Nuo

The Nuo ritual is an ancient Chinese ritual of exorcism and purification, supposedly dating back to the Xia Dynasty. It later came to be practiced in Japan, and had some influence on the development of Noh theatre and other Japanese performing arts.

History

The Nuo ritual is believed to have originated as early as the Xia (c. 2200-1750 BCE) or Shang Dynasties (c. 1750-1100 BCE), but is mentioned in the Analects of Confucius, and in the Book of Rites, and so is known to go back at least to some time before the time of Confucius himself (c. 552-479 BCE). In Confucius' time in the Zhou Dynasty, the Nuo was performed most prominently and most officially on three occasions each year. The State Nuo would be performed in the third month of the lunar calendar, in spring, and involved "the people of the state perform[ing] the Rites of Exorcism, and at each of the nine gates sacrificial animals [would be] torn apart and offerings made [to drive off evil emanations], in order to complete the ethers of spring." This State Nuo was associated with the king and the royal princes. The second form of Nuo, the King's Nuo (or, the Nuo of the Son of Heaven), was performed by the King during the second month of autumn, and was more exclusively associated with, or "owned by" the King. It was performed, similarly, in order to ward off pestilence and to "assure the proper circulation of the autumnal ethers." The third form was the Grand Nuo, performed throughout the country, and participated in by people from all classes and hierarchical statuses. The Grand Nuo involved the use of an earthen ox which would carry away the cold of winter, alongside the typical aspects of exorcism and purification.

In that ancient period, the ritual was led by an exorcist called Fang Xiang Shi; the meaning of this term is debated and remains unclear. In the Han Dynasty, the Grand Nuo came to be performed at the end of the lunar year, and the Fang Xiang Shi was joined by 120 young palace eunuchs (age 10-12), who wore black tunics and red scarves. Carrying hand-drums, they performed a ritual calling on twelve animal spirits to drive pestilence out of the Palace, and to devour evil spirits, demons and ghosts as they were driven out. The young boys danced the roles of the animal creatures, and passed torches used in the rites to horsemen who drowned the torches in the river.

References

• Min Tian, "Chinese Nuo and Japanese Noh – Nuo’s Role in the Origination and Formation of Noh," Comparative Drama 37:3/4 (2003-04), 343-360.