Learn Japanese Theater the Noh Way | NC State News | NC State University Learn Japanese Theater the Noh Way March 25, 2015 | Brent Winter Watching a performance of Japanese Noh theater is like traveling in time and space to medieval Japan. The carved wooden masks, elaborate robes, stylized movements, traditional music and convention-bound themes evoke the cultural milieu of a bygone era. Members of the public and the NC State community will have a chance to visit that era next month when the co-founder of a modern Noh troupe comes to campus to lead a four-day program of workshops and demonstrations exploring this fascinating art form. “Welcome to the World of Noh” will take place April 9–12 at various locations around campus. On April 9, playwright, composer and performer David Crandall of Noh company Theatre Nohgaku will conduct a free Noh performance workshop in the afternoon, followed by a free lecture-demonstration that evening. On April 10–12, Crandall will lead three full days of writing workshops (free to NC State faculty, staff and students) to help participants compose their own original Noh plays. Details about times and locations for these events can be found online .

Noh has been regularly performed ever since it was invented in Japan in the 14th century, making it one of the oldest continuously surviving art forms in the world. When asked why Noh has endured when so many other art forms have been lost to history, Gary Mathews, teaching associate professor of classical studies in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, gives a succinct answer: “Because of the unbelievable emotional power Noh possesses.” Mathews is a co-founder of Theatre Nohgaku, and he’ll assist Crandall in conducting the weekend’s events. Emotional Impact “The very first time I saw a Noh play,” Mathews says, “it was on a video I had borrowed from a colleague. The play was about an angel who comes down from heaven and hangs her beautiful feather cloak on a tree. Along comes a fisherman who wants to take the angel’s cloak home with him because it’s so beautiful.

The angel says, ‘If you do that, I’ll die.’ At the moment when the fisherman is struggling with whether to keep the cloak or give it back to the angel, you can see in the actor’s body all the emotion he’s feeling — Noh is a very physical theater, requiring a tremendous amount of nuance and discipline — and I just started to cry. And that was just from watching a video. Imagine how powerful it is in real life.” Noh, meaning “skill” or “talent,” evolved out of ancient forms of dance drama that were imported into Japan from China during the eighth century. Over the next few centuries two prototypical forms of Noh emerged, one performed for nobility and the other performed for commoners. The great innovation of Noh’s inventors, the actor Kanami and his son Zeami, was to unify the forms into a single standardized art in the 1300s. The samurai class ruling Japan at the time — the shoguns who had deposed Japan’s emperors — supported Noh because it gave them a way to extend their influence over the country into the cultural realm.

Once Noh came under the influence of the shogunate, it became the extremely refined art form it remains today. As a professor of classics, Mathews’ academic specialty is ancient Greek and Roman language, literature and society, and he became interested in Noh because of its similarity to ancient Greek tragedy; both art forms are highly stylized dramas using music, dance and masks for the actors. “Once I began my teaching career, I thought, this is the time to explore Noh. So how do teachers learn about anything? By assigning it for a course, usually,” he says with a smile. “I assigned some Noh plays in an introductory world literature class. The scripts are very short, though, because they’re filled out in performance with music and dance, so the only way for me to really teach them was to have the students perform them. We made very simple masks out of construction paper, and we didn’t even memorize the lines; we just held the book and read from it. And believe it or not, all of a sudden that play came to life.

I realized then that this is a profound art form that I had to learn more about.” Spreading the Art Form Later Mathews began taking Noh instruction from Richard Emmert, an American who had trained in Japan to become a certified instructor of Noh. Emmert’s classes became the nucleus of Theatre Nohgaku, which performs both traditional Noh plays and original Noh scripts written by the company in English. “Richard had a dream of creating Noh scripts in English as a way of spreading the art form around the world,” Mathews says. Since 2000 the company has performed and taught workshops throughout the United States and in Japan. (A video of Theatre Nohgaku performing one of their English-language Noh plays is available online .) “Workshops are a big part of what we do because education and outreach are very important to us,” Mathews says. “Whenever we go on tour to do performances, we do workshops too, as side activities related to the performances.” In the two-hour performance workshop taking place on the afternoon of April 9, participants will learn about and practice Noh’s disciplined stage movement and its chanting style of delivering lines.

That evening’s lecture-demonstration will open a window onto the history and practice of Noh, including the influence of Buddhism on Noh. “The Noh performance style is deeply imbued with Zen Buddhist esthetics,” Mathews explains. “The stage is often bare, with either no props or very simple props, and all the movement and vocal aspects are highly stylized. The idea is that by deliberately making the outward forms on the stage unrealistic, you focus the audience’s attention on the heart of the story, leading to a deeper recognition of truth. In Zen that would be a religious truth, but in Noh it’s an emotional truth, an encounter with a character’s heart, an experience full of pathos and feeling.” Mixing Cultures The writing workshop will consist of three eight-hour days when participants learn the rules governing Noh drama and begin to compose their own original Noh plays. “One of the reasons we started doing these writing workshops was so Theatre Nohgaku could get some more English-language plays to perform,” Mathews says. “Who knows, maybe one of our next plays will come out of this workshop.” Theatre Nohgaku’s most recent project is a play about Elvis Presley, of all things.

“The play is called ‘Blue Moon Over Memphis,’” Mathews says, “and it’s about how lonely Elvis was. Most Noh plays will have one key idea or image or emotion that the play highlights and builds on and builds on. By the end of the play we want the audience to have a profound — and possibly completely new — emotional understanding of the man.” “One of the chief values of the arts is to make you feel something,” Mathews says. “Noh can do that.” The performance and writing workshops are almost full, but a few slots are still open in both events. To reserve a seat, contact Gary Mathews at gary_m@ncsu.edu . Share Noh - a traditional Japanese performing art portrayed aesthetics in Noh are: understatement, abstraction, refinement and suggestion. These arose from the three major influences on 14th century Japanese life: - the feudal code of ethics of the Samurai warriors; - the elegant manners of court nobles; - the asceticism of Zen Buddhism. Despite this partly Buddhist basis, many of the stories in Noh restate the myths of the other popular religions at that time. Noh plays are extremely intense and reflect the artful use of emptiness and silence.

Every moment is choreographed and often symbolic. Not one thing on the stage which isn't necessary at that moment. If the actor has a sword and drops the sword, a stage assistant will remove the sword as an unsightly object. Everything must be absolutely simple, clean. In order to express something so abstract as an emotion, words are often inadequate. As the play progresses, then, dance and poetry are used to express the tortured heart. Other elements which contribute to an intensification of the mood are the bare simplicity of the stage which allows no distraction from the main character, and the gorgeous costumes of the main character himself. The stylized movements also help to focus the energy on the emotion rather than on the individual personalities. And, the music which suggests another world may be described as other-worldly music. It is provided by a single flute and then two or three different kinds of drums. While noh may be compared with kutiyattam reflecting the oriental aesthetic principle that regards drama as a blend of poetry, music, dance and mime, the similarity to Greek theatre may also be pointed out. That is to say, there are masks, there's a chorus, and there are dancers.

The masks - perhaps the most striking feature of the noh plays - may have originally been intended to provide realism, to make the actor who is male look like a beautiful woman or an old man look like a young man, or a young man look like an old man. And in this sense they are more realistic. But with time the masks became more schematized, more abstract, and stopped looking like particular people, or even looking like people we might see normally; they became embodiments of certain qualities, beauty or ugliness or whatever. Masks are very important in the Noh and are worn only by the main character. The mask helps to raise the action out of the ordinary, to freeze it in time. For the Noh actor the mask of a particular character has almost a magic power. Before putting it on he will look at it until he feels the emotion absorbed within himself. When he puts on the mask, his individuality recedes and he is nothing but the emotion to be depicted.

HISTORY Kan nozu (watching noh), Edo period, c.1607 Kobe City Museum source: Although Noh can be traced back to as early as the eleventh century, it however developed into its present form during the 14th and 15th centuries under the leadership of the distinguished performer-playwrights Kannami Kiyotsugu (1333-1384) and his son Zeami Motokiyo[1363-1443). Zeami, in particular, wrote numerous plays which are still performed in today’s classical repertory of some 250 plays. He also wrote a number of once secret works which explain the aesthetic principles governing noh and give details on how the art should be composed, acted, directed, taught, and produced. Zeami's main rule of aesthetics was the [hana] or 'flower,' an abstraction based on the effect to be felt between actor and audience when a perfect balance of performance and reception has been achieved, a kind of mystic suspense. noh flourished during Zeami’s time under the patronage of the military shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1408).

Later during the Edo period (1603-1868), noh became the official performance art of the military government. Feudal military lords throughout the country supported their own troupes and many studied and performed the art themselves. With the societal reforms of the Meiji period (1868-1912), noh lost its governmental patronage and was left to fend for itself. Although it nearly died out, enough performers regrouped, found private sponsors, and began teaching the art to amateurs so that it slowly began to flourish again. Today, like many classical performance forms throughout the world, noh cannot be described as a popular art among the average Japanese. Yet its supporters are enthusiastic and its professional performers are highly trained and extremely busy performing and teaching throughout the country. There are today approximately 1,500 professional performers who make their living largely through performing and teaching noh. TYPES OF PLAYS There are five categories of noh plays.

In order, these feature gods [kami][waki noh]or [kami noh], warriors [shura][Shuramono or bushi noh] , beautiful women [katsura], miscellaneous (notably mad-women or present-time) figures, and supernatural beings like demons [kiri]. During the Edo period, a full day’s program consisted of the ritual piece Okina-Sanbaso followed by one play from each category in the above order. One Kyogen play would be presented between each noh. Of the five categories, the women plays are the slowest in tempo but the most poetic, and of the highest level in expressing yugen, an aesthetic term suggesting quiet elegance and grace, and subtle and fleeting beauty. CHARACTERS The main character of a noh play is called the shite (pronounced sh’tay) who sometimes appears with one or more companion characters called tsure. In many plays, the shite appears in the first half as an ordinary person, departs, then appears in the second half in his true form as the ghost of famous person of long ago. The former is called the maejite and the latter, the nochijite.

They are traditionally performed by the same actor. The secondary actor, the waki, is often a traveling priest whose questioning of the main character is important in developing the story line. He also often appears with companion waki-tsure. An interlude actor called ai or ai-kyogen also often appears as a local person who gives further background to the waki, and thus to the audience, in order to understand the situation of the shite. CHORUS A chorus called jiutai, usually consisting of eight persons, sits at the side of the stage, functioning to narrate the background, and the story and its mood. It also sometimes describes the character’s thoughts and emotions or even sings lines for the characters. A chorus sits to the side of the stage. The chorus often echoes the words of the characters, but it may also speak for them. Thus in a dialogue between the main character and secondary characters, the chorus may say the lines of either of them. This is of course according to the script and not improvised. Nothing on the Noh stage is improvised.

The use of the chorus to recite the actors' lines make it seem as though the lines belong to no one: The actors are there but the emotion is not under anyone's control. It floats between actors and chorus and is further picked up by a sudden drum beat or drawn out by the flute. INSTRUMENTALISTS Instrumentalists known as hayashi sit at the back of the stage. They consist of a transverse flute (nohkan), an hourglass-shaped drum held at the shoulder (kotsuzumi), a slightly larger hourglass-shaped drum placed on the lap (okawa or otsuzumi), and a barrel-shaped drum placed on a small floor stand and played with two sticks (taiko). The rhythms and melody of these instruments follow highly prescribed systems. One particularly unique feature is the use of drum calls (kakegoe), the shouts or cries of the drummers which serve as signals between the drummers as well as between the drummers and singers. These drum calls also add an important element to the sound texture of the performance, creating the mood and with the chant, establishing the tempo. There are usually four musicians who sit to the rear of the stage.

Three play Japanese drums and one plays a flute made from bamboo. The drums give a very hollow thud while the flute has an eerie whistling sound. This eerie whisper is what draws the first actor out onto the stage and creates the other-worldly feeling necessary to Noh. MOVEMENT A performance of noh is not a performance of realistic theatre. Rather, its movement is highly stylized and prescribed. While some gestures have specific meaning, others serve as an abstract aesthetic expression to convey the emotions of the main character. All of noh can be described as dance. Sometimes there is very little movement as dramatic tension is built mainly through narration. At other times there is strong, vigorous movement. Movement takes place sometimes to the singing of the chorus or sometimes to purely instrumental music. In general, deliberateness, brevity, suppression and abstraction are important features of noh movement. MASKS Makeup is not used in noh. Rather, delicately carved masks are often used by the shite main character and/or the tsure attendant. These masks are considered objects of superb beauty as well as powerful means of expression. In general, any character being portrayed which is not a middle-aged man living in the present will wear a mask.

Therefore all characters portraying women and old men wear masks as well as supernatural beings such as ghosts, deities, demons, and divine beasts. In general, masks either have a more or less neutral expression, or portray a very strong emotion. The former, in fact, allows the mask a variety of expressions with the play of light and shadow on it as the actor changes slightly the tilt of the mask. Even in roles in which an actor does not wear a mask, the sense of a masked face is evident. This is called hitamen, literally “direct mask.” For this, the actor does not use his face for realistic expression but rather for mask-like expression. The waki secondary character or accompanying wakizure never wear masks as they are meant to be middle-aged men living in the present-time of the play. Masks are very important in the Noh and are worn only by the main character. The mask helps to raise the action out of the ordinary, to freeze it in time. For the Noh actor the mask of a particular character has almost a magic power. Before putting it on he will look at it until he feels the emotion absorbed within himself.

When he puts on the mask, his individuality recedes and he is nothing but the emotion to be depicted. [zo-onna] mask Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art COSTUMES Costumes in noh are elaborately made with gorgeously dyed silk and intricate embroidery. These costumes reveal the type of character being portrayed and follow prescribed conventions as to their use. Still, there is much variety. The detail of design, the color combinations, the richness of texture, and the strength of form give noh its visual impact. All characters, whether rich or poor, young or old, male or female, are beautifully costumed. The costuming process is complex. Rather than the actor putting on his own costume, two or three costumers are needed to sculpt the costume on the actor. Costume for the main role [shite], Tennin (celestial being) of the Noh play "Hagoromo" source: fukusyoku/busou/21.htm STAGE [butai] The main part of the stage used in noh is a curtain-less square with a bridgeway leading to it from backstage.

At the end of the bridgeway there is a hanging curtain which swings up and back allowing the characters to enter and exit. Stages were traditionally outside and covered with a long sloping roof. From the late 19th century, they have been mainly moved indoors. These inside stages are open on two sides in a kind of semi-theater-in-the-round. There is no attempt at designing a realistic stage set. Rather, only symbolic stage properties are used. The pine tree painted on the back wall of the stage represents the tree through which noh was, by legend, passed down from heaven to mankind. In Japanese culture, the evergreen pine has come to be an important symbol of longevity and unchanging steadfastness. shite: main character, mostly wearing a mask waki: the secondary character kouken: stageassistants SPACE AND TIME In general, the use of space and time is not portrayed realistically. Rather, there is a freedom of portrayal which requires the audience members to use their imaginations. Characters take only a few steps and through their song or that of the chorus, the audience knows that they have traveled a great distance.

Two characters may appear on the stage nearly side- by-side, but again the audience comes to understand that they are not yet in each other’s presence. While this may be confusing for the first time viewer, for many people who come to understand these and other conventions, noh creates a much more powerful theatrical expression than realistic theatre. Order Of Performance Noh Theater Noh Theater Noh stage at Chusonji Temple, Hiraizumi Noh (�\) is a form of theater involving music, dance and drama, originating in the 14th century . It was developed together with kyogen, which are comical pieces performed during interludes of the main noh performance. The dual art of noh and kyogen is known as nogaku, and was listed as an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. Noh as we know it today was popularized and formalized by a man named Zeami during the Muromachi Period (1333-1573). It was Zeami's work that attracted the government's patronage of the art form. Unfortunately, Zeami later fell out of favor with the government and was banished to Sado Island .

Four main noh troupes were subsequently established, receiving sponsorship from shrines and temples . During the Tokugawa Period (1603-1867), the shogunate made noh its official ceremonial art and issued regulations for its governance. Noh thus became increasingly standardized, with an emphasis on tradition rather than innovation. A fifth troupe was added during this time, making five main noh troupes which survive and perform till this day. Noh performance at the Sado Noh Village What is it? Noh theater is structured around song and dance. Movement is slow, language is poetic, tone is monotonous, and costumes are rich and heavy. Plots are usually drawn from legend, history , literature and contemporary events. Themes often relate to dreams, supernatural worlds, ghosts and spirits. Stage Noh is performed on a square stage with a roof that is supported at its four corners by pillars. All sides of the stage are open except for the back side which consists of a wall with a painted image of a pine tree. A bridge runs at an oblique angle off the stage for performers to enter the stage. Noh used to be typically staged outdoors, but recently modern indoor theaters have also become a common venue.

Roles All performers in noh are male. Shite - the leading character. Depending on the play, the shite may act as a holy old man, a deity, a demon, a spirit or a living man. His movements express various moods. Waki - the supporting actor. The waki plays roles such as a priest, monk or samurai . In contrast to the shite, the waki always portrays living people. Hayashi - the musicians. Four musicians provide accompaniment for the performance with a flute (fue), shoulder drum (kotsuzumi), hip drum (otsuzumi) and stick drum (taiko). Jiutai - the chorus. The chorus sits to the left of the stage and assists the shite in the narration of the story. Koken - stage attendants. Dressed in black, the stage attendants are not part of the play but assist the performers in various ways, such as handing them props. Masks One key element of noh are the masks which the shite wears. They tell the audience what kind of character is being portrayed. Frequently used masks represent demons and spirits, as well as women and men of various ages.

The masks are carved from blocks of Japanese cypress. Their three dimensional properties allow skilled actors to induce a variety of expressions with changes in head orientation. An exhibit on noh mask making at the Sado Noh Village Costumes and Props Costumes consist of multiple layers and textures that create an effect of resplendent elegance but also a bulky, massive figure. Expressiveness is enhanced by props, most notably a folding fan. Closed, partly closed or open, the fan may represent any object as suggested by its shape and handling, for example a dagger or a lantern. Kyogen Kyogen are the comic pieces performed at intervals between the main Noh performance. They utilize satire and witty jokes and are often performed with rhythmical language and sometimes exaggerated actions to inspire laughter from the audience. Most kyogen pieces last for about 15 to 20 minutes and involve two or three actors. Plots are usually about stories that evolve in everyday life, such as men expressing their desire to find wives or farmers praying for good fortune. Kyogen performance Where to watch Noh? Some of the easiest places to watch noh today are modern indoor theaters with an in-built noh stage.

Venues such as the National Noh Theatre in Tokyo , the Otsuki Noh Theatre in Osaka , and the Nagoya Noh Theatre stage relatively frequent performances. Tickets typically range from 3000 to 8000 yen, and can be bought over the counter. The usual program today lasts a couple of hours and consists of two or three Noh acts with short kyogen pieces in between. As mentioned before, shrines , temples and the nobility were some of the first patrons of the noh theater. Accordingly, at some famous shrines and temples beautiful outdoor noh stages still exist today. They hold occasional performances, but tickets may be difficult to obtain. Miyajima 's Itsukushima Shrine (where the stage stands on pillars in the sea), Hiraizumi 's Chusonji Temple , Kyoto 's Fushimi Inari Shrine and Tokyo 's Yasukuni Shrine are some places where such outdoor stages can be found.

Advertisement Noh - a traditional Japanese performing art The Japan-India Traditional Performing Arts Exchange Project 2004 Noh and Kutiyattam – “Treasures of World Cultural Heritage" The first meeting of artists in Kerala The first ever performance of noh in Kerala The fourth performance of kamigata-mai Sponsored by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, The Japan Foundation and the Government of the State of Kerala. Supported by the Embassy of India in Japan and the Indo-Japanese Association December 26, 2004 – January 4, 2005 [ click for the program ] Noh and Kutiyattam are both the still living treasures of their countries respectively and they are both recognised by the UNESCO as masterpieces of the oral and untangible heritage of humanity. Reflecting the oriental aesthetic principle that regards drama as a blend of poetry, music, dance and mime, they share a sacred similarity as both theatrical forms have been much more than mere entertainment, being inextricably connected with worship and religious ritual. To translate the concept of spirituality in theatre and to preserve them through vast stretches of time, Noh and Kutiyattam insisted on strict adherence to tradition, and deemed the theatrical activity itself as sacred.

The basic plots of Noh and Kutiyattam are derived from the myths and classical legends belonging to their respective regions, with both forms extensively employing the use of costumes and masks in their rendition. At the same time both art forms reflect as well a distinct difference of features and acting methods, because they are firmly rooted in heir own cultures. Noh, kabuki and bunraku may be considered the three great traditional national art forms of Japan. Kabuki is a folk theatre -- a song and dance drama born during the Edo period (1615-1868) as an art form of the masses, bunraku is a puppet theatre developed in the Edo period and like kabuki the popular art for the common people and noh is a classical Japanese mask artform -- combining elements of dance, drama, music and poetry into one highly aesthetic stage art with its origins reaching back to the medieval. Like kutiyattam (koodiyattom), the more than thousand years old sanskrit theatre of Kerala, being the oldest surviving form of Indian theatre, noh is the oldest surviving form of Japanese theatre. noh is a classical Japanese theatre form that emphasizes the unity of word, dance, music and mystical experience.

It is essentially a dance-drama in which the script of the play serves to create a setting for choreographic movement. It is not primarily concerned with dramatic action; rather, it seeks to express a situation in lyrical form. All Noh plays reach their fulfillment in a stylized form of dance; the lines which precede the climactic dance serve primarily to establish the circumstances which motivate it. A chorus sings the actor's line while he is dancing and narrates much of the story. The object of a noh performance thus is to capture the "beauty of life" including all existential moments (essence of a situation or emotion) that are also contained by ordinary life. The Japanese term for this concept of beauty is [yugen]. The word derives from the sign [yu], meaning deep, dark, clouded, barely visible and [gen], a term originally describing the deep, dark, calm colour of the universe, with reference to the taoistic conception of truth. Altogether it describes unobtrusive, solemn beauty with a hint of wistfulness - a beauty which is partly hidden, yet ever present. Every episode is drawn out, often to great length.

The high points take the form of extremely stylized static gestures or bodily attitudes held for some time. Some of the gestures carry a particular meaning, others are just abstract. During a performance, every movement of hands and feet, every intonation must follow set rules. The orchestra furnishes the musical setting and establishes the time of every gesture. noh is one of the world's most carefully controlled theatrical experiences. The over-all effect is that of an elaborate ceremony or ritual. The famous Umewaka Kennokai troupe with Norinaga Umewaka, the eldest son of the current head of the troupe, Muzaburo Umewaka as the main actor, will stage "Hagoromo" [The Feather Robe], the most popular of all Noh plays and also the most frequently performed, both in Japan and abroad, as it is considered an unparalleled example of what man considers as pure and beautiful. While noh, kabuki and bunraku are performed by males, kamigata-mai is a female solo performance instead, born and developed in the 16th century in the area of Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe and origins in the dances popular with the court ladies ("Maiko" or "Geisha").

Keiin YOSHIMURA is a recipient of many awards and leading performer of kamigatamai. She uses dance to express the whole range of innermost feelings, translates them into slow, earth bound movements, accentuating them and adding more expression by using small objects like a folding fan - which can suggest the rising moon, falling rain, rippling water, and blowing wind, as well as a variety of emotional responses - or parasol or the kimono sleeve which itself symbolizes the beauty of the dance. Keiin's performance creates to the lingering sound of the shamisen an intimate atmosphere of poetic beauty. YUKI ("snow") and YASHIMA ("Yashima") are both popular pieces. But while in YASHIMA the dancer tries to capture the essence of the ancient battle that took place at Yashima, the tranquil mind of a nun and her sad mind before becoming one is expressed through dance and music in YUKI. The buttons below will link to further reference material. Untitled Document Noh or No is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century.

Together with the closely related kyogen farce, it evolved from various popular and aristocratic art forms, including Dengaku, Shirabyoshi, and Gagaku. Kanami and his son Zeami brought Noh to its present-day form during the Muromachi period. It would later form the foundation for other dramatic forms such as Kabuki. During the Meiji era, Noh and kyogen received official recognition as two of the three national forms of drama. Noh is unique in its slow, spartan grace and its use of distinctive masks. Noh is a chanted drama, and for that reason, some people have dubbed it Japanese opera. However, the singing in Noh involves a limited tonal range, with lengthy, repetitive passages in a narrow dynamic range. Clearly, melody is not at the center of Noh singing. Still, texts are poetic, relying heavily on the Japanese seven-five rhythm familiar to all who know the much-later haiku, with an economy of expression, and an abundance of allusion. The Noh play takes place on a sparse stage made out of Japanese cypress.

The stage is bare with the exception of the "kagami-ita," a painting of a pine-tree at the back of the stage. There are many explanations for this tree, one of the more common being that it symbolizes a means by which deities were said to descend to earth in Shinto ritual. Another unique feature of the stage is the "Hashigakari," the narrow bridge to the left of the stage that the principal actors use to enter the stage. This would later evolve into the Hanamichi in Kabuki. In contrast to the unadorned stage, costumes are lavish. Many actors, especially those in the shite role, wear rich silk brocades. There are four major categories of Noh Actors, and eight major categories of roles in Noh: * The Shite kata are the most common form of actor in Noh. They perform various roles, including: o Jiutai (Chorus, usually 6-8 actors) o "Koken" (stage assistant, usually 2-3 actors). * The Wakikata perform the Waki role, a secondary role that is the counterpart of the Shite.

* The Kyogenkata perform the kyogen interludes during and between plays. * The Hayashikata are the instrumentalists who play the four instruments used in Noh theater, the flute, hip-drum, the shoulder-drum, and the stick-drum. A typical Noh play will involve all categories of actors and usually takes 30-120 minutes. Kyogen farces provide comic relief in the interludes. There are approximately 250 plays that are performed in the current repertoire. There are six categories of Noh plays, which are organized roughly by subject: * Okina/Kamiuta: A unique play that combines dance with Shinto ritual. The oldest Noh play. * 4th Category: Mad woman plays. * 5th Category: Demon plays. The Tale of the Heike, a medieval tale of the rise and fall of the Taira clan, originally sung by blind monks who accompanied themselves on the biwa, is an important source of material for Noh (and later dramatic forms), particularly warrior plays. Authors also drew on Nara and Heian period Japanese classics, and Chinese sources.

There are about 1500 professional Noh actors in Japan today, and the art form continues to thrive. The five extant schools of Noh acting are the Kanze, Hosho, Komparu, Kita, and Kongo schools. Each school has a leading family known as Soh-ke, and the head of each family is entitled to create new plays or edit already existing songs. The society of Noh actors is quite feudalistic, and strictly protects the traditions passed down from their ancestors. All Noh plays are spiritually based on an idea called Y?gen (??) meaning "a profound, mysterious sense of the beauty of the universe… and the sad beauty of human suffering.” It also suggests that the deepest truth or beauty is that which is only partially or "half" revealed. In other words, when something is only hinted at or suggested indirectly, its impact on us is greater than if everything is spelled out clearly, concretely, and in great detail. Hinting, oblique suggestion--that is where the real power is! Early Theatre: Asian Theatre Early Theatre: Asian Theatre Wilson and Goldfarb. Theatre: The Lively Art, 7th edition: Chapter 12. 1.

What is Asian Theatre? There is no single Asian theatre. There are a number of theatrical forms in Asia-- Sanskrit drama in India; Beijing Opera in China; Kabuki, Bunraku (traditional Japanese puppet theatre) and Noh drama in Japan. Although they share several common characteristics, each theatrical form is different. 2. What is generally considered the earliest Asian Theatre? Indian Sanskrit drama dates back to the eighth century BCE, long before the birth of classical Greek tragedy. These works are some of the earliest theatrical texts. A Modern Performance of Traditional Indian Sanskrit drama Balivadham (The Killing of Bali), a Sanskrit Drama Kutiyattam, meaning "combined acting," is Sanskrit drama presented in the traditional style in the temple theatres of the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It is the only surviving specimen of the ancient Sanskrit drama. 3. What are some of common characteristics of Eastern Theatre? Eastern, or Asian, Theatre is... Seldom "spoken." Instead it is sung, chanted, danced and mimed. More visual and sensual than literary or intellectual. A Kabuki script is seen by the Japanese as a production vehicle, not a literary text. The plays are seldom read, even in Japan.

Loosely plotted. There is a strong emphasis on storytelling, but the plotting techniques of Western drama-- escalating incidents, plot reversals, climaxes --are absent. Highly stylized. The formalized acting techniques are typically passed from father to son. Deeply traditional. Scripts and concepts which were developed three or four hundred years ago are still presented to a modern audience with minimal changes. 4. What eastern nation is the home of both Kabuki and Noh. Japan. 5. When was Kabuki born? Kabuki was invented by a Kyoto shrine maiden, Izumo Okuni, around 1600 and reached its peak during Japan's shogun-dominated Edo era: 1616 to 1853. 6. What are the three categories of Kabuki plays? History plays-- jidaimono [period things] --dramatize major political events from the past-- 9th to 15th century. Domestic plays-- sewamono [trouble things] --deal with the affairs of townspeople from the playwright's era. Dance-dramas-- shosagoto [pose things] --which are very popular, often deal with the world of spirits and animals.

7. Describe a Kabuki theatre. 17th Centry Kabuki Theatre A Kabuki theatre is a proscenium house with an extremely large (90 feet wide by 30 feet deep) stage. Because the musicians are a part of the company they perform on the stage instead of being buried in the orchestra pit. The flat, two dimensional, painted scenery is stylized, but not abstract. It is used to give location. From a historical perspective, the Kabuki was the first theatre to use rolling wagons, an elevator stage (1727) and a turntable (1758). See the diagram on pages 268. A Modern Kabuki Performance in Osaka Opening of Act Two of Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura, a Japanese Kabuki drama. 8. What is the hanamichi? The hanamichi, or "flower way," is an entrance ramp which runs from stage right to the rear of the auditorium. 9. What is Japan's most revered and cerebral theatre? The Noh drama is a mysterious, tragic, usually supernatural, ceremonial music-dance-drama. There are about 240 Noh texts.

All were written about 500 years ago by the members of one family. All Noh dramas focus on a single character, the shite who is interrograted, prompted and challanged by the waki. The Noh is not "the drama of mass entertainment." Many, including the Japanese, find these small cast, slow paced, static plays bewildering. Most Western audiences echo George Bernard Shaw's comment: "Noh drama is no drama." See the synopsis of Sotoba Komachi by Kan'ami on page 411. 10. Describe a traditional Noh theatre. Modern Noh Theatre The traditonal Noh stage is an eighteen foot square platform. The audience sits in front of, and stage right of the deck. There is a bridge, the hashigakari, which leads from the dressing room to the right rear corner of the platform. A six to ten member chorus of singer-chanters is on the actors left and the four musicians, a flute and three drums, or located at the rear of the stage. A stylized image of a single dignified pine tree is painted on the back wall.

See the ground plan on page 262 and the photograph of the National Noh Theatre in Tokyo on page 154. A Modern Performance of a Noh drama in Kyoto, Japan Hagoromo, a Noh drama 11. How has Asian theatre influenced Western drama? Starting in the middle of the twentieth century, non realistic playwrights, directors and designers began using elements of Eastern theatre in their presentations. E-mail questions and comments to Larry Wild at wildl@northern.edu . Last updated: November 4, 2011 Noh Theater - artelino artelino By Chikanobu Toyohara 1838-1912 Noh Theater Noh theater, compared to kabuki, is the more refined, aristocratic form of Japanese theater. Paul Binnie, the author of this article lived in Tokyo for more than five years and became an expert and afficionado for Japanese theater.

The Origins of Japanese Noh Theater The history of the whole of Japanese theater might have been entirely different if, in 1375 at Kasuge Temple near Nara, two adolescent boys had not formed a passionate friendship, a special relationship that would cause a unique and ultimately influential art form to come into being. The elder of the young men was Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, aged 17, the powerful dynastic shogun and ruler of all Japan, and he had experienced an early form of Noh performed by Kanami Kiyotsugu and his twelve year old son Zeami Motokiyo. It is due to Yoshimitsu's patronage and interest in early Noh that this dramatic form was able to develop into the highly refined, serene theater which we can see today. Zeami - the Father of Noh Theater The early origins of Noh theater were mostly folk-type forms of rustic entertainment; Sarugaku, which was connected to Shinto rituals, Dengaku, a kind of acrobatics with juggling, which later developed into a type of song-and-dance, Chinese-derived dances, and recited and chanted ballads which formed part of the oral tradition of the people.

By the middle of the fourteenth century, these various sources seem to have been combined into a form of theater recognizable to modern audiences as Noh, although just what those early plays were like is hard to say. There are plays believed by scholars to be by Kanami (1333-1385), but they seem to have been heavily revised by his son Zeami (1363-1443), and no surviving play can be securely dated to before their era. Zeami is the prime figure in Noh, having written a vast quantity of plays for his troupe to perform, many of which are still regularly performed to this day. He also wrote a very famous treatise in 1423 on the skills and methods necessary for a Noh actor, and that document is still valid study for young actors.

What Zeami, inspired by his father, managed to create, was a theater of the Muromachi period (1336-1573), written in the upper-class language of the fourteenth century, but which looked back to the supposed Golden Age of the Heian Period (794-1185), by basing plays on people, events and even poetry of that era creating texts of astonishing richness and opacity. The Refined Beauty Noh exists today in a form almost unchanged since Zeami's day, and while the repertoire may have shrunk from the over one thousand plays in the Muromachi period, there have been several plays written over the years, at least one of which, "Kusu no Tsuyu", written in the late nineteenth century, is often performed. One reason for this is that there is a grandeur and beauty in the plays not to be found elsewhere.

Indeed, the word yuugen, meaning that which lies below the surface, with connotations of nobility, reserved elegance and classical refinement is often used about Noh, and it especially applies to several plays about the Heian period poetess and great beauty Ono no Komachi in old age, when she has lost her looks and her court position, but still appears dressed in silks and satins of restrained hue. There is also a kind of abstraction in Noh which was centuries more advanced than in the west, and indeed it is discouraged to appear to imitate the external forms of people and objects too closely, concentrating rather on the essence or soul which the actor will attempt to recreate. The Meaning of Masks in Noh One of the most striking aspects of the Noh is that the shite, the main actor, may wear a mask, as may his companions, or tsure. This occurs when the main character is an old man, a youth, a woman, or a supernatural character. Tsure accompany the shite in certain plays, and if they represent one of these groups, they will also be masked, but the shite will not wear a mask if his character is an adult male.

Kokata, or boy actors, never wear masks, nor do waki, the secondary characters who appear first on stage to set the scene, and meet the main actor. Masks are carved from wood, often cedar, which is then gessoed and painted, and include some of the most moving works of sculptural art in Japan, and, since there are so many different types, it takes a certain familiarity with them to recognize specific types. The other ubiquitous prop is the fan, which in a symbolic theater such as Noh, can represent all manner of other objects, such as bottles, swords, pipes, letters walking sticks and so on. The Noh Stage The play will be performed on a stage open on three sides, and with a painted backboard representing a pine tree behind. A sort of walkway, called the hashigakari leads onto the stage right position from an entrance doorway at right angles to the backboard. Along the hashigakari are three small pine trees, and these define areas where the actor may pause to deliver lines, before arriving on the main roofed stage, which is about six metres square.

Ranged along in front of the backboard is a group of musicians whose instruments include a flute, a shoulder drum, a hip drum and sometimes a stick drum. The musicians are responsible for the otherworldly, strange music which accompanies dance and recitation alike. Again at right angles to the backboard, at extreme stage left, there is the chorus of eight to twelve chanters arranged in two rows and it is their job to take over the narration of the story, or the lines of the main character if he is engaged in a dance. These elements all contribute to a cohesive whole which creates a richly textured background against which the play is enacted, and since no scenery, few props and only a small cast appears, the imagination of the audience is left to roam freely. Noh Theater - a Living Art Form In general, Japanese Noh plays are not very dramatic, although they are beautiful, since the text is full of poetical allusions and the dances, though slow, are extremely elegant. It is this very beauty which makes Noh a living art form still, over six hundred years after it developed, and which has caused all subsequent Japanese theatrical forms to draw on aspects of Noh.

Kabuki , for example, has lifted complete Noh plays into its vernacular, as well as deriving many of its technical aspects of performance from Noh. The Japanese Noh also antedates many developments in contemporary theater, such as no scenery, symbolic use of props and the appearance of non-actors on the stage. The Noh theater still speaks to audiences today, as evinced by the crowds which still rush to buy tickets for performances at the National Noh Theater, and at the five theaters belonging to the five troupes of Noh. It is a truely timeless artform, which speaks to modern audiences as it did to the noblemen and women of the Muromachi period. Paul Binnie, July 2001 List of books and articles about Noh Theater | Online Research Library: Questia See also Sanskrit literature ; Chinese literature ; Japanese literature ; and drama, Western . Sanskrit Drama Sanskrit drama is part of Sanskrit literature, the classical literature of India, which flourished from about 1500 BC to about AD 1100. The earliest extant critical work on Sanskrit drama is attributed to Bharata, the legendary formulator of the dramatic art in India.

That work, the Na ya-sastra (c.2d cent. AD) is relatively late but could be a reworking of a much earlier version. References to the drama and to dramatic criticism in the work of the grammarian Panini constitute a more certain indication of an early date for Sanskrit drama. The earliest-known Sanskrit playwright was Bhasa (c.3d cent. AD) while among the most renowned were Kalidasa , Bhavabhuti (c.8th cent. AD), and King Harsha . Few Sanskrit plays survive, perhaps due to the limited size of their exclusively aristocratic audience as well as to their antiquity. The Sanskrit plays were performed in palaces and, as in all Asian drama, the performances were highly stylized in terms of gesture and costume, and music and dance played a significant part in them. To the Westerner, Sanskrit plays would probably seem overladen with religious and supernatural elements. However, they are also firmly grounded in the real world, which often forms a positive contrast to the negative aspects of the supernatural; the plays of Kalidasa convey a sense of the natural world with a fine simplicity, whereas those of Bhavabhuti depict a more grandiose nature.

It is undoubtedly the religious influence that explains the happy endings occurring in all Sanskrit drama. Love and heroism are the two most common sources of emotion in the plays, although there is a frequent infusion of a sense of wonder produced by the supernatural elements. Indeed, some plays are almost totally concerned with the supernatural (Kalidasa's Vikramorvasi) while others treat political and historical topics (Kalidasa's Malavikagnimitra). Another type is represented by Mrcchakatika, attributed to the legendary King Sudraka, which concerns ordinary people and is profuse in exciting, melodramatic incident. Sanskrit drama later developed into a didactic form of religious allegory represented by the Prabodhacandrodaya of Krsnamisra (11th cent.). The language of Sanskrit drama alternates between prose and lyric poetry. Since Sanskrit is a literary language, it is used only by important characters; inferior characters speak in the vernacular known as Prakrit. Chinese Drama The classical Chinese theater developed during the Yüan dynasty (1260–1328).

Springing from story cycles made familiar by professional storytellers, Yüan plays relied for their appeal on romantic or sentimental plots. During the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) the drama utilized the plots of popular novels. Until the 19th cent., Chinese drama was not spoken; it was a mixture of music and declamation. Like the Sanskrit, Chinese drama avoids tragedy as that term is understood in the West. However, it is frequently infused with pathos, often involving the deaths of women. Although acting style, character types, stage properties, and other external features of Chinese drama are highly conventionalized, there is great narrative freedom in the plays themselves. Often they are replete with Confucian ethical precepts, propounded with rigid didacticism. Many of the plays, however, embody a Taoist mysticism that runs counter to Confucian influence. Chinese drama is more social and less concerned with romantic love than is the Sanskrit. Family and country are frequently regarded as of more importance than the individual. In contrast to the Sanskrit, Chinese drama was written for a popular audience, and dramatic performances took place in virtually every village.

There are many Chinese plays extant, ranging in mood from pathos to farce. Among the masterpieces of Chinese drama are The Injustice Suffered by Tou F by Kuan Han-ch'ing, The Western Chamber by Wang Shi-fu, and The Orphan of the House of Chao by Chi Chun-hsaing (all 12th–15th cent.); The Peony Pavilion by T'ang Hsien-tsu (16th cent.); and The Palace of Long Life by Hung Sheng (17th cent.). In the West, Chinese drama has traditionally been regarded as an entertainment rather than a serious art form. There are several reasons for this judgment: first, the formlessness of Chinese plays, as, for example, Hung Sheng's Palace of Eternal Youth (1688), a play in 49 scenes without any act divisions; second, the spectacular nature of Chinese drama, which relies heavily on music, song, acrobatics, mimicry, and costuming; and third, the preponderance of stock characters, such as the comic drunk.

In Chinese drama no attempt is made at realism; props and scenery are symbolic (for instance, a flag represents an army); the property man is present on stage; characters at times directly address the audience. Often only parts of plays are performed, or scenes are performed in arbitrary sequence. Since the early 19th cent. the Beijing opera has been the dominant force in the Chinese theater. After World War I a realistic, spoken drama, patterned after Western plays, developed, but after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 the theater (except on Taiwan) devoted itself to political propaganda until the 1990s. Japanese Drama The Japanese No (or Noh) drama stands in stark contrast to both the Sanskrit and the Chinese. No plays are very short, virtually plotless, and tragic in mood. Performances of No plays are highly stylized, and they move at an extremely slow pace, often stretching a text of two or three hundred lines into an hour-long stage play. Such performances integrate singing, speech, instrumental music (three drums and a flute), dancing, and mime into a unity in which no single element dominates.

Wooden masks are used by the principal character, women characters, and old people. The No drama was developed in the 14th cent., bringing together elements from the earlier sarugaku [monkey music] and dengaku [rustic music]. Its invention is attributed to Kanami Kiyotsugu (1333–84), while his son Zeami Motokiyo (1363–1443) brought the No to its peak of refinement. Zeami was also a playwright who produced such classics of the No drama as The Well-Curb and The Lady Aoi. There may have been thousands of No plays written, but only about 250 are still performed. The language of the No is highly concise and symbolical. Quotations from Chinese and Japanese poetry are included to give the works a traditional basis; they are often central to the theme. The setting is usually limited to a single place of extreme importance to the main character. All the actors traditionally are male. The plays center around a single character called the shite. Of secondary importance is the waki, who is often a priest and who serves as a foil to the shite.

Both the shite and the waki have one or two attendants. There is also a chorus whose sole function is to sing. Frequently the chorus sings the lines appropriate for the shite, while he dances or mimes the action. It is common for characters to speak lines that seem meant for another character or to finish up another character's speech; finally, a character may speak of himself in the third person. The effect of these devices is to objectify and universalize what otherwise is a highly emotional and personalized experience. The usual form of the play is to present two manifestations of the shite. In the first part the shite presents a false or disguised appearance. In the second part he presents his true or spiritual self. The No stage is a plain platform about 20 ft (6 m) square with a walkway leading from the back of the stage to the greenroom. The musicians are placed at the back of the stage, and the chorus is on the right. The positions of all characters are very precisely set, as is the stylized movement on stage. Developing about the same time as the No was a type of short farce known as the Kyogen. The Kyogen are placed between No plays as comic relief.

They do not use music, take about 20 min to perform, and are broad in their humor. In the 16th and 17th cent. two forms of drama developed in Japan that have since surpassed the aristocratic and difficult No drama in popularity; they are the Ningyo-shibai [marionettes] and the Kabuki. The Ningyo-shibai reached its peak in the 18th cent. with the work of the playwright Monzaemon Chikamatsu ; both it and the Kabuki show similarities to the No in their integration of movement, music, and language. Also, like the No, the Kabuki uses only male actors, even for female roles. However, both the Ningyo-shibai and Kabuki place greater emphasis on excitement and conflict in the plot. The Kabuki uses more characters than the No, features much stage action as opposed to the stately, slow movement of the No, and avoids the use of recondite symbolism and allusion that frequently make the No a puzzle. The most popular play in the Kabuki repertoire is a revenge play entitled The Treasury of Loyal Retainers.

One interesting facet of Kabuki, perhaps reflecting its popular origins, the Kabuki stage is marked by a walkway (hanamichi), which extends from the stage into the audience and to the back of the auditorium. The Kabuki, both in classical and modernized form, continues to be popular in Japan while the No is restricted to a few theatrical groups and is often obscure even to Japanese. In the 20th cent. the Japanese have produced many Western plays, but their influence on Japanese drama has not yet been significant. The contemporary novelist Yukio Mishima wrote some No plays that, with their modern setting and pessimism, are far different in spirit from the originals. Bibliography See F. Bowers, Japanese Theatre (1952); J. J. Brandon et al., Studies in Kabuki (1978); A. Waley, ed., The Nō Plays of Japan (1922, repr. 1957); H. W. Wells, The Classical Drama of India (1963) and The Classical Drama of the Orient (1965); A. C.

Scott, ed., Traditional Chinese Plays (3 vol., 1967–75); M. Gunji, Kabuki (tr. 1969); D. Keene, ed., Twenty Plays of the No Theatre (tr. 1970); L. C. Pronko, Guide to Japanese Drama (1973); I. Sekhar, Sanskrit Drama: Its Origins and Decline (1977); T.-C. Hsu, The Chinese Conception of the Theatre (1985). The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright© 2016, The Columbia University Press. Noh Theater: Selected full-text books and articles

Question: Classical Noh drama is an art form from which country?
Answer: JAPAN