act structures or Complex Plot),
•         Reversal or Twist or Turning Point is the 3^rd Act, the first moment where we have a difference … although Shakespearean structure has a Reversal. But it’s not.
•         The difference continues into the 4^th act, which is the Conclusion or where the 3^rd Act Twist resolves with Acts I and II. It’s a Reconciliation of the Beginning with the Twist.

That 3^rd Act Twist is an unexpected development of the story. It contains the most important element, the yama or climax.

Example 1

As explanation, Wikipedia presents a story from Sanyo Rai, “Daughters of Itoya” which is in the Honmachi of Osaka. Sanyo Rai lived 1780-1832, so his work is in the public domain. I’m going to use his “Daughters of Itoya” as an example of Kishōtenketsu.

• In Acts I and II, we meet the two daughters, one 16 and the other 14. The development presents their youth and how they are associated with violence.
• Remember that Act III Twist? In the Twist, we discover that, let me quote, “Throughout history, daimyos (powerful feudal lords, under the rule of a shogun and the emperor, protected the people) killed the enemy with bows and arrows.” This is totally not expected after two acts with the sweet young daughters of Itoya. We can anticipate, however, that they are the daimyos.
• Sure enough, in Act IV, we discover that “the daughters of Itoya kill with their eyes” (still Wikipedia). I assume they are magical daimyos that bad people would not expect. According to Wikipedia, ”they seduce men with their eyes, killing them just as the, until now, unrelated generals who kill with bows and arrows.”

Now, supposedly this is a story structure without conflict. Actually, the conflict—the young women’s special power—is hidden. Acts I and II apparently have no foreshadowing. Without seeing a translation of the “Daughters of Itoya” and other stories in the Honmachi of Osaka, I cannot state with any certainty that there is no conflict or foreshadowing. They might be there as hidden metaphors.

The 3^rd Act Twist or Turning Point may be an unexpected complication. It certainly directs us to the end—which is actually expected now that we know the pattern.

Example 2

Nils Odlund in an article entitled “Kishōtenketsu for Beginners” has a made-up story to explain this Asian plotting method, which is flooding the writing world. You can find the article at Mythic Scribes: the Art of Fantasy Story-telling. I will have the link in the Show Notes … as well as the link to the Wikipedia article.

•        Act I or Ki introduces as fisherman on his sea-faring boat. He hasn’t caught enough.
•         In Act II or Shō, the fisherman decides to return hom to his family which he loves even more than he loves the sea.
•          Ten (Act III) gives us the unexpected Twist. Let me quote Odlund. “The third act is about a woman hiding in the forest with two crying children. She’s the fisherman’s wife, and she’s hiding because their village got attacked by brigands.”
•          Act IV, Ketsu, unites the fisherman and his wife and children in the destroyed village. They use his boat to find another village.

I have greatly paraphrased Odlund, but we can see how his story matches to the “Daughters of Itoya” in that unpredicted Act III.

While the 4^th Act of the “Daughters of Itoya” clearly links the first two acts with the third, we don’t have that in Odlund’s story. The hiding wife and children and the attacking brigands are not at all hinted or foreshadowed in the first acts. I suppose we could have hidden symbols: a red sun burning his flesh or swimming sharks that make it impossible to bring in a catch or such things. Odlund does not provide them.

He calls the third act not a conflict but presenting a Tension. The contrast, I’m quoting here, “the contrast between what we’ve seen in the past (the fisherman on his way home after a day on the sea) and what we’re seeing at the moment (the village being ransacked)” as well as the fearful mother trying to keep terrified children quiet.

Odlund tells us to plan a Kishōtenketsu story by making a list of what each of the four acts need to achieve.

Musings

Kishōtenketsu is not Shakespeare’s structure or any occidental story structure that depends on the early introduction of the conflict. Romeo and Juliet starts with a street fight to introduce the feud between the families. Hamlet opens with the ghost; Macbeth, with the witches. In western stories, conflict is the predominant Action and its Reaction, antagonist outwitting the protagonist and often destroying the protagonist’s dearest desire—which sets the protagonist on the Hero’s Journey.

In this Asian narrative, we open with a character in seeming or actual harmony with the universe. We have serenity and knowledge that the characters are content with their purpose. Act III gives us the disruption of that harmony. We the audience—and the aware writer reading to learn—may guess at the coming reconciliation of Act III with the first two acts, but we don’t know, not until we have Act IV. Then we should go back and look for hidden clues.

Whatever we think, notice that the characters in Act IV—the fisherman and his family, the daughters of Itoya—are fulfilling the purpose that restores their harmony. In Sanyo Rai, we may have an actual conflict between the daughters and the men; I need a translation to confirm or deny. In Odlund’s fisherman story, we only see the after-result of the brigand’s attack. We don’t “have” the fisherman confronting the brigands. We would have that confrontation in a western story, especially Shakespeare or Aristotle or any other western plotting method.

I can’t say which is better. It’s just different.

And that is its attraction.

Resources

Wikipedia contributors. "Kishōtenketsu." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 16 Dec. 2020. Web. 18 Dec. 2020.

Odlund, Nils. “Kishōtenketsu for Beginners.” Mythic Scribes: the Art of Fantasy Story Telling. Mythic Scribes Community. No Post Date/2020. Web. 18 Dec. 2020.

Links

Links are to Amazon. Choose your own book dealer. Indeed, pick a small one or buy local. Vogler’s and Campbell’s books are best-sellers.

Lee, M.A. Think like a Pro https://www.amazon.com/Think-like-Pro-Advent-Writers-ebook/dp/B07DYMYQNJ/ 

Vogler, Christopher. The Writer’s Journey  https://www.amazon.com/Writers-Journey-Anniversary-Mythic-Structure/dp/1615933158/  

Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a 1,000 Faces   https://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Faces-Collected-Joseph-Campbell/dp/1577315936/

For an in-depth discussion of the 5 plotting methods, check out Discovering Your Plot, by me!, at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0838PTN49/

Thank you for listening to the podcast episode and reading this blog.