Episode 315 – The World Cast Aside

November 22, 2019 1 Comment

This week, we trace the evolution of Noh theater over the course of the careers of its famous founders: the father-son acting duo Kan’ami and Zeami.

Sources

Varley, Paul H. “Cultural Life in Medieval Japan” in The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol 3: Medieval Japan

Fenollosa, Ernest, and Ezra Pound. The Noh Theater of Japan.

Kuritz, Paul. The Making of Theater History.

A Japan Times article on women in Noh theater.

Media

The video below gives you some sense of what a performance looks like, and what kusemai dance in particular is. The whole channel has some good stuff too.

A noh stage in Tenjin Shrine inside Miyajima Shrine on Itsukushima. The stage dates back to the mid-1500s and was constructed by the patronage of a warlord of the Mori clan.
A modern Noh stage.
The pre-performance dedication ceremony for a Noh play being performed at Kasuga Shrine in Nara.
A performance of the play Atsumori at the University of British Columbia. I believe the character on stage is Kumagai Naozane (the shite role).
Three pictures of one mask (of a young woman). This gives you an idea of how expressive the mask is when viewed from different angles.

1 thought on “Episode 315 – The World Cast Aside”

  1. Pingback: Episode 4: Yoshitsune Ballads and Tomoe Drama – Alison Fincher

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