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| Author's miniature Noh masks: (from left) Fushikizoh and Hannya. |
Noh is a musical dance drama with the actors wearing small masks that cover the face (not the head). They are what Noh is all about. I have two miniature Noh masks - see photo to the left.
As you can see from my two masks, traditionally, actors that wear a mask play the part of a female or of a non-human character - although there are now masks to represent an old man or a youngster. I suppose that's just Noh getting with the times.
Of course, many actors do not wear a mask, but like the Noh mask wearers, they do not change their level of expression, treating their face as though they are wearing a mask.
Around the 14th century, Noh became the IT girl - becoming popular, that is. Wearing nohmen (masks... hey nohmen... 'no men', get it? No? Great!), the actors would dance to songs called yohkyoku.
Of course, as Noh progressed, the number of specialized Noh masks also increased, where there are some 220 different masks 'allowed' - click HERE for a wonderful site with photos of each.
Men - as with pretty much all early forms of Japanese theatre, play the roles of men, demon and female. Women - this wasn't their domain.
Now you might think that wearing a expressionless mask (or one with a single expression) for the entire play, might be a dry experience - but the actors learn with a tilt of the head how to convey different expressions. Try this yourself with a camera, and shoot three or more photos of a friend's face, with them having the same expression. Have them tilt the head down, and slowly move it up - see your results and note the different levels of expression.
Okay, it's subtle, but this is Japanese theatre... and certainly back in the 14th century, it must have been something to see - especially if you were in the good seats up close.
Traditionally, the Noh stage is bare with large paintings of a pine tree on the back wall and a bamboo tree on the right. There is always an open passage (hashigakari) that leads diagonally from the main stage to a curtained doorway on the left - which leads to the staging area (the green room) called the kagami no ma, where costuming is done - which in Noh means the application of a Noh mask.
Four Noh hayoshi-katai (musicians) sit at the rear wall of the stage - without mask or costume. In case you are wondering, these musicians play a large bass drum, a large and small hand drum and a flute.
On the right hand side of the stage, the eight person chorus singers (jiutai) sit.
I don't know if any of you have ever seen an Iron Chef television show. But these Japanese Iron Chefs, well... in order to become a chef in Japan, you apprentice for maybe 20 years. That means something like 10 years of learning how to hold a knife before you are ever allowed to cut anything with it. The same holds true in Noh. There are schools for Noh, no kidding, where you can learn to either be a shite (leading role actor) or a waki (secondary role actor).
Actors from one school never switch roles. If you are trained as a secondary actor, you can never be a primary actor. It's just not done. I find that strictness of rule to be rather bizarre, but that's Japan. And that's Japan's Noh.
From what I've read, most Noh plays have a similar theme, in that Buddhism plays a major part. There are about 2000 Noh scripts handed down from the beginning of this form of theatre, with about 250 of them still being performed nowadays.
Noh plays were an all day event, traditionally offering five plays and some shorter comedic kyohgen skits tossed in between - perhaps to wake up the audience.
Nowadays, a typical Noh performance includes two Noh plays with a Kyohgen play in the middle. From what I've discerned, some people are trying to create new Noh plays - but if I know my Japanese folk - and I do - I'm betting they aren't as well received as the 250 or so classics.
What I think is interesting is that the Japanese have a well-documented respect for tradition - and more power to them! However, just because something is old and traditional doesn't necessarily mean its good (or good by today's standards). I can easily think of the US equivalent of the Little Black Sambo character that was quite popular in America well into the 1940s, or the Parker Brother's boardgame 10 Little Niggers... I've been looking for a copy of that one for years! I have a set of 1940s Little Black Sambo Viewmaster reels.
Anyhow... there's probably a reason why only 250 of 2000 Noh plays are being performed... the rest are more than likely inferior or do not translate well to today's audience. Despite that, the Japanese do tend to balk at the introduction of new things to tradition. To those who are trying to create new Noh plays: Ganbatte kudasai ('Please do your best' - or 'Good luck' or 'keep up the good work')!
Somewhere in a shite mask,
Andrew Joseph
Today's blog title is by The Beatles: FAB - the song kicks in at the 2:00 mark.
PS: Info about my two masks:
The female mask in white make-up is named Fushikizoh and is used in the Noh plays: Matsukazo, Hajitomiu, Hanagatami, and Yoshinotennin.
The Ghost spirit (Onryo-kei) mask is named Hannya and of a female character whose jealousy and anger has turned her into a demon. It is used in the plays: Aoinoue, Dojyoji, and Kurozuka.
PPS: By the way, the Japanese word 'shite' for leading actor... it's pronounced 'she-tey'. If you are a Brit or Canadian like me who likes using British slang, you can pronounce it anyway you like.
PPPS: By the way... should you be so desired, I forgot to post a song for January 2, 2011's blog title. It's a great song! LISTEN.
