Changes

*''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.

*''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 of six to ten people, usually eight, visible and seated onstage at stage left, facing towards stage right. The chorus generally chants narration, as well as often chanting lines for the characters. Members of the chorus are typically ''shite'' actors themselves, though originally (in Zeami's time) it was ''waki'' actors who composed the chorus.<ref>Quinn, ''Developing Zeami'', 132.</ref>

*Chorus (J: ''jiutai'') - Noh features a chorus of six to ten people, usually eight, visible and seated onstage at stage left, facing towards stage right. The chorus generally chants narration, as well as often chanting lines for the characters. Members of the chorus are typically ''shite'' actors themselves, though originally (in Zeami's time) it was ''waki'' actors who composed the chorus.<ref>Quinn, ''Developing Zeami'', 132.</ref>

*''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 (''[[nokan|nôkan]]'') and several types of drums (''[[kotsuzumi]]'', ''[[otsuzumi|ôtsuzumi]]'', and ''[[shimedaiko]]''). Unlike in the [[Edo period]] theater forms of [[kabuki]] and [[ningyo joruri|ningyô jôruri]], Noh does not incorporate [[shamisen]] or other string instruments.

*''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 (''[[nokan|nôkan]]'') and several types of drums (''[[kotsuzumi]]'', ''[[otsuzumi|ôtsuzumi]]'', and ''[[shimedaiko]]''). Unlike in the [[Edo period]] theater forms of [[kabuki]] and [[ningyo joruri|ningyô jôruri]], Noh does not incorporate [[shamisen]] or other string instruments. As in other theatrical forms, the musical instruments are frequently used to suggest sounds which help to set a scene, such as gentle or harsh winds, rain or snow, waves, or forest sounds such as the snapping of twigs.

*''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.

*''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==

==Stage Design==

[[File:Nationalnohtheater.jpg|thumb|right|350px|The main stage at the [[National Noh Theatre]] in Sendagaya, Tokyo.]]

[[File:Nationalnohtheater.jpg|thumb|right|350px|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 (''hashigakari'') 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 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, supposedly a reference to the Yôgô Pine (''yôgô no matsu''<!--影向の松--> of [[Kasuga Shrine]]),<ref name=schechner>Richard Schechner, ''Performance Studies: An Introduction'', Routledge (2002), 61.</ref> 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.

The Noh stage, much smaller than that of kabuki or the typical Western-style proscenium stage, follows a standard design. A bridgeway (''hashigakari'') 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 of stage right. Small pine trees typically run along the front of this bridgeway. The entrance/exit at the end is separated from backstage areas by a multi-colored curtain known as an ''agemaku'', which is raised on wooden poles to allow actors to enter and exit.

 

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, supposedly a reference to the Yôgô Pine (''yôgô no matsu''<!--影向の松--> of [[Kasuga Shrine]]),<ref name=schechner>Richard Schechner, ''Performance Studies: An Introduction'', Routledge (2002), 61.</ref> 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.

Earthenware jugs arranged under the stage floor capture and reverberate sound, allowing actors' foot-stomps and jumps to produce resounding audible sound.<ref name=schechner/>

Earthenware jugs arranged under the stage floor capture and reverberate sound, allowing actors' foot-stomps and jumps to produce resounding audible sound.<ref name=schechner/>