Noh

Introduction Plot of:

“Tomoe” “Ground Spider” “Bo-shibari”

Interview: Yaemon Yamashina How to see Noh play in Japan

Noh is one of the Japanese traditional stage drama. It is said that it appeared during the Muromachi Era and improved in the Edo Era. And the technique of dance and music are needed in playing Noh. There is another traditional culture, Kyogen, in Japan. They are very similar because their origin is same but they have a obvious difference. In the playing of Noh, audiences know the story meaning from the player’s movement. However, in the playing of Kyogen, the important expression is language.

Noh and Kyogen are played at Noh-Gakudoh. Noh players are called Noh-Gakushi. And in Noh-Gakushi, the actors are called Tachikata, the musical players are called Hayashikata. Moreover in the Tachikata, the leading actors are called Shitekata, the side actors are called Wakikata, and when kyogen player performs in Noh play, they are called Kyogenkata.

Futhermore in the Hayashikata, they have four different musical instrument parts, Fuekata(plays Japanese flute), Kozutsumikata(plays small hand drum), Ohzutsumikata (plays hand drum), and Taikokata (plays Japanese drum).

Since there is no conductor, they create an ensemble only by their breathing. In addition to this, the people in charge of singing songs are called Jiutai (chorus). The leaders of Jiutai feel the movement and mind of Shitekata and sing as they adjust to shite’s movements and breathing.

The Noh and Kyogen players wear shozoku (kimono). The traditional formal style and order of Noh is Gobandate, the five kinds of oh are played in a day. At first, they play Shin (god), where god appears. Second, they play Nan (man), third, Nyon (woman), forth, Kyoh (crazy person), and fifth, Ki (ogre).

And the most important things ofNoh is Noh-men (mask). Not all actors wear masks but Shite and Shiteture (supporting performance). And they wear masks only when they act as gods, immortals, ghost, women, and children.

Scene 1 A monk meets a lady.

The lady tells a story about Yoshinaka, who was a great Samurai.

She gradually remembers Yoshinaka and cries. Then she tells that he was her lover and she is still really sad that he died earlier than her. Her name is Tomoe. *When they are talking in the fist half of the stage, you may be get sleepy because the performers don’t move that much.

To avoid that situation, you should borrow headphones before the stage starts. You can listen to the information about the stage in either Japanese or English. That will help you understand what the performers are doing on stage.

An especially talented Noh performer performs Tomoe. In spite of wearing a Noh mask, the performer has the technique to express Tomoe’s sadness.

Scene 2 A lady appears in front of a monk wearing armor. She brandishes a sword beautifully and tells the sadness of losing him. *This scene (brandishing the sword) is the highlight of this Noh. The lady has been moving slow so far but in this scene she moves so fast. The contrast is wonderful.

A Noh performer told us that when he acts on stage wearing a Noh mask, he can’t see well. Some performers even fall off from the stage. But when we saw “Tomoe”, the performer walked around on the stage from one side to the other and brandished a sword. We were even worried that Tomoe might damage the poll of the stage with her sword.

※Yorimitsu Minamoto was a real military commander in the middle of the Heian period(948~1021). But in the Noh world, he is called Raiko Minamoto.

Scene 1 Raiko was suffering from a mysterious illness. One night, a strange Buddhist walked up to him, and suddenly attacked him with thread shot out of hand. He found out that the thread was a spider’s and the illness was a curse. (The monster had disguised himself as a Buddhist.)

Scene 2 He slashed at the spider bravely but it ran away. So he commanded his followers to exterminate that monster. Fortunately, spider’s blood flowed out of the wound. Finally they found the spider’s colony by tracing blood.

That was opened a life-and-death struggle……

☆High light of the stage☆ A spider’s thread……

The Fiery sword fight

☆Our impression☆ After appreciating the stage……. ●Amazing!! ●We were so surprised! It was a powerful and showy stage!! ●I was fascinated by so much spider’s thread…… Actually, after the performance I touched the thread, and I found the thread was made of ……. ●Raiko’s behavior was so high-minded. ●Raiko’s gold lap robe means illness. I enjoyed nice costumes. ●The work represents the power of general Raiko. ●Spider’s thread VS Swords! A must see!!

One day a master tells his two servants, Taro-kaja and Jiro-kaja, to look after his house while he is out. Because the master knows both Taro-kaja and Jiro-kaja have a bad habit of stealing sake (alcohol) while he is gone, he ties Taro’s arms behind his back and Jiro’s arms with a long pole. However after the master leaves, they conspire together to sneak into a sake cellar.

They help each other to drink sake and they both become glorious. They start singing and dancing. However, the master returns home and finds out about them. The master slowly gets close to them and tries to punish them.

But then they immediately run away. *You do not have to understand Japanese. How they act is very cute and it surely makes you laugh.

master What are they doing?

This sake looks so good!!

Hey! Let’s help out each other and drink some!!!

Taro-kajya Jiro-kajya

Thank you for taking the time for an interview today.

I’d like to ask you some questions.

Go ahead.

First, I want you to talk about “Dojoji”. I have seen the video before. It showed a Noh player jumping up toward the bell at the same time as it fell down and then his heart beat at a rate much faster than normal.

It was broadcast on NHK, wasn’t it? I played the utai at that time, too.

Oh, really?

Yes, I remember it.

Because the Ranbyoushi also increased his heart rate, I got tense though I only watched it. Do you tense up in such a case?

Well…my tension is different than a general one. Hmm, I don’t feel fear or anxiety for a failure because I practice a lot and it supports me. However I have a feeling of tension in that I can’t afford to let my attention slip That’s just like you!

Not really.

By the way, is that bell real?

No. It is made of straw and bamboo, and a dark blue cloth is wound around it.

But I’d say it itself is 50-60 kilograms.

5, 60 kilograms…it must be hard on you.

Yeah.

Of course I like “Dojoji”, but could you tell me other programs you recommend?

I’d recommend “Ataka”, Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Benkei go down to the northern part of Japan. Although it’s performed in Kabuki as “Kanjintyou”, it originally came from Noh. I see.

Next is the Noh on the theme of “Ise Monogatari”…for example “Izutsu”. It’s a little difficult, but it’s a love story. I should think you’d like this.

“Ise Monogatari” quotes Japanese poems cleverly, doesn’t it?

That’s right. A boy and a girl played together around the well from their childhood, and they grew up gradually. He received the cap of an adult, and she changes her hair style and started to make herself up. It means that they are adults. Then he proposed to her and they got married. This story presents the beauty of love, but there is another side to love, ha-ha.

That’s true.

After their marriage, the husband went to see another woman. In that way the wife never get angry. The weather forecast said it would be rainy, so she hung a coat in case he should get cold. It’s a little nasty, isn’t it?

Um…is it?

Though he was going to betray her, she worried about him. She prepared his coat and put her letter near it. After that he’s definitely not going. Oh, it is not very good to recommend you because this is in murky, ha-ha-ha.

Do you have a favorite role? It might depend on the program…for example, onna or oni.

I like rather than fit to play onna. I have a little bit of a high voice and a slim figure, so I’m better able to play it than a role like Benkei. But I must act any role, even Benkei, of course. In this situation I have to study how to play the role, and that’s difficult for me.

Study how to play a role…?

Yes. For example, I assume a posture and try to speak in a low voice in order to look like a big-boned man. It’s hard to do that for me.

You wear more clothes than usual?

No. A Noh costume has only a fixed size of costume, so I don’t wear more clothes to fit it.

Oh, really?

I’m 173 cm tall, but some young people are 180 cm, as you know. If a costume suits me, it doesn’t suit them. They must curl themselves to fit it.

Sure. I have learned something!! Ah, going back to “Dojoji”…

Ok. The Noh player uses a different Noh mask, hannya from the latter half. Then he is in the bell all the time, so how does he change it?

He changes clothes and masks in the bell. In short there’re extra clothes in it, and he changes by himself. Some people think that there’s another person wearing extra clothes, but not. It’s difficult to change clothes by oneself, because it’s dark and narrow. He can’t stand in the bell, but he must change clothes by himself.

Wow…. What a drag!

In addition, he can’t see at all in the bell. There isn’t a mirror. He gropes in dark for the pattern of his kimono, and he’ll notice what way he wears it. In Kabuki the back of the bell is open, and there’s a person called “kouken”, who helps him put on his kimono. On the contrary, in Noh we make the bell look exactly like the real thing.

I haven’t heard of it. That’s good.

You work hard to popularize Noh. Then what do you think of the overseas performances?

I have been to foreign countries to perform. But I think there’re some difficulties, for example whether to make a good stage. The best way is to take the same one as the Noh stage, but we can’t. For that reason, I change how to perform the play. Also it’s easy to get out of condition because of the difference in time.

It is true.

In the Paris performance I went there on Japanese time. I had four days and two nights. I went to Paris without sleeping at all and conducted the performance as soon as I arrived there.

It must be hard on you.

Yeah.

Well…is there any difference between Japanese and European people who go to the Noh theaters?

Many European people like to watch performances like Opera relatively, so more people study Noh better than Japanese. There are not many Japanese people who can understand the Noh performance. For that reason we must practice activities to promote it.

You’re right. When I went to see the Noh, I couldn’t know the timing and I clapped my hands in time to others, ha-ha.

Could you tell us some merits and differences between new and classic Noh programs?

In case of the classic Noh program, Noh players have been studying how to perform it for 700 years. Trial and error have been used and the play is improved upon, so it has high accuracy. It is very easy to perform, recite and dance for me. The new program has not seen hard ship, so I find it difficult to step and dance in it. But we can make it to fit the present age, and that’s one or its strengths. Well…I don’t want to memorize it, ha-ha.

I see.

That reminds me, there’re four more texts that our ancestor Zeami wrote.

They have not been staged. The head of my family will put them on stage from December, once a month.

Wonderful! I really want to see them.

But it’s still hard to learn them by heart.

What do you think about the Noh mask?

It’s the most important thing for Noh players.

Oh, I agree.

The oldest masks were made in the Kamakura, Muromachi, or Aduchimomoyama. There’re some old clothes, but they damage easily. Even if there’re clothes of the Muromachi period, most of them are not available.

So we keep making new clothes. Our performances are affected by recognition that we use a mask of those days. The Noh mask unsurpassed by anything in the world has something.

Something…?

I don’t know what that something is, ha-ha. When the performance was held in January this year, I played with the mask of the head of the Kanze, “Kobeshimi”, which is unique one. Only a few people, including the head generation after generation and the family of him, are allowed to use it. I was permitted as well, but maybe there’re only about thirty people from the Muromachi who could play with it. When I wear such a mask, I can catch the thoughts of people who have used it.

It’s a special thing, isn’t it?

That’s right. So it’s important to have an identity that we manage and protect such things. The scripts that Kanami wrote on a mare paper have been protected for 700 years. In fact we can’t read them, but it’s important that we have the original texts and perform them. Therefore we can’t change how to perform the classic Noh. My father told me that if you wanted to try a program well received by customers, you should go back to Zeami and ask him to change his text. In other words, I can’t and shouldn’t change it.

Fantastic! And…I want to ask you some personal questions, is that?

Yes, go ahead.

How was your school life or your club?

My school life…? I went to college halfway, until the time I was in the second grade. And I belonged to the movie and script club, and I wrote a text. I like to write compositions, and I wanted to be a novelist. So I write about Noh now.

Oh, you do?

Yes, I like to write.

Ah, so do I. Next do you have an occupational injury?

Yes, I do. I have a stiff shoulder and lower-back pain many times, because I must change my body and look like a woman when I play the part of a woman.

So after the performance my body feels pain. In addition I must keep my body line shape, go on a diet and take care not to sweat.

I see. Are you likely to slide your feet everyday?

When I wear my shoes, I don’t. Well…I walk straight and try not to meander. I try to step straight with my legs. You should try it, and you’ll look smart.

I will try it, ha-ha.

If you were not a Noh player, what would you want to be?

Hmm…, I think I would want to get a job involved in plays. I also wanted to be a party chief of a hotel or a funeral director, ha-ha. In reality a Noh player is good at doing these things. He takes lessons from his master, so he should do everything. For example he should notice and serve tea before his master tells him to do. So such a service job is suitable for a Noh actor, I think.

OK.

I don’t want to be a college professor, because he seems busy. Do you think so?

Well…

But I gave up going to university. And it’s very hard to go to the university for a Noh player.

Oh, really?

The reason is because there are important things for a Noh player who is 20 years old to do. In my case, my master lives in my home. A pupil shares room and board with his master, and takes care of him. He must do these things for 7-8 years, from 18 to 25-6 years old. So he has no time to go to school.

I see. Finally, when you perform, what do you think?

Hmm…usually I don’t think at all. Still I check how the performance is and the hayashi plays in every point. Well, our performance ought to be in time together even if I dance with my eyes closed without thinking.

If you make a mistake, what do you do?

I try to correct my mistake, and I never think that I make a mistake. Even if a pectator has a text and finds my mistake, I try to make myself believe that I am never wrong and the text is wrong.

Indeed? It’s interesting. Well, I’m sorry to finish this interview because of a scheduling conflict. Your story was very informative. Thank you very much for taking the time to talk with me today.

Yaemon Yamashina He was born in 1961.

He is a shite actor and plays Kanze style of Noh.

Senior vice-president of Kanze-kai.

Managing director of Kanze-bunko.

There are many ways to see Noh. And now, I’m giving some questions and answers about Noh. I think these will help you when you want to go and see Noh.

1. Where should I get information about some performances of Noh in Japan?

By doing Internet search, you can obtain them easily. A few performances are held in the Noh theaters in many locations, including public halls.

2. Where should I buy a ticket?

There are various ways to buy them depending of the performance. You can book a performance of the National Noh Theatre by phone. After the reservation, you should go there to get your ticket or the people in the National Theatre will send it to you if you pay a commission. You can only purchase a ticket by the deadline. Also, you are able to get a ticket through over-thecounter sales.

3. How much will it cost?

Usually it depends on the seat. When you go a special set-up stage, you can see a performance for a single standard fee or rarely for free. The most expensive seats are “Shomen”, which you see the stage from the front. The second are “Waki Shomen” and the cheapest are “Naka Shomen”, which you see the stage form a diagonal. Some performances have seats their cost more than 10,000 yen, but performances promoted by the national Noh theatre have lower prices.

4. Which seat should I select?

Of course, the best is a front one. But you can choose a back row seat because you can look out across the entire stage. There are a small number of seats, so you can see clearly even if you sit down in the hindmost seat. When you buy a middle-front seat, you had better select one in the rear. There is a pillar and it keeps from audience in middle-front forward from seeing everything.

5. What should I wear?

It’s all right to wear everyday clothes. Many elderly women wear kimonos.

When young women wear kimonos, the atmosphere in the hall becomes better.

But men don’t wear kimonos.

6. What should I do when I want to sleep?

It’s impossible to avoid sleeping. You should take a rest quietly, however. In fact, there are many people who sleep. As long as you don’t interrupt other people, it’s all right. However some people snore loudly, so can be very annoying.

7. What kind of Noh should I watch?

Nohs that are active, splendid, and not so long are better. For example, you should see “Tsutigumo”, “Momijigari”, or “Sesshouseki”. They are very easy to watch. There are many programs you can see, so you should select one you’re interested in.

8. What should I prepare for the performance?

You had better buy a pamphlet before the performance, and read it. It shows an outline, a good point, and a script of the performance. But it’s difficult to understand for beginners. If you feel uneasiness, you should study Noh for future performances.

9. Is the performance held only one time?

Yes. It’s rare to perform for many days and usually it is a one-time performance.

There are some cases where you can’t see a program for years if you miss it.

And There are some people who come into the theater late these days. It’s very annoying, so you mustn’t do that. You should arrive at the theater well before the performance begins. Of course you have to turn off your cell phone in the audience. It’s easy to hear any low sounds. Usually there is not enough space to put your baggage, so you had better use the locker and bring only your pamphlet. You are not allowed to eat and drink anything. There is a restaurant in the national Noh theater and you can eat meals and drink tea there.

I’d recommend some Noh theater to you.

The National Noh Theatre in Tokyo It’s very large and has many facilities, like a restaurant, booth, library, and exhibition room. http://www.ntj.jac.go.jp/nou.html

The Noh Theater of Nagoya in Aichi It’s very beautiful and there is Nagoya castle near it. It also has a splendid view. http://www.bunka758.or.jp/scd24_top.html

Granship in Shizuoka It has many events and holds some lessons about Noh. http://www.granship.or.jp/