Noh

Hagoromo being performed at the Ôe Nôgakudô in Kyoto.

This article remains very much incomplete and under construction. Please pardon any imperfect, mistaken, or otherwise lacking elements of the description. I intend to fix these up as I make my way through material on the subject.

• Japanese: 能 (nou)

Noh is the oldest, and most elite, or culturally refined, of the major forms of Japanese traditional drama. Developed in the early 15th century, it came to be patronized by the samurai class, and especially the Muromachi and Tokugawa shogunates and provincial daimyo, becoming more widely accessible beginning in the Meiji period.

Performed painstakingly slowly, Noh focuses on conceptual and aesthetic impact, rather than lengthy or complex plots, and employs a minimum of set pieces, props, and cast members. Performance consists chiefly of two portions: utai (song/chant) and mai (dance), and while attention is most certainly paid to dramatic imitation (monomane) of the figure being portrayed (e.g. a madwoman, an old man, a deity), emphasis is placed on masterful performance of the forms, in order to effect a moving experience for the audience. Noh is also the most spiritual, or ritual, of the major traditional theatre forms, and performance is also seen as a form of meditation for the actors, and as a prayer of sorts for the spirits.

Role Types

• Shite (lit. "do-er") - the shite plays the lead role, often a warrior, madwoman, god, spirit, or sprite. Shite roles include the madwoman in Sumidagawa, the spirit of Taira no Atsumori in Atsumori, and the angel in Hagoromo.
• Waki (lit. "to the side") - the waki plays the chief character who interacts with the shite. Though often human, and not demon, god, or spirit, and though typically with a less ornate costume, the waki often has more stage time and more lines than the shite. Waki roles include the boatman in Sumidagawa, the monk Renshô in Atsumori, and the fisherman in Hagoromo.
• Tsure (lit. "accompanying") - divided into wakitsure and shite-tsure, the tsure actors play figures accompanying the main roles. In many plays where the waki is a wandering monk, for example, the tsure play other monks accompanying him.
• Chorus (J: jiutai) - Noh features a chorus visible and seated onstage at stage left, facing towards stage right. The chorus chants narration, as well as often chanting lines for the characters.
• Hayashi - in Noh, the musicians, known as the hayashi, sit along the rear wall, facing the audience. They play a variety of instruments, chiefly flute (nôkan) and several types of drums. Unlike in the Edo period theater forms of kabuki and ningyô jôruri, Noh does not incorporate shamisen or other string instruments.
• Kôken, or "stage assistants," handle a variety of tasks including helping adjust actors' robes, handling props, and assisting in onstage costume changes. Insofar as they are not characters present in the world (setting/plot) of the play, they are meant to be ignored by the audience, though they make little overt effort to hide themselves.

Stage Design

The main stage at the National Noh Theatre in Sendagaya, Tokyo.

The Noh stage, much smaller than that of kabuki or the typical Western-style proscenium stage, follows a standard design. A bridgeway which provides the chief avenue for actors' entrances and exits runs at an angle, connecting with the main portion of the stage at the rear half of stage right. The main portion of the stage is a square, with pillars at the four corners, and a painting of a pine tree on the rear wall. This painted pine, along with others standing along the bridge, help evoke the sense of being not in a theater, but in a natural setting, such as a forest clearing, and thus enhancing the sense of a spiritual place, where one might be visited by spirits or visions. Further, the pine, as an evergreen tree which does not lose its leaves in winter but remains strong, represents a sense of the eternal, and the notion that the very same tree might witness events in a given place over many centuries, thus linking the present of the audience to the present of the characters, and, in the case of mugen Noh, to the past (the present of the spirits' lives) as well.

Noh was traditionally performed outdoors, with Noh stages often being free-standing structures located at Shinto shrines; though often located indoors today, Noh stages retain the architectural form of those free-standing structures, and continue to bear their own roofs.

Categories of Plays

The opening lines of Kasuga ryûjin, from a Kita school utaibon published in Tokyo, 1925.

Noh is traditionally divided into five categories of plays. Each category is defined by the types of characters it features, representing different themes, but also different points in a jo-ha-kyû progression, making the categories particularly suitable for being performed in a particular sequence, from First Category to Fifth, in order, in a full program.

1. First Category - God Plays. Typically with a minimum of plot, so-called "god plays" are employed as an auspicious opening to a performance program, and often feature specific deities or other auspicious figures. Corresponding to the jo (Introduction) of jo-ha-kyû.
2. Second Category - Warrior Plays. Typically featuring famous warriors from epics such as the Tale of the Heike, warrior plays often focus on releasing the spirit of a dead warrior from Buddhist attachment to ideas of regret and revenge, and to the place and circumstances of his death. These often end in the shite as the warrior spirit dancing a reenactment of a famous episode from his life, narrated by the chorus. Atsumori is a particularly representative example.
3. Third Category - Women Plays. Typically featuring female characters from the Tales of Ise, Tale of Genji, or other Heian period texts, women plays often focus on releasing the spirit of a woman from Buddhist attachment to a man who left her waiting. Matsukaze is a particularly representative example.
4. Fourth Category - Madwoman and Miscellaneous Plays. As the term "miscellaneous" implies, this category includes a variety of different sorts of plays. Ataka, a genzai Noh telling the story of Yoshitsune and Benkei at the checkpoint barrier at Ataka, is a prominent play in this category. Sumidagawa is particularly representative of the sub-category of "madness plays" (monogurui Noh), which feature characters grieving over a lost loved one.
5. Fifth Category - Demon Plays and other Ending Plays. Corresponding to the kyû (quick denouement) of jo-ha-kyû, ending plays (kiri Noh) often feature a demon, spirit, or sprite, and emphasize dance over plot, bringing the overall program to a close in an auspicious and energetic way.

Beyond these five categories, Noh plays can also be classified in a number of other ways. One of the chief divisions is between genzai Noh ("now" Noh), which reenact elements of famous stories, taking place during the lives of the characters, and mugen Noh (lit. "unlimited" or "infinite" Noh, referring to the unlimited depths of mystery and spiritual aesthetic), which feature spirits, (re)appearing after their demise. Some of the most famous genzai Noh are Ataka, Sumidagawa, and Hagoromo, while mugen Noh include Atsumori, Matsukaze, and Takasago.

Mugen Noh often follow a certain structure, with a monk or other wanderer, played by the waki, arriving at a famous place, and commenting on its association with a famous character or story (e.g. from the Tales of Heike, Genji, Ise, or poetry) before stopping there to take a rest. He then meets a local person, such as a farmer, played by the shite, and the two discuss that famous episode. Following a kyôgen intermission (ai-kyôgen), in which a kyôgen actor retells the same story in a more lively and easier to understand fashion, the shite character reveals himself to be the spirit of the chief character associated with that place. He then dances a dance representing his emotional struggle, while the monk prays for the spirit's release. The play ends with the spirit disappearing. There is often a strong implication of the waki questioning whether his meeting the local person, and the spirit, truly happened, or was merely a dream. For the audience, too, there can be a feeling of questioning whether one merely witnessed a play, or whether the spirit manifested on the stage.

History

The Noh stage at Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima, one of the oldest Noh stages in the country.

References

• Thomas Hare, Zeami Performance Notes, Columbia University Press (2008).