Akademik

(Noh theater)

   The oldest form of drama performed in Japan, Nō developed in the later 14th and early 15th century from an earlier form of drama known as sarugaku. It was developed to a large extent from innovations made by the famous playwright Kan’ami (1333–84) and his even more influential son, the playwright and theorist ZEAMI (ca. 1363–ca. 1443), whose plays gained the recognition and support of the Ashikaga shōguns. One of the changes Zeami made was to choose protagonists not from popular tradition, as earlier sarugaku plays had done, but rather from HEIAN culture or from classical Japanese literature, particularly the TALE OF THE HEIKE. Zeami also led Nō theater away from realism and emphasized subtle internal conflict in his characters.

   Nō plays are traditionally performed by an allmale cast. There are four conventional roles in the drama: the lead role (shite), the chief supporting role (waki) (opposite to, but not necessarily the opponent of, the lead role—he provides the impetus for the inner drama of the shite), the lead role’s companion and the secondary character’s companion. The plays are divided among five types, based on the role of the protagonist. The first category, Wakinō, comprises plays about gods. The second, Nibanmemono, is made up of warrior plays. The third category, Sambanmemono, consists of plays about women. The fourth, Yobanmemono, is a category in which the shite is a mad person, or a person from “modern” times—essentially the category includes the plays that are not part of any other group. The fifth group, Gobanmemono, are plays about demons or other supernatural characters.

   Most of the actors wear masks, except for children and actors portraying living male characters. The secondary character and his companion, who are always living male characters, never wear masks. But the chief characters, often ghosts or women, are typically masked. The language of the plays varies from verse to prose, and involves varied degrees of chanting, from something close to ordinary speech using prose to something approaching singing. It is impossible to know precisely about the style of acting during the 14th century, but traditional Nō acting today is highly stylized and all movement is slow and choreographed— all body movements are classified as shimari, or “performance dance.” There are traditional subtle clues in the Nō actor’s movement, particularly in the walk, that indicate the character’s gender, age, and social position. Nō plays also conventionally contain a chorus (the jiutai), consisting of from six to 10 members. Unlike the chorus of a Greek tragedy, the Nō chorus does not assume a specific role in the play. They remain motionless throughout the play, sitting on the right of the stage and chanting in unison, sometimes acting as a narrator and sometimes repeating the characters’ lines, particularly the lines of the shite when he is dancing. Four musicians sometimes accompany the chanting with a flute and three drums (one a hip drum, one a stick drum, and one a shoulder drum). The characters at times perform dances as well, often to indicate heightened emotion, and these dances are also accompanied by the musicians, and sometimes also by the chanting of the chorus. The stage for Nō plays is a 19-foot square with a bridgeway (from the dressing room to the left side of the stage) that can sometimes serve as a second performing area. The stage contains no scenery, so that the dialogue itself must indicate the play’s setting. Props are also rare, with an occasional prop taking on symbolic meanings during the play. Costumes, however, are beautiful and elaborate, often to the point of obscuring the body and face of the performer, so that even with those not wearing masks, the audience must focus on the subtle and graceful movements of the actor rather than on facial expressions. Most of the 250 or so Nō plays still being performed are ghost dramas, a type of play made popular by Zeami in the 14th century. In such plays, a wandering monk meets a ghost who has taken the form of a local peasant or other figure in the first act. In the second act the monk dreams of the ghost in its true form, who in the dream reenacts its death or whatever incident in its earthly life has prevented it from resting in peace. In many plays the monk’s prayers bring about the pacification of the restless spirit.

   Subtlety, suggestion, simplicity, and internal conflict characterize Japanese Nō theater.Westerners experiencing the plays for the first time are likely to be confused and put off by the lack of “action.” But like most drama, a Nō play is a sensual experience involving sound, color, and movement, and so cannot be defined simply by the words on a page: It must be experienced.

   Bibliography

   ■ Japanese Nō Dramas. Edited and translated by Royall Tyler. London: Penguin, 1992.

   ■ Miner, Earl, Hiroko Odagiri, and Robert E.Morrell. The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1985.

   ■ Rimer, J. Thomas, and Yamazaki Masakazu, trans. On the Art of Nō Drama: The Major Treatises of Zeami. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1984.

   ■ Sekine, Masaru. Zeami and His Theories of Noh Drama. Gerrards Cross, U.K.: C. Smythe, 1985.

   ■ Terasaki, Etsuko. Figures of Desire: Wordplay, Spirit Possession, Fantasy, Madness, and Mourning in Japanese Noh Plays. Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 2002.