AMANO Fumio
Professor, Division of Studies on Cultural Expressions,
Graduate School of Letters, Osaka University
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Kagyu (Katatsumuri)
(C)Shigeyama Kyogenkai |
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So what aspects can we then
point to in order to explain the appeal of Noh and kyogen,
in particular Noh?
A question like this is sure to produce a variety of different
answers. For example, the sophistication of the masks
and costumes as works of art, the profundity of the dances
and gestures, the exquisiteness of the music, or the refinement
of the stories. These are the sorts of things one often
hears spoken of as attractions of the Noh theater, and
it is certainly not incorrect to speak of them in this
way. Nevertheless, when it comes to the appeal exerted
by the true essence of Noh, I think we can say that all
of the above points are only elements that are incidental
to that true essence. In this sense they seem somewhat
inadequate as explanations of the appeal of the Noh theater.
In addition, these replies imply an appreciation of Noh
mainly as visual art, as dance and music, or as story,
and it goes without saying that Noh is a form of theater
in which all of these elements are combined. Consequently,
when we consider the appeal exerted by the true essence
of Noh, it is necessary to start from the appeal of Noh
as theater. I think if we examine what the attraction
of Noh is from this viewpoint we are forced, ultimately,
to explore Noh as verse drama.
For example, there is a Noh play called Izutsu
(The Well Curb), which was written in the early fifteenth
century by Zeami. It is set in ancient Japan, at an old
temple in autumn. The ghost of a woman who was once the
wife of the poet ARIWARA no Narihira appears and, through
her story and dance, a feeling of nostalgia for the past
is evoked. This feeling of nostalgia is not simply the
longings of the woman, but rather a universal concept
of nostalgia. Then there is the play Yuya, which
is somewhat later than Izutsu and is thought to
have been written by KONPARU Zenchiku. In this play the
conflict between TAIRA no Munemori and the lovely Yuya,
his favorite, creates an opposition between Munemori's
idealized concept of "the sadness of the impermanence
of the cherry blossoms" and Yuya's reality of her
love for her mother, who is dying. In this way, both in
theme and manner of expression, these plays draw a clear
distinction between reality and raw human emotion. I think
this is the true essence of verse drama.
Of course not all Noh plays—there are some 250 regularly
performed on the stage at present—are verse dramas
on the same level as Izutsu and Yuya, but
it is safe to say that the point about drawing a clear
distinction between reality and raw emotion applies to
just about all of them. It is therefore probably permissible
to use the term "verse drama" to refer to the
most "Noh-like" aspect of Noh theater. In any
case, let us now move on to the question of who created
this highly cultured form of theater and who its audience
has been historically.
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