What is it?

stage

In the 14th century the SARUGAKU performers Kiyotsugu Kan'ami (1333- 1394) and his son Zeami Motokiyo (1363-1443) created a new type of theater, which incorporated elements from both SARUGAKU and DENGAKU and was imbued with a serious Buddhist tone.

ACTOR
There are two types of actors-the principal actor is called the SHITE (usually masked) and the secondary character, the WAKI.

COSTUME
Multiple layers of stiff brocades, serve both to create a sense of elegance and to make the actors appear larger than life.
kochou
MASK
The actors' faces are either masked or completely expressionless, so that the characters seem like dream figures moving imperceptibly through a world beyond reality.
MOVEMENT
NOH actor moves in such a way to suggest the insubstantiality of his appearance. The transit of the actor to and across the stage is extremely slow as in order to give only the faintest hint of movement.

PLAYS
Parts of the script are prose (KOTOBA) but most are poetry (UTAI). The prose is 14th century upper class Japanese; inflected in such a way as to be comprehensible only to the scholar.

STAGE
(Click here and you can find details of the Noh stage.)
TAKIGI-NOH
NOH performed outside by the light of a bonfire.


KYOGEN
Independent humorous pieces that are traditionally performed between two separate NOH plays as comic relief.
TAKIGI-NOH
TAKIGI-NOH


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