Each of the last seven or eight years has begun
for me by attending a one-man performance of rakugo by KATSURA Beicho (whose 60th
and final solo performance was given in 2002, ending a tradition that dates back
to 1971) at Sankei Hall in Osaka on January 2, followed by special Noh performances
at the Otsuki Nohgakudo Theater (also in Osaka) on January 3. As I also end the
year by going to an all-star performance at the Minamiza in Kyoto, this time of
year is filled with theater going and appreciation of the traditional performing
arts. My specialty being Noh research, one might consider this activity to be
quite ordinary. Nevertheless, it is only by virtue of living in the Kansai region
that I am able to have such exposure to high-quality traditional performing arts,
including Noh, kyogen, kabuki, and rakugo, at this and other times of the year.
While we usually take for granted the existence of these traditional arts, on
reflection it is really quite rare for a single genre to have both new and old
forms coexisting, each being performed by specialists. It seems this phenomenon
can be seen only in Japan. In dramatic theater, for example, while you can see
NINAGAWA Yukio and NODA Hideki performing contemporary plays on stage, there are
also traditional forms such as nogaku (Noh and kyogen), which originated
in the 14th century; kabuki and ningyo joruri (puppet drama), which came
of age in the 17th century; and the shinpa and shingeki forms of
drama that emerged in the 20th century. If this had been Europe, the rise of kabuki
and puppet drama would have supplanted nogaku, and shingeki would
have caused the downfall of kabuki and puppet drama. But such is not the case.
This also holds true for music and dance in their myriad forms. And it is not
only the genres that coexist. There are also Noh actors, kabuki actors, and contemporary
drama actors, each performing solely in their own speciality. In the Western world,
contemporary stage actors will also perform classical theater. Have you ever heard
of an actor who performs only Shakespeare?
In light of this, the traditional Japanese performing arts that we so take for
granted occupy quite a unique place among the arts in world history. I don't know
how these arts became so stratified or why they are able to coexist so well, but
the reason that the classical arts can still remain alive and vibrant even when
new forms emerge is because they have something that the new performing arts lack.
That something can never be replaced. In fact, whenever I watch kabuki or a contemporary
drama, I realize there are certain things that can only be expressed in Noh, and
other things, in contrast, that Noh drama simply cannot express. Yet within the
traditional Japanese performing arts are contained many lessons from which modern
people have much to learn.
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