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28 - Adult and Child Learning in Playworlds
- from Part V - Play and Learning
- Edited by Peter K. Smith, Goldsmiths, University of London, Jaipaul L. Roopnarine, Syracuse University, New York
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- Book:
- The Cambridge Handbook of Play
- Published online:
- 26 October 2018
- Print publication:
- 15 November 2018, pp 511-527
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Interlude Noh and kyogen costumes and masks
- from Preface to Part I Japanese civilization arises
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- By Monica Bethe
- Edited by Jonah Salz, Ryukoku University, Japan
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- Book:
- A History of Japanese Theatre
- Published online:
- 05 July 2016
- Print publication:
- 14 July 2016, pp 62-67
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Summary
In the rule-laden, formalized performance traditions of noh and kyogen, costuming – including masks and fans – is one vital means for interpretation. Although on stage (as in life) the age, gender, profession, and status of a character determine the outfit to be worn, the color combinations, design patterns, and specific masks within a generic type are fundamentally the actor's choice.
Interpretation
On the bare noh stage, the ability of costume and mask to express season and scene, and to evoke emotional state, stature, and the non-human, was recognized by Zeami (1363?–1443?) already in the fifteenth century. In the Fūshikaden 風姿花伝 (Transmitting the flower through effects and attitudes), he goes so far as to define the portrayal of certain roles by their costume, particularly roles that cannot be played realistically by a male actor, such as women, deities, and Chinese. Zeami also comments on the effectiveness of other actors’ costuming – an expressive element that adds a fresh touch to a well-known piece.
The actor chooses a costume within codified rules. Today noh libretti (utaibon) stipulate mask and costume elements for each character, down to fans, small properties, headgear, and under-robes. The type of mask and style of broad-sleeved outer cloak (ōsode) and box-sleeved kosode robe were determined by the mid-Edo period (1603–1868) according to traditions of each noh or kyogen school.
In preparing for a performance, the shite actor often starts by selecting the specific mask within a name-type; there are over two hundred, about eighty being standard stock for a family-based theatre troupe. The types, such as beshimi (clenched mouth) or ko-omote (small face, see Figure 9), define unique iconographies carved and painted to detailed specifications, such as curvature of silhouette, placement and thickness of eyebrows, and even number of loose strands of hair. Most types, however, are not play-specific, but can be used for any number of roles. Conversely, each mask of a type, however closely it follows an ideal model in measurement, modeling, and painting, contains a unique spirit – this is what the actor assesses in making selections.
When choosing his garments, the actor has the greatest freedom in selection of color and pattern. Outside the use of red (iroari) to indicate youth, color choice is informed by centuries of associations generated by plant dyes used for aristocratic dress.
Contributors
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- By Rose Teteki Abbey, K. C. Abraham, David Tuesday Adamo, LeRoy H. Aden, Efrain Agosto, Victor Aguilan, Gillian T. W. Ahlgren, Charanjit Kaur AjitSingh, Dorothy B E A Akoto, Giuseppe Alberigo, Daniel E. Albrecht, Ruth Albrecht, Daniel O. Aleshire, Urs Altermatt, Anand Amaladass, Michael Amaladoss, James N. Amanze, Lesley G. Anderson, Thomas C. Anderson, Victor Anderson, Hope S. Antone, María Pilar Aquino, Paula Arai, Victorio Araya Guillén, S. Wesley Ariarajah, Ellen T. Armour, Brett Gregory Armstrong, Atsuhiro Asano, Naim Stifan Ateek, Mahmoud Ayoub, John Alembillah Azumah, Mercedes L. García Bachmann, Irena Backus, J. Wayne Baker, Mieke Bal, Lewis V. Baldwin, William Barbieri, António Barbosa da Silva, David Basinger, Bolaji Olukemi Bateye, Oswald Bayer, Daniel H. Bays, Rosalie Beck, Nancy Elizabeth Bedford, Guy-Thomas Bedouelle, Chorbishop Seely Beggiani, Wolfgang Behringer, Christopher M. Bellitto, Byard Bennett, Harold V. Bennett, Teresa Berger, Miguel A. 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Yee, Viktor Yelensky, Yeo Khiok-Khng, Gustav K. K. Yeung, Angela Yiu, Amos Yong, Yong Ting Jin, You Bin, Youhanna Nessim Youssef, Eliana Yunes, Robert Michael Zaller, Valarie H. Ziegler, Barbara Brown Zikmund, Joyce Ann Zimmerman, Aurora Zlotnik, Zhuo Xinping
- Edited by Daniel Patte, Vanderbilt University, Tennessee
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- Book:
- The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity
- Published online:
- 05 August 2012
- Print publication:
- 20 September 2010, pp xi-xliv
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Nōmai Dance Drama: A Surviving Spirit of Medieval Japan. By Susan M. Asai. Westport, Conn. and London: Greenwood Press, 1999. viii, 248 pp. $65.00.
- Monica Bethe
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- Journal:
- The Journal of Asian Studies / Volume 59 / Issue 4 / November 2000
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 26 March 2010, pp. 1014-1016
- Print publication:
- November 2000
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10 - The practice of noh theatre
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- By Monica Bethe, Karen Brazell, Cornell University
- Edited by Richard Schechner, Willa Appel
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- Book:
- By Means of Performance
- Published online:
- 05 June 2012
- Print publication:
- 25 May 1990, pp 167-193
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Summary
Dance, music, poetry, costumes, and masks combine in the noh theatre to create a performance which can be aesthetically impressive and emotionally profound. How is this art nurtured? What enables the beauty of noh to flower on the stage in a particular performance? What motivates the actors to devote their lives to nourishing a traditional art form? Are there new species of noh growing out of the old? And finally can noh, or aspects of noh be successfully transplanted to a climate as unfamiliar as that of the modern Western world? These are the questions we explore here.
Noh is today practiced in Japan by several hundred highly trained professionals, both actors and musicians. As a traditional performance system passed down in an unbroken line from generation to generation of practitioners since the fourteenth century, every aspect – text, melody, instrumentation, choreography, and costuming – has become codified. The current repertory is essentially the same as that performed in the sixteenth century, and today's performers are responsible for mastering its two hundred plays.
The phenomenal memorization that this mastery implies is aided by the structure of noh, for it is an art based on the manipulation of fixed modules of performance combined according to underlying principles. Although the basic vocabulary is limited, the variations are endless, so that each play, indeed each performance of a given play, offers fresh vision, new insights. The underlying rules may never be explicitly stated or taught, but they are subconsciously internalized during the course of training.