Kyogen

• Japanese: 狂言 (kyougen)

Kyôgen is one of the chief forms of traditional Japanese theatre. Developing alongside Noh in the Muromachi period, kyôgen is often performed as part of a Noh program, but is a lighter, more humorous, form, and often features commoner/peasant characters.

Style

Kyôgen was traditionally performed very often as a comic interlude (ai-kyôgen) between acts of a Noh play. These interludes frequently retold the story of the Noh play in a different way, or from a different perspective, providing audiences with a more accessible understanding of the plot; this also allowed audiences to relax and take a break from the highly refined and aesthetically intense Noh, preparing them to better enjoy or appreciate the second half. Kyôgen continues to be performed alongside Noh in this fashion today, but is also often performed on its own; many kyôgen plays do not function as interludes for any particular Noh play, but stand on their own, with their own distinctive plots.

History

Heavily patronized by the Muromachi shogunate and Imperial Court, kyôgen was also later patronized by figures such as Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and by the Tokugawa shogunate. During the Tokugawa period, the Ôkura and Sagi schools of kyôgen were formally recognized by the shogunate, while the Izumi school enjoyed patronage from significant groups outside of the shogunate. In the Meiji period, however, the final iemoto (head) of the Sagi school, Sagi Gennojô, is said to have failed to properly arrange for his succession, and the Ôkura and Izumi schools remain as the only two officially recognized professional schools of kyôgen active today. The Sagi school tradition continues, however, among non-recognized performers (i.e. outside of the iemoto system) based chiefly in Yamaguchi City and Sado-ga-shima. Other schools of kyôgen include the Nanto Negi school, active chiefly only in the 16th-17th centuries, who were criticized by figures such as Ôkura Toraaki as "degraded" and "wrong-headed" for their excessively comic, even lewd, approach.