The Noh Theatre - Noh Costumes and Masks

History of Japanese Theatre
Remember Pedia Share

The Noh Theatre
The staging of a No play A square platform supported on pillars, open to the audience on three sides, and covered with a temple-like roof, forms the stage for a No play. It is connected with a green room by a corridor, or gallery, which leads back from the stage at the left, as the audience sees it. Here part of the action takes place. Upon the back scene is painted a pine tree, and three small pines are placed along the corridor.

The orchestra, consisting of a flute, drum, and two instruments resembling the tambourine, is seated in a narrow space back of the stage; while the chorus, whose number is not fixed, is seated on the floor at the right. The actors are highly trained, and their speech is accompanied by soft music.

1. There are rigid rules for acting, each accent and gesture being governed by an unchanging tradition.
2. The actors are always men, wearing masks when impersonating females or supernatural beings.

The costumes are exquisite and of medieval fashion. The performance is day-long; but as the No play is always short, occupying about an hour, several pieces are rendered during the day. Alternating with them are farces called kiogen, which are short, full of delicate humor, and given in the language of the time without the chorus.

The No play.
The construction of the No play is always the same.

1. It begins with the appearance of a traveler, perhaps a priest, who announces his name and purpose of journeying to such-and-such a battle-ground, temple, or other time-honored place.
2. While he is crossing the stage, the chorus recites the beauties of the scenery or describes the emotions of the traveler. 
3. At the appointed spot a ghost appears, eagerly seeking an opportunity to tell of the sufferings to which it is condemned. This ghost is the Spirit of the Place. 
4. The second part consists of the unfolding of the ancient legend which has sanctified the ground. 
5. The story is revealed partly by dialogue, partly by the chorus. 
6. At its close the priest prays for the repose of the Spirit whose mysterious history has just been disclosed, and the play ends with a song in praise of the ruling sovereign.

The content of the No play. Nearly always tragic, is treated with simple dignity. There is frequent reference to learned matters, and to the teachings of Buddha. The text is partly archaic prose and partly verse. Within this slight conventional form are themes relating to filial duty, endurance under trial, uncomplaining loyalty in the face of hardship and neglect, and tender sacrifice.

The plays are uniformly austere and poetic, remote from the everyday scene, and full of imagination and beauty.

1. Kwanami Kiotsugu, who belongs to the second half of the fourteenth century, was called the greatest poet of his time, and the founder of the No play.
2. His son, Seami Motokiyo, was almost equally distinguished. He left instructions as to production and acting, stressing the necessity of avoiding realism on the stage.
   
   • Other relatives and successors of Kiotsugu improved the music, and the Shoguns honored the authors.
   • This type of play may well be considered unique in the history of the stage, and an important link between the classic plays of Greece and the poetic drama of modern Europe. a

Noh Costumes and Masks
The Noh players’ costumes, emulating the costumes of an older Japan, suggest that the Japanese were aware that their architecture required the correct costume if a total aesthetic picture were to be made.

1. In other words, the adoption of the Western clothing now prevalent in Japan has destroyed a major element in the aesthetic unity conceived by the architects of the past.
2. There is certainly a clash of values when the modern visitor, dressed for efficiency, enters buildings built for individuals dressed for beauty (Fairservis, 1971, 139.)

Development of Noh CostumingNoh staging is very basic in its design. While the staging is basic, the clothing is extremely elaborate. 

1. Noh costuming could be as elaborate as the most sumptuous aristocrats’ robes.
2. In appreciation for performance, audience members would strip off articles of clothing and throw them on the stage for the actors (Lacher, 2002, 9.)
3. Thus, surviving examples of Noh costumes reflect the clothing worn daily by the upper classes of the times and the costumes of brocades and soft, shiny embroidered silks are some of the most sophisticated woven and embellished textiles of Japan (Phoenix Art Museum, 2004.)

Actors became very much leaders of fashion. In Japan’s Noh theatre, the costumes, the fabric, color and design, play a primary role in the characterization of age, gender, social status, and emotional state. The beautifully established silk robes and carved wooden masks transform the performer’s body into a mysterious sculptural form (Phoenix Art Museum, 2004.)

Noh Masks
There is a Japanese expression which describes an impassive face as being “like a Noh face.”  (Noh text, 2004) 

1. Noh masks are richly varied and expressive, since the works are the actor are not spoken but conveyed through the mask itself.
2. Thus, the mask is crucial to the role of the actor, and the best masks are said to be able to shout, whimper, scream, purr, or grow silent.
3. The expression of the eyes is considered most important, while sculptural details further define characteristics of the role’s mood and temper (Phoenix Art Museum, 2004.)
4. The mask is hand carved from a single piece of Japanese Cypress, about 12 mm thick and finished with thirteen layers of back.
5. The expressions of the masks are both symbolic and ambiguous, and the performers’ art turns the suspended expression into a definite character. (Sichel, 1987, 46.)
   To express sorrow, an actor flutters a fan before his mask. To show overwhelming happiness he may tilt his mask upward.  (Gelber, 1993, 44.)
6. Noh masks are considered to be descendant of the masks worn in gingko theatre.
   Zeami considered the greatest Noh actor of all time, explained how masks should be made in the book he wrote in 1430 entitled Discourses on the Principles of Suragaku as follows:
   
   • A face mask should not have a long forehead.  There are persons today who would begrudge trimming it shorter.  It is absurd.  If one wears a headpiece- the eboshi, for example- part of it will be under the mask’s forehead, and the resultant tilt in the mask will bring about a lack of balance that is undesirable.  Though it may not be visible if a hairpiece is worn, a high forehead is undesirable because it may show through the scattered strands of hair.  The upper part of a long face mask should be cut away.  (Araki, 1964, 40.)

Noh Accessories
The main staple of all Noh costuming are the white socks called tabi. Tabi is a formal white bifurcated socks. Yellow tabi are worn by the comic characters. The final ornaments to the costume and the mask are the headband and sash, which create a unified composition that enacts the interpretation of the drama (Phoenix Art Museum, 2004.)