History of Noh
History of Noh
The roots of the performing arts lie in prayer.
Noh, too, originated in prayer.
The performing art of sangaku was first introduced to Japan from China around 710, when Nara became the capital of Japan and the center of Japanese culture. Sangaku was a kind of street entertainment that included acrobatics, stunts, magic, and other attractions. Also, various performances that began as religious rites were passed down in Japan as ennen (entertainments that accompanied the banquets which followed certain religious events), furyu (pageants), roei (sung poems), and shirabyoshi (narratives presented in the form of dancing to an accompanying drum). However, all these native arts involved only short performances. Noh first took shape when Kan’ami (1333–1384) integrated aspects of these art forms into a fully developed theatrical art.
Zeami (1363-1443), Kan’ami’s son and successor, composed numerous plays and wrote down notes on the art of performance. He created the unique dramatic structure of “dream noh” (mugen noh), which has been transmitted down to the present day, and effectively created the now world-renowned Japanese stage art of noh.
The distinctive world view
created by Kan’ami and Zeami
In 1374, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358–1408), the third Muromachi shogun, attended a performance of sarugaku noh by Kan’ami and Zeami, and was deeply impressed. From that time onward, noh was favored and placed under the generous protection of the shogunate. The shogun, the court nobility, and the warrior elite all enjoyed noh. As a result, the content of the plays expanded, adapting themes taken from classical tales and poetry. New plays were also created, and abundant innovations were incorporated into the performances.
As the power of the Ashikaga shoguns weakened, and civil strife ravaged the capital of Kyoto for eleven years (the Onin disturbances, from 1467 to 1477), society became unsettled. Noh, in turn, suffered greatly. Despite such difficult circumstances, a number of talented inheritors of this art continued to compose plays of high artistic quality, well suited to the times. As a result, the cultural value of noh increased even further.
Arts cultivated by the warlord
elite during tumultuous times
As power shifted in favor of the leading daimyo in the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1573–1603), noh became one of the arts of the cultivated samurai elite and performances flourished.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536–1598), who accomplished the unification of the country, was very fond of noh. He performed on stage himself and had new noh plays written that cast him as the main character. It was during this period, a time when a taste for opulent and magnificent was increasingly common, that the form of the noh stage was established and the costumes became luxurious.
When Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542–1616) came to power in 1603, he made noh the official ceremonial performance (shikigaku) to be presented at government events. While the samurai elite enjoyed noh greatly, the commoners were no longer able to attend noh performances with the exception of certain special occasions.
Nishiki-e print Machiiri-noh zu (Public Noh at Edo Castle). 1889.
Noh Research Institute, Hosei University.
