Images

World Theatre: 1st December

Prince shotoku: 573-621

  • Adopted Chinese culture and Confucianism
  • Buddhist sects allowed to develop

Heian Period: 794-1156

  • Growth or large, landed esates
  • Chinese arts and literature flourish
  • Elaborate court life and daily routines

What is Shinto?

  • The “sprit Way”
  • Ancient, indigenous, mythical, nature religion of japan
  • More 1500 years’ old
  • No founder – an “ethnic” religion of the Japanese people

The great wave by Hokusai 

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What is Noh?

  • Developed in early 14th Century111-004-a73927c9
  • Oldest transmitted performance art in the world
  • Integrated popular song and dance from the time period
  • Influenced by Buddhism
  • Founded by zeami (zay-ahmee)

 

Noh

  • Noh combines elements of dance, drama, music and poetry into one highly aesthetic stage art.
  • An art form in which so few elements say so much. Trims off unnecessary details. The ‘Moment’ is important, not the plot.

Simplicity

  • Unlike kabuki, Noh is based on simplicity
  • No scenery and little if any props are used
  • Audience is not separated by a curtain
  • Chorus and musicians are onstage
  • Instead of pursuing realism, Noh pursues the expression of inner movement through spoken word, music and dance in an extremely simplified space.

Noh

  • Most Noh dramas are based on popular classic stories among ordinary people
  • Zeami’s stories fall under the style of “Mugen Noh” or “dreamy Noh” where the real world and the dream world cross

Structure of ‘Mugen Noh’

  • A traveller visits a place and meets a local person
  • The local person tells the traveller about a historic event and story associated wth a person at the locality
  • End of story person reveals there a ghost

Characters in Noh

  • The protagonist is called “shite” who plays a god, ghost of a samurai or women, madwomen or supernatural characters such a s a goblin or the spirt of a dragon
  • The waki is a side character and living personstagefigimage72