At the same time as the emergence of the samurai civilisation in Japan, a warrior class proud to be descended from families of heroes, with names like Heike, Genji or Ise, Europe was witnessing the decline of the age of the Knights.
Just as Europeans exalted their knights in the Middle Ages, the Japanese did the same with their samurai. The samurai code of honour imposed virtues of heroism, generosity, loyalty to the death of the feudal lord, protection of the weak and contempt for cowardice, avarice and betrayal – concepts derived from the doctrines of Zen Buddhism.
In 1374, the shogun Yoshimitsu attended a performance by Kwanami and his son Zeami (only 11 years old), both sarugaku actors. Yoshimitsu enjoyed the show so much that he made the two actors join his court. Under the protection of the shogun, Zeami studied the techniques of various arts – including dengaku and kuse-mai – and dedicated himself to perfecting them, creating his own style for around 34 years, becoming a consummate actor, playwright and director, dedicating himself to writing texts and music for around 100 Noh plays that he himself would star in.
After Yoshimitsu’s death and the loss of a son, Zeami retired from the court and began writing about Noh, which literally means “talent”. He was responsible for writing three important treatises on Noh theatre, for which he is known as the Aristotle of Japanese theatre. However, these documents were only written to be passed on to his family, a secret legacy of art, and did not become public in his time.
The rise of Noh plays heralded the golden age of Japanese theatre. There are considered to be 5 categories of plays presented in the programme of a Noh show: 1- deals with the gods; 2- deals with battles, (usually about some heroic samurai); 3- known as the group of “wig plays” or “women’s plays” (the main actor wears a wig and plays a woman); 4- shows the fate of a woman with a broken heart, or who has lost a child or her lover, which makes her dramatically stronger; 5- tells a legend, closing the programme.
There are four categories of actors in Noh theatre: the shite (main actor), the waki (secondary actor), the hayashi (musician) and the kyoguen actor.
The shite is the only actor who wears a mask and plays various roles. They can be heroes, bearded old men, women: a young bride or a tormented old woman. Because he is the main actor, he is always in the centre of the stage. The waki actor supports the shite and doesn’t wear a mask. They can play a priest, a monk or a samurai, but they are always real characters.
The Noh orchestra (hayashi) is made up of four musical instruments: a small drum (kotsuzumi), with a low sound, which contrasts with the large drum (otsuzumi or okawa), with a high-pitched, almost metallic sound, a bamboo flute (nôkan) and a drum with sticks (taiko). And the choir (jiutai) is usually made up of 8 men who sing, all wearing dark clothes and sitting on the floor at the beginning of the play.
Noh theatre masks were created during the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1573 to 1603) and there are reportedly 60 different types. They are seen as the literal expression of a higher truth and give the actor a higher form of life. The masks are sculpted in such a way that the real and the fantastic are ingeniously combined to produce a subtle beauty, they are considered to be high quality works of art and symbolise their character in the purest form. Depending on the actor’s movement and the angle, the mask can express different features on stage.
The traditional Noh stage is a square cedar platform about 5.5 metres wide with three open sides. There are four wooden pillars, called metsuke-bashira, which are a significant visual reference for the actor to position himself on stage. The backdrop is always the same, called the Kagami-Ita, or mirror board, where a large pine tree is painted as a symbol of eternal life.
The art of Noh requires extreme concentration. For several hours, the actor embodies the character so that his gestures and movements don’t contradict his mask. Because of their creative power and proximity to the basic traits of Japanese culture and character, Noh plays have endured intact since the 14th century.
