Hey there I'm Mike Rugnetta, this is crash course theater and today
we're exeunt in late medieval Europe and headed to late medieval Japan introducing one of the world's most distinct and
Lasting theatrical styles, Noh. What's that York? No. It's no it's called Noh.
Yes
Noh.
No, Noh is the name no, spelled n o h
The H is silent, handle it dude. Anyway, we'll be tracing Noh's origins showing how it flourished in the 14th century
And then we'll explore its staging.
We'll look at Kyogen, the farcical scenes between Noh plays which act as a nice reminder that the world isn't all
Vengeful ghosts and lamenting women
We'll also look at Atsumori, Zeami Motokiyo's
Flute playing samurai Noh drama so put on your favorite spirit mask and let's go
We don't exactly know when or how theatres arrived in Japan
But the mythical version goes like so. One time the sun goddess Amaterasu
Was teased so badly by her brothers that she hid in the heavenly rock cave and the world went dark.
Not great, so the gods tried to get her to emerge
But nothing worked until Amano-Uzumeno, the goddess of dawn mirth and revelry came up with a brilliant plan
She would sing and dance while taking off her clothes, so she does this and the gods go
crazy so crazy
that the sun goddess pokes her head out and is like what's all this fuss about
Light returns to the world and maybe also stripping gets invented. Stripping, theater, and light a natural tree, oh really.
In terms of non-mythical origins sacred dance was part of Shintoism the traditional religion of japan
particularly important was Kagura or God music a dance performed by priestesses
But in the 6th century CE, Buddhism arrived and with it Japan adopted
Additional forms of dance and ritual we know about some of these from a 712 CE. text called Records of Ancient Things
Sort of does what it says on the title.
In 782 some killjoy Nobles nix palace entertainers who were then taken in by Buddhist and Shinto
Temples at which point worship got a lot more exciting
Maybe you're noticing some similarities with the rise of liturgical drama in the West. Noh has two more
immediate predecessors Dengaku, or field music possibly originated in Korea
it was associated with spring rice sowing and fall rice harvest festivals and
included comedy juggling and dance Sarugaku, or monkey music possibly originating in China featured animal acts and
Nudity more significant for no Sarugaku also included dance theater in which the chorus would speak the lines for the main
character when the dance became too vigorous in the 12th century Buddhist temples adopted Sarugaku Noh a
cleaned-up version of the Sarugaku as a
Teaching tool even without animal acts were still a pretty long way from no proper
Though the real funny moment came with Kiyotsugu Kan'nami an acclaimed Sarugaku Noh performer .
When he shows up Japan is structured as a Shogunate meaning that while there's an emperor most of the ruling is done by the Shogun the
highest-ranking general the Shogun in the late 14th century is Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.
And he is big-time into culture he becomes a patron at two Kan'Ami and then a patron and lover of Kan'Ami
'he's son Zeami Motokiyo.
Father Kan'Amii manages to combine
Sarugaku Noh with stories borrowed from
Classical Japanese sources like The Tales of Genji and then ties the whole thing up with a Buddhist bow
Son Zeami then takes that form
Perfects it, and write some theory about it
Because I mean come on someone's got to be doing theory at your theater, right?
Zeami, also writes about a hundred of the plays
Considered Noh canon and guess what we still have 21 of them yes sources.
Noh plays are short only 10 or so pages long, but they take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours
To perform, which may seem like a nice reasonable evening at the theater
But when there are five types of Noh play and court entertainment includes one of each type
Performances could last a but numbing eight
hours each play consists of two scenes and most involve a ghost a demon or a
Tormented human who can't rest the language is a mix of verse and prose
most of it sung or chanted
Every Noh play ends with the dance the five types of noh
Play are the Kami Mono, which involved the sacred story of a Shinto shrine.
Shura Mono plays are about warriors like Atsumori
We're gonna meet him soon Katsura Mono plays or wig plays are about wigs. JK(just kidding)
They're about ladies who were played by wig wearing men because surprise surprise dudes only.
the fourth type of no play is basically a grab-bag
Though it often included Gendai Mono plays which told
naturalistic stories or the Kyojo Mono aka mad woman plays which are
Sad wig plays about a woman who loses a child or a lover and then goes insane.
the final type the Kichiku mono or demon plays feature
Supernatural beings and have the coolest
masks I mean look at this and
Also, this Noh dramas are philosophical and somewhat
static they're heavily influenced by Shinto ideas about our connection to nature and Buddhist ideas concerning the
Transitory nature of life and the destructiveness of desire there's not a lot of action and the goal is to convey a mood
Rather than to tell a story each play has at least three characters and some have four or five
The three essential types of characters are first the Shite, or main character
This is the only character to wear a mask second the Tsure the Shite's
companion and third the Waki or witness or
antagonist sometimes the Shite is disguised in the first scene and
Reveals himself in the second scene sometimes as in Atsumori the Shite plays two different characters
Between subsequent Noh plays and sometimes between the scenes of one play
Comedy scenes called Kyogen were staged these were probably a nice change of pace because Noh plays
Aren't um?
Funny? There are two kinds of Kyogen, parodies of know which are like satyr plays and
scenes of everyday life based around stock characters, which resemble Roman comedies
But in both cases. There is one big difference Kyogen are never vulgar
They are short usually music less
And though the language is more casual than in Noh they are still very
Carefully performed the Noh stage is pretty rad the main part the Hon-Butai is
Roofed like a shrine and held up by four pillars
Jars are embedded under the stage to help with acoustics and a pine tree is painted on the back wall
Okay, no not enough. No enough time for a pine tree stage right stands a bridge called the Hashigakari also roofed
This is dotted with three pines representing heaven earth and man
This is where the main characters enter and exit
Noh theater doesn't have scenery
But actors wear beautiful costumes of embroidered silk and carry hand props
The fan is the most important object as it can symbolize rain
Wind the Sun the moon and a lot of other things a three or four person Orchestra called the Hayashi sits at the back of
the stage dressed in samurai costumes
traditionally the orchestra a flute and two or three drums
Follows actors rhythms and movements in addition to the main cast a six to ten person chorus sings
Narrates and takes over the lines of the Shite when he's busy dancing like the Sanskrit theater
Noh acting is highly gestural and
codified no actors train from the age of seven there are no directors and nothing that we would recognize as
Rehearsal rigorous training means the actors performances must be perfect every time
Only the Shite are masked in most plays and that mask has one of five types. Agent,
Male, Female, God or Monster. Zeami who wrote more than 20 booklets
Explaining the philosophy and style of Noh said this about acting
just as the transparent crystal produces fire and water or a
colorless cherry tree bears blossoms and fruit a
Superb artist creates a moving work of art out of a landscape
Within his soul according to Zeami actors did this using three techniques Monomane, meant
identifying with and embodying the character. Yugen meant lending that embodiment elegance while emphasizing the
impermanence of life and Hana or flower meant and dowing the performance with spontaneity
so that even within those highly systematic
Style a play would feel a little different every time. Noh were primarily court entertainments performed for aristocratic audiences
But unlike other cultures the Japanese mostly
Revered actors during the height of Noh many performers were even able to join the noble cast the samurai
Speaking of samurai let's turn to our a tragic tale Zeami's Atsumori.
A story adapted from the popular tales of the Heike a Noh thought bubble, No Problem.
The play begins as the Waki or witness dressed as a priest enters via the bridge saying
Awake to awareness the world's but a dream one may cast it aside is this what is real
Just in case the Buddhist influence wasn't totally clear the witness says his name used to be Kumagai
But now it's Rensho. He became a monk because he feels guilt over killing a young warrior Atsumori.
Rensho explains he'll take a trip and pray for his soul he crosses the stage and his journey is complete
arriving at his destination
He sees the Shite a flute playing grass cutter. Rensho marvels that a low-class person can play
So well the grass cutter encourages him to be more woke
and they talk about flutes it turns out the grass cutter is a
Relative of Atsumoti so he and the priests pray together and now a pigeon interlude
Where in the Waki asks a pesent to tell the story of Atsumori's death?
Turns out Atsumori was ready to escape a battle when he realized he left his precious flute returning for it
He missed the last boat out
He met enemy warrior Kumagae a who admired Atsumori's bravery and elegance, but killed him anyway
And then the Waki is like that's me
I'm Kumagai in the second scene the Waki prays before bed. The Shite masked as Atsumori's ghost enters and
Dances the chorus describes Atsumori's death
And there's a moment where it seems like he'll take revenge on Rensho
But instead he kneels and asks Rensho to pray for his soul in the hopes
They'll both be reborn on a single lotus petal which is the Zen version of a happy ending?
Thank you, thought bubble so the moral of the story is that attachment is bad
Even if it's two flutes and also don't underestimate grass cutters
we can see by its philosophical orientation slow pacing and
Melancholy tone that Noh has a different feel than other types of theater
We've encountered so far, but there's an even more important difference unlike so much of the ancient theatre
We've been learning about Noh is a living art form it is still performed today by troops. Who've inherited traditions passed down since
Zeami's time
While it struggled in the late 19th and early 20th centuries now. It's considered an essential part of Japanese culture well
It's time for me to take the hurry door next time. We'll be heading to Italy where theatres briefly gets neoclassical and then
Gets rude until then
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