Noh

In a typical play, a travelling priest or other secondary character (waki) arrives at a famous place and meets a local person, who tells its story. In the second half, the protagonist (shite) reappears in true form, often as the ghost of a warrior, a noblewoman or a god, and relives the decisive moment in dance. This 'dream Noh' (mugen nō) is Zeami's characteristic form.

Traditionally a full programme presented five categories of play in a fixed order, from gods to warriors, women, madwomen and miscellaneous plays to demons. Modern programmes are shorter, usually one or two Noh plays with a kyōgen between them.

Noh performers belong to hereditary specialisations and schools. The shite actors, who play the main role and also form the chorus, belong to five schools: Kanze, Hōshō, Konparu and Kongō, which trace their origins to sarugaku troupes of the Nara area, and Kita, founded in the early Edo period. Waki actors, kyōgen actors and each instrument have their own separate schools.

The ensemble (hayashi) consists of a transverse bamboo flute (nōkan), a shoulder drum (kotsuzumi), a hip drum (ōtsuzumi) and, in some plays, a stick drum (taiko). The drummers' calls (kakegoe) are part of the music. A chorus (jiutai) of six to ten men sits at the side and chants the text in unison.

The shite wears a carved and painted wooden mask when playing women, old men, gods, ghosts and demons. The masks are designed to change expression with the smallest tilt of the head: tilted upwards (terasu) a face appears to brighten, tilted downwards (kumorasu) it clouds with sorrow. Many masks and costumes in use are centuries old and handed down within families.

Costumes are layered silk robes woven with gold and coloured threads, among the finest textiles of Japan. Fans are used as the main prop and may represent a sword, a brush, a cup or falling rain.

The Noh stage is a square platform of polished Japanese cypress, about six metres on each side, with a roof supported by four pillars, even when it stands inside a modern building. A bridge-like walkway (hashigakari) to the left leads from a curtained dressing room and is marked by three small pine trees. An old pine is painted on the back wall (kagami-ita). Hollow jars beneath the floor were traditionally placed to resonate with the dancers' stamping.

Outdoor stages survive at shrines and temples across Japan. Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture has an unusually large number of village Noh stages, a legacy of the Edo-period gold mines' administrators, and the Noh stage of Itsukushima Shrine stands over the sea.

Noh is performed at dedicated Noh theatres (nōgakudō) in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya, Kanazawa and other cities, often on weekends. The National Noh Theatre in Tokyo's Sendagaya offers individual subtitles in English. Torchlit takigi-nō performances outdoors at shrines and temples are held in many places in spring, summer and autumn, among them the Takigi Onō at Kōfuku-ji and Kasuga Taisha in Nara in May.

Kanazawa has a strong Noh tradition of the Hōshō school, fostered by the Maeda lords of Kaga, and its prefectural Noh theatre holds regular performances.