The Noh Theater and its Gestures

1. The Noh Theaterand its Gestures Guerino Mazzola guerino@mazzola.ch U & ETH Zürich Internet Institute for Music Science

2. Kunio Komparu The Noh Theater—Principles and Perspectives Weatherhill/Tankosha, Tokyo & New York 1983 http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~rlneblet/noh http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/noh/index.html http://www.iijnet.or.jp/NOH-KYOGEN/english/english.html

3. Muromachi period 1336-1568 • Nohgaku = Noh + Kyogen = accomplished entertainment • Vocal music = utai • Instrumental music = hayashi (1 flute + 3 drums) • Acting technique = kata (dance poses + action) • Dance elements = mai (dance + utai + hayashi) • Fine arts, crafts = masks, robes, instruments • Architecture = Noh stage • Time = mode of production • Space = unified space (= stage + public)

4. Art of time-space continuum, perfection —> stylization/formalization • Comparable to avant-garde music including improvisation and chance • Utai-bon (= chant book) contains script, score, rules for performance => conductor superfluous • Architectural space concept is - modular - universal/multi-purpose • Negative space = ma = stillness/emptyness before and after performance • Positive space = stage properties and dramatic activities • These spaces are connected by time, no curtain!

5. Types of time and space: • Condensed time • Slippage of time • Vanishing time • Reversed time • Split time • Shift of space • Oscillating space • Floating space • Expanding and contracting space • Space that brings the audience „onstage“

6. Noh = experience, responsibility, not appreciation! Like tea ceremony, unique in lifetime, not reproducible! There are no Noh stars... „Never forget the beginner‘s mind!“ A Noh program lasts whole day 5 Noh plays + Kyogen are performed

7. There are five Noh principles: Sancticity & magic Stages of beauty Actor and audience Aesthetic of discord Five element theory

8. 1. Sancticity & magic Sancticity of space: Space of „sacred dialog with the gods“ Magic in technique (from mimes): Acrobatics, mystical forces will power, autosuggestion: Merging self and other mask + mirror „...the mind‘s eye is opened and the soul grasped; the true Noh, hithertoo invisible, comes alive...“

9. 2. Three stages of beauty • Hana = appearant beauty: blossom/flower • Yugen = invisible beauty: performed sublimity • Rojaku(old quiet) = quiet beauty

10. 3. Actor and audience • Self and other, active fusion

11. 1.Curtain 2.Third Pine 3.Bridge 4.Second Pine 5.First Pine 6.Shite pillar 7.Eye-fixing pillar 8.Flute pillar 9.Waki pillar 10.Cut-through door 11.Back panel 12.Main Stage 13.Moat Steps 14.Pebble Moat 15.Side Stage 16.Rear Stage 17.Mirror Room

13. 4. Aesthetic of discord • Odd number important in Japan; against symmetry • Center of shape ≠ center of space: Dynamic balance Jo-Ha-Kyu = most important aesthetic principle: Jo = „beginning“ position = spatial element Ha = „break/ruin“ = destruction, disorder Kyu = „rapid“ speed, time element Production principle for Noh program: Everything is dominated by Jo-Ha-Kyu.

14. 5. Five element theory(odd number!) Elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, water ~ 5 breaths, 5 tones, 5 organs, etc. Five Noh play categories:god, warrior, woman, madness, demon Have two time categories: present time dream time => 10 categories in plays: two time categories x five play categories

15. Masks: woman demon mad god warrior Clothes & Craft:

16. demon god woman warrior

17. Every Noh play is one cross section of the life of one person, the shite. The shite has an appearance (demon, etc.)and subject = one of the five elements The waki is a kind of co-sub-ject and mirrorperson to the shite.

18. Instruments of hayashi

19. Utai‘s fushi units

20. kata: movement patterns

21. Why are gestures dominant in Noh? • Have three languages of human expression: • Vocal • Facial • Gestural • Facial is impossible because of masks • Vocal is ambiguous in Japanese, bad for expression of will, reserved to lyrical evocation • Noh is dance drama, no opera or ballet • All characters are choreographed • All movements consist of units of movement = kata (patterns) • chant unit = phrase (12-syllabe line) music unit = melodic + rhythmic units space unit = za (hierarchy of places!) Everything is modular!

22. Noh gestures are reduced to unit patterns (kata) and made symbolic. • This enables much richer communicationto audience than by eveyday gestures. • Very important for us: • „Shite waves a web of fantasy in curves.“ • „Waki draws reality in straight lines.“

23. Classification of katas • Three types: • Realistic, e.g., hold a book in your hand, jump into bell • Symbolic, e.g., weep = hand to face and back • Abstract, e.g., zig-zag = beginning of end of many dances, or extended fan • Three categories: • Pure dance • Descriptive • Dramatic

24. Have the gliding walk, transports characters horizontally through space —> white socks! One could understand Noh by observing feet! Interesting performanceonly in upperhalf of body!

25. katachi = more than kata: chi = deity, i.e., katachi = form/shape = exterior form of kata + characteristic usage (mask, clothes, character) Dance = „text“ built from kata-units by enchaînment plus syntactical rules mai = performed kata „text“ plus music Classification of mai according to elements (music, dance etc.) Noh = enchaînment of 100 types of shodan segments basically 4 types: spoken/chant/instrumental/silence