Noh Theater Today
Today we left Norbert and Hitomi's place for Kyoto. It took one hour by train. We sent our luggage ahead, which made the trip much easier. Our hotel is on the Kamogawa (a river running through central Kyoto). The room is very nice, with a river view with the mountains in the distance. We can hear the rushing water.
As soon as we got checked into the hotel, we left for the Kongo Nohgakudo theater to see some Noh. There were several Noh plays in the program, which lasted most of the afternoon. The two main plays included one named "Arashi-yama", which celebrates the cherry blossoms on Mount Arashi-yama (aka Storm Mountain, west of Kyoto), and the protection of the gods that the blossoms symbolize. The other play called "Koya Monogurui" is the story of a retainer who has to care for his late master's young son. The boy runs away to join the Buddhist monks. When the boy runs away, the retainer searches everywhere for him and goes nigh crazy. In the end, they are reunited and go off together to continue their new spiritual life. There was also a comedy (a kyogen play) called "Tsukuzukushi" about two poets who ridicule each other's attempts at poetry. Their verbal sparring eventually degenerates into a sumo match.
It was an interesting experience. The theater was very nice, with a beautiful, but simple, set. There were no props, except for what the actor could carry, such as a fan or a sword. It felt much like a Greek play, with the chorus on stage. The "orchestra" was two (or three) men drumming and a flutist. At the beginning of the play, the musicians and chorus came on stage with their instruments, and they remained for the duration of the play. Any costume or prop adjustment was made on-stage by costumed men. Unlike western plays, there was no emotion shown. The actors (no girls allowed!) chanted the whole play, and the blocking was all dancing, which basically was precise motion with stomping and some arm movement. The music was difficult for us - the musicians were (loudly) chanting non-word sounds in addition to the drums and flute, the chorus was singing, and the actors were chanting, sometimes all at once, in pentatonic scales. Noh masks were used when portraying a non-human (any god) or a woman, or special characters. Sometimes a man or three would come out on stage, sit for a few minutes and leave. We don't know why. Google-san might have an answer, but he's not available at the moment.
Because there was no scenery, or curtain, scenes could change without the actors leaving the stage. As a result, there were often times when characters not involved in the action (and not even present in the scene location) were still on stage. This could have made it confusing, but fortunately the story was simple and the progression slow enough that we could follow from our English crib sheet.
After the show, we walked back to the hotel through the (former) Imperial palace grounds. The peach and apricot groves were blooming, and the dogs were frolicking, but Noh cherry blossoms yet. We have a few more days before leaving Kansai, so hopefully they'll at least make an appearance before then.
For dinner we found an Indian place nearby and got butter chicken and saag mutton (which was probably lamb). The saag was very green, and very tasty. So was the green banana lassi Michelle got, although it was a bit more neon. The second drink was also bright, but peachy colored. Dessert was a mango bavarois, aka "mango babarowa", a soft mango custard thing in milk with cardamom. We also got some black sesame ice cream, which seems to have an addictive ingredient.
As soon as we got checked into the hotel, we left for the Kongo Nohgakudo theater to see some Noh. There were several Noh plays in the program, which lasted most of the afternoon. The two main plays included one named "Arashi-yama", which celebrates the cherry blossoms on Mount Arashi-yama (aka Storm Mountain, west of Kyoto), and the protection of the gods that the blossoms symbolize. The other play called "Koya Monogurui" is the story of a retainer who has to care for his late master's young son. The boy runs away to join the Buddhist monks. When the boy runs away, the retainer searches everywhere for him and goes nigh crazy. In the end, they are reunited and go off together to continue their new spiritual life. There was also a comedy (a kyogen play) called "Tsukuzukushi" about two poets who ridicule each other's attempts at poetry. Their verbal sparring eventually degenerates into a sumo match.
It was an interesting experience. The theater was very nice, with a beautiful, but simple, set. There were no props, except for what the actor could carry, such as a fan or a sword. It felt much like a Greek play, with the chorus on stage. The "orchestra" was two (or three) men drumming and a flutist. At the beginning of the play, the musicians and chorus came on stage with their instruments, and they remained for the duration of the play. Any costume or prop adjustment was made on-stage by costumed men. Unlike western plays, there was no emotion shown. The actors (no girls allowed!) chanted the whole play, and the blocking was all dancing, which basically was precise motion with stomping and some arm movement. The music was difficult for us - the musicians were (loudly) chanting non-word sounds in addition to the drums and flute, the chorus was singing, and the actors were chanting, sometimes all at once, in pentatonic scales. Noh masks were used when portraying a non-human (any god) or a woman, or special characters. Sometimes a man or three would come out on stage, sit for a few minutes and leave. We don't know why. Google-san might have an answer, but he's not available at the moment.
Because there was no scenery, or curtain, scenes could change without the actors leaving the stage. As a result, there were often times when characters not involved in the action (and not even present in the scene location) were still on stage. This could have made it confusing, but fortunately the story was simple and the progression slow enough that we could follow from our English crib sheet.
After the show, we walked back to the hotel through the (former) Imperial palace grounds. The peach and apricot groves were blooming, and the dogs were frolicking, but Noh cherry blossoms yet. We have a few more days before leaving Kansai, so hopefully they'll at least make an appearance before then.
For dinner we found an Indian place nearby and got butter chicken and saag mutton (which was probably lamb). The saag was very green, and very tasty. So was the green banana lassi Michelle got, although it was a bit more neon. The second drink was also bright, but peachy colored. Dessert was a mango bavarois, aka "mango babarowa", a soft mango custard thing in milk with cardamom. We also got some black sesame ice cream, which seems to have an addictive ingredient.
posted by Eric M. at 11:05 PM
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