Why do some Swiss dress up as Japanese during carnival?

When Karl Schönbächler, known as the 120th Hesonusode, asked whether the 2028 open-air theatre production should proceed, the Empire Assembly chamber erupted in thunderous approving applause. SWI swisssinfo.ch / Tomoko Muth

There is a carnival group in Schwyz, central Switzerland, called the Japanesen (the Japanese), who sometimes seem a little strange – and not just to the Japanese. They perform open-air plays during the carnival season. The tradition is 170 years old, but it is struggling to survive.

On January 6, Epiphany, a public holiday in Catholic-dominated canton Schwyz, the Japanesen held their “Empire Assembly” in a congress hall near the main square for the 169th time. It is the general assembly of the Schwyz carnival group Japanesengesellschaft (Japanese Society).

“Are you in favour of us performing the 52nd Japanese carnival play in 2028?” asked the president of the society, Karl Schönbächler, known as “Hesonusode”, and the hall erupted in loud, approving applause. In addition to the Japanesen in oriental costume, other carnival groups also welcomed the decision.

In Schwyz, a carnival parade takes place every year on Ash Wednesday, the so-called Nüssler, where masked figures dance in their own unique way. Every four to six years there is also an open-air theatre called the Japanesenspiele (Japanese plays), the roots of which go back to the middle of the 19th century.

Roots in the Swiss Civil War

Back then, the conservative Catholic canton of Schwyz was defeated by the liberal cantons in the Sonderbund War of 1847 and had to contribute to the costs of the war.

To cheer up the defeated people of Schwyz, it was decided to put on an open-air play during the carnival season. In 1857 the satirical play Circus Carnival, with bizarre animals, was performed to great acclaim.

At the same time, a wave of change also swept through the Far East: in Japan, a movement emerged that ended the 200-year isolation of the island nation. Young Switzerland, which was suffering from high tariffs in its neighbouring countries at the time, wanted to benefit from the opportunity and sent a delegation to Japan to negotiate a trade agreement.

Expensive gifts to Japan

The Swiss parliament approved a budget of CHF100,000 for this, around 10% of the federal budget at the time. The aim was to win over the Japanese generals.

A six-person delegation led by watch dealer Aimé Humbert-Droz put together over 200 gifts to demonstrate Switzerland’s industrial and technological strength – from watches and silk fabrics to handicrafts and fire pumps.

However, the people in the agricultural canton of Schwyz were dissatisfied with the high cost of this export promotion. Ambros Eberle, one of the organisers of the open-air play and publisher of the local newspaper, then wrote a play, a biting satire on the federal state.

Biting satire

In the play a Swiss delegation travels to Japan with a mountain of gifts to meet the taikun, the emperor. However, the delegation is treated badly by the tyrannical taikun. The patriotism of the Swiss farmers finally causes the taikun to change his attitude. In the end, he even wishes to become a Swiss citizen.

The premiere of Switzerland in Japan in February 1863 was a huge success and earned the organisers a surplus of CHF2,000. The organisers then founded the Japanese Society and since then have regularly staged Japanesenspiel (Japanese plays) in which the Emperor Hesonusode and his people, the Japanesen, play the leading roles. The plays have been constantly revised and supplemented with current events and satirical elements.

≫In this video, Swiss public broadcaster SRF reported on the rehearsal for the 50th performance of the Japanesenspiel in 2013:

The fantasy world 170 years ago

Although they were called Japanesen, their appearance clearly corresponds neither to the actual Japanese nor to Japanese culture. Their long, thin beards and robes look rather Chinese – at least from today’s perspective.

The Japanesen epitomise the image of the Japanese as the people of Schwyz imagined them 170 years ago. They were created at a time when, despite diplomatic messages, visual information was rare and the distinction between China and Japan or between a shogun and an emperor was unclear to many in Europe. The fact that they are still called by their original name, Japanesen, and not by the modern German word Japaner bears witness to their long history.

Longing for exoticism

“For them, faithfully recreating the Japan of the time was not important,” says Japanese professor Keizo Miyashita, a representative of the Japanesenspiel in Japan. “For people who wanted to release their frustration as quickly as possible, the quickest way was to transform themselves into something as far removed from their everyday reality as possible.”

This longing for the exotic still exists today. “During carnival, it’s fun to see how we can imitate unknown, foreign things,” Karl Schönbächler tells Swissinfo. The architect has in-depth knowledge of Japanese culture and is aware that the Japanesen do not embody authentic Japanese culture.

“It’s a carnival, so you can’t be ‘authentic’. It took me a long time to understand that,” explains Emi Oshikawa, who has lived in Schwyz since 1987. At first, the staging of the Japanesen seemed strange to her and she tried to make up for it by, for example, fetching real Japanese kimonos and showing them to the organisers.

No interest in kimonos

But the Japanesen just nodded, said “yes, that’s right” – and made no effort to correct their appearance. It took over ten years for Oshikawa to realise that “the play is not about conveying authentic Japanese culture”, she says.

So why does the Schwyz open-air theatre continue to insist on the Japanesen? For Peter Steinegger, former Hesonusode, it is not about the appearance of the Japanesen, but about “Tenno as mediator”.

The Swiss Sonderbund War, which marked the beginning of these plays, had divided Switzerland into liberals and conservatives. Steinegger explains that the lines of conflict established back then are still in effect today. There is a constant struggle in Switzerland, “that is the essence of our democracy”.

In the Japanesenspiele, the inhabitants of Schwyz are also affected by the conflict. But in the end, Hesonusode acts as a mediator for the quarrelling Schwyz residents. “His appearance is always extremely honourable. The High Tenno is never criticised or even insulted,” explains Steinegger, former president of the cantonal parliament. In this respect, one can speak of a faithful representation of the Japanese emperor, he says.

On the brink of extinction

The Japanesen have reduced their appearances in recent decades. The ceremonial entry on Epiphany no longer takes place. Neither will the children’s gift-giving with oranges on so-called Dirty Thursday. In 2019 and 2023, the plays were renamed Faschnachtspiel (carnival play), and Hesonusode and the Japanesen became less important.

What happened to the Japanesen? Franz Steinegger, journalist for Der Bote, attributes the decline of the Japanesen to the “normalised relationship between the authorities and ordinary citizens”.

For a long time, the Japanese Society was led by wealthy and influential local dignitaries. Today, where equality is highly valued, this exclusivity has proved fatal. No board could be found for the Japanese Society. The Japanesenspiele were on the verge of extinction.

But in 2016 Toni Dettling, a former federal parliamentarian, initiated comprehensive reforms. He appointed the well-connected Karl Schönbächler as the Society’s president, Hesonusode, and entrusted the script to Roger Bürgler, a young playwright from Schwyz. The two were to transform the origins of the Society into an open-air theatre during the carnival.

“The break with tradition in the play was also somewhat tactical,” says Bürgler, explaining why he had significantly reduced the Japanesen factor. The Japanesen were “effectively dead”, he says. To rekindle interest, a lot of singing, dancing and light shows were added, as well as satirical elements.

≫You can watch Roger Bürgler’s carnival play from 2019 in full here (in German):

This strategy was successful: the new carnival piece was well received and “we’re closer to the audience again”, says Franz Steinegger.

But the Japanesen are not completely extinct. Bürgler, who is also working on the script for 2028, wants “the Japanesen to come back a little”.

And the President of the Japanese Society, Karl Schönbächler, says: “Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the passing on of fire”.

Edited by Balz Rigendinger. Translated from German by AI/ts

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