Noh 能 Photos by Kari Gröhn karigrohncom mayagrohncom

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Noh theatre is a musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Its origin goes back to Central Asian dance and mime.

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In Noh plays lead characters are masked and men play male and female roles by chanting and singing accompanied by a chorus and an orchestra of flute and drums.

In Japan Noh theatre was the major form of entertainment of court nobility since the Muromachi Period. The repertoire is normally limited to a specific set of historical plays.

The term Noh itself is a Buddhist term which refers to the mental bond between the performers and the audience.

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Divinities and spirits appear in various forms in plays which reflect rituals for summoning up lost souls or restless ghosts from the supernatural other worlds to earth to re-tell their stories. Redemption, passion, recollection, and longing are the major themes.

Jin Noh (Sacred Noh) is performed in the context of religious ceremonies.

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Noh stage is very simple. The sole decoration is a pine tree painted on the wooden back panel. The pine tree manifests the gods themselves. Along a passage between the stage and backstage three pine trees are planted.

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Noh acts are often interspersed with shorter Kyogen pieces. However, Kyogens content is not at all similar to the formal, symbolic, and solemn Noh theater. Kyogen (mad words) is a comical form, and its primary goal is to make its audience laugh.

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Music has an important role in Noh. The music is eerie, and the movements unworldly. It is composed of rhythms of the drums, reedy bursts from the flute, shouts of the musicians, and sharp pops of the hand drums.

The instruments consist of a flute (noh-kan), an hourglass-shaped hand drum held on the shoulder (ko-tsuzumi), a slightly larger hourglass-shaped hand drum placed on the hip (o-tsuzumi), and a barrel-shaped drum played with sticks (taiko) placed on a small floor stand.

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A very high-pitched sound of noh-kan reflects ethereal powers. It calls back the spirits of the dead and guides gods down to the visible human world.

The drummers also produce various unique shouts. The quality, strength and intensity of shouts are very decisive in Noh. Actually the shouts are more important for the rhythmic texture than the hitting of drums.

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Noh Theatre, Classical Japanese Musical Drama 能楽

Miyajima, Itsukushima Jinja 宮島厳島神社

Kyoto京都, Kamo Mitoshiro Noh 賀茂御戸代能, Kamigamo Jinja 上賀茂神社

Jin Noh 神能, Gokonomiya Jinja 御香宮神社

Sado Noh 佐渡能, Kanai Nohgakudoh, 金井能楽堂, Hamochi 羽茂,

Kusakari Jinja 草刈神社, Takigi Noh 薪能

Hiraizumi 平泉, Hakusan Jinja

Ise Jingu