Noh - Mystery, Myth and Movement

2023年01月09日

能とは？室町時代に成立した「能」は、600年以上の歴史の中で独自のスタイルを確立した日本を代表する古典芸能であり、同時に世界の現代演劇の一つでもあります。その特徴は、能専用の舞台で、面や美しい装束を使って演じられる歌と踊りのドラマに集約されます。　能は日本の文化に深く根ざしています。私の祖母の時代には、感情を過剰に表現することは許されませんでした。ちょっとした表情や動きから、心のひだ（複雑な感情）を感じ取ることができたのです。能は "幽玄の世界 "を表現しているのです。(English) What is Noh? Established in the Muromachi period (14th century), Noh is a representative classical Japanese performing art that has refined its unique style over a history of more than 600 years and, at the same time, is one of the world's contemporary theatre forms. Its characteristics can be summarised as a song-and-dance drama performed on a dedicated Noh stage, using masks and beautiful costumes. Noh is deeply rooted in Japanese culture. In my grandmother's time, it was not allowed to over-express or show emotion. We could feel the heart's folds(the emotional complexities) from the slightest expression or movement. Noh expresses the world of "the subtle and profound."

Noh: Mystery, Myth & Movement

Noh is a masked music and dance drama with a beauty that transcends time. Flowers, birds, and animals that constantly change through the four seasons are evoked through the unique chanting style of Noh. It not only shows the movement of Nature but expresses deep and powerful human emotion. At times, the space of the Noh stage can be filled with dazzling color and spectacle, and at times, the drama is expressed through the most severe minimalism. Noh is a bridge between worlds of life and death that allows the audience's imagination to take off, showing the ghosts of famous people, fearsome vengeful spirits, and the purity of the Shinto gods of Japan.

The Noh play "Tatsuta" is on the theme of a Shinto shrine to the goddess of the red autumn leaves. We will explore how this play evokes the feeling of the autumn landscape through extensive footage of the actual performance of this play. Also, the program will further look at the world of Noh by seeing how its aesthetics have inspired the traditional fabrics and brocades of the craftspeople of Kyoto.

NOH - Mystery, Myth, and Movement

I'm Katayama Kurouemon, a Noh actor living in Kyoto, Japan.

The spirituality of Noh concerns not only humans but also mountains, rivers, plants, and animals, all of Nature existing in harmony.

This was a genuine belief among people long ago.

The Japanese, in particular, felt it in their hearts and minds.

NOH, A transcendent stage art.

Gods, spirits, and things unseen in our world appear.

How does Noh pass beyond space and time?

"Through dialogue"

The shite enters along the Bridgeway on the left, leading from the other world to this world.

To the right is the Waki, a person of this world.

Autumn's fallen leaves create a beautiful expanse of brocade as they float down the Tatsuta River.

If someone crosses the river, the brocade weave will be torn.

The fallen leaves float on the surface of the water.

A dialogue with the enigmatic central character.

A story beyond space and time unfolds.

"The story"

Noh is said to have developed in the late 14th century.

Various shogun loved it despite times of war.

Westerners even saw it in these early times.

Tatsuta is a noh featuring beautiful autumn leaves.

Tatsuta river is in Nara in central Japan.

Many classical poems featured its famed autumn foliage.

A shrine maiden suddenly stops a Buddhist priest about to cross a river bridge.

The play depicts the goddess Tatsutahime and expresses the exquisite elegance of the divine world in which the goddess resides.

To perform Noh, you should sense something noble, precious, and spiritual at its core.

It would be best if you also believed that could be communicated so that art can exist.

How strange! Just as I am about to cross this river and pray at the shrine of the Tatsuta goddess, why do you admonish me and tell me not to travel?

If you wish to pray to the goddess, you must have the purity of heart of the goddess.

If you cross disrespectfully, the bond between the goddess and humans will be broken.

Only cross after reflecting carefully on what you do.

10)

The maiden withdraws into the nearby shrine.

The shrine houses the goddess who governs the seasons.

Suddenly the shrine begins to shake.

The maiden reappears as the goddess.

The climactic scene is expressed dynamically on the noh stage.

11)

"The music of Noh"

Noh is musical theatre.

Instrumentalists play a complex rhythm to which the goddess enters.

The sanctuary trembles with a ringing sound.

12)

Here, the chorus narrates the story.

It sings in dramatic unison.

The moon at dawn, like brilliant torchlight.

13)

The feelings of an individual character are expressed in choral unison.

The shrine maiden and the goddess appear on stage, but the musicians and the chorus can express the hidden layers of each character.

This is how noh characters are created.

14)

Thus the goddess appears anew.

Blood-red and scarlet represent deep emotions.

The color of life, the color of the sun.

Colors inseparable from a sense of vitality increasingly emerge.

A world of changing colors is expressed.

15)

"Artisans and their craft"

Noh involves artisans.

Many of them live here in Kyoto.

Traditional Japanese techniques are vital for Noh, such as the silk brocade costumes made by Nishijin weavers.

Noh costumes were based on fabrics that came from China, but unique weaving techniques were developed in Japan to create textured silk weaves of various types.

Noh movements adapted to such woven fabrics.

Various patterns, gold leaf stencils.

The unlimited costume adaptations create a variety of three-dimensional forms.

16)

And there is wood carving.

Ancient Buddhist sculpting and armor skills helped develop the Noh mask-making art.

Japan's finest craft tools are required to meet the needs of Noh today.

That is an essential characteristic of Noh.

17)

"Dance for the gods."

Kagura is a dance to soothe a god.

If we amuse a god, the god will work for us.

If we put our hands together, pray, and perform kagura, we please god.

We believe a god responds when we offer dance to it, and then it comes down and accepts us.

A god accepts our feelings this way, and the god itself dances.

Kagura is such a dance.

18)

Each noh movement by itself does not have meaning.

Yet each simple movement is imbued with the form of our hearts.

Our hearts and our feelings are communicated.

We learn this from childhood.

Dance is like dialogue without words.

I feel it is a language to communicate without words.

19)

I invite you to experience Noh however you wish.

But know that in Japan, in this world, this art exists, and I hope you have the chance to experience it.

Noh - Mystery, Myth and Movement

Noh: Mystery, Myth & Movement

NOH - Mystery, Myth, and Movement

"Through dialogue"

"The story"

"The music of Noh"

"Artisans and their craft"

"Dance for the gods."

Noh - Mystery, Myth, and Movement

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