The oldest form of drama performed in Japan, N¯ o
developed in the later 14th and early 15th century
from an earlier form of drama known as sarugaku.
It was developed to a large extent from innovations
made by the famous playwright Kan’ami (1333–84)
and his even more influential son, the playwright
and theorist ZEAMI (ca. 1363–ca. 1443), whose plays
gained the recognition and support of the Ashikaga
sh¯ oguns. One of the changes Zeami made was to
choose protagonists not from popular tradition, as
earlier sarugaku plays had done, but rather from
HEIAN culture or from classical Japanese literature,
particularly the TALE OF THE HEIKE. Zeami also led
N¯ o theater away from realism and emphasized subtle internal conflict in his characters.
N¯ o plays are traditionally performed by an allmale cast. There are four conventional roles in the
drama: the lead role (shite), the chief supporting
role (waki) (opposite to, but not necessarily the
opponent of, the lead role—he provides the impetus for the inner drama of the shite), the lead role’s
companion and the secondary character’s companion. The plays are divided among five types,
based on the role of the protagonist. The first category, Wakin¯ o, comprises plays about gods. The
second, Nibanmemono, is made up of warrior
plays. The third category, Sambanmemono, consists of plays about women. The fourth, Yobanmemono, is a category in which the shite is a mad
person, or a person from “modern” times—essentially the category includes the plays that are not
part of any other group. The fifth group, Gobanmemono, are plays about demons or other supernatural characters.
Most of the actors wear masks, except for children and actors portraying living male characters.
The secondary character and his companion, who
are always living male characters, never wear
masks. But the chief characters, often ghosts or
women, are typically masked. The language of the
plays varies from verse to prose, and involves varied degrees of chanting, from something close to
ordinary speech using prose to something approaching singing. It is impossible to know precisely about the style of acting during the 14th
century, but traditional N¯ o acting today is highly
stylized and all movement is slow and choreographed—all body movements are classified as shimari, or “performance dance.” There are
traditional subtle clues in the N¯ o actor’s movement, particularly in the walk, that indicate the
character’s gender, age, and social position.
N¯ o plays also conventionally contain a chorus
(the jiutai), consisting of from six to 10 members.
Unlike the chorus of a Greek tragedy, the N¯ o chorus does not assume a specific role in the play.
They remain motionless throughout the play, sitting on the right of the stage and chanting in unison, sometimes acting as a narrator and
sometimes repeating the characters’ lines, particularly the lines of the shite when he is dancing.
Four musicians sometimes accompany the chanting with a flute and three drums (one a hip drum,
one a stick drum, and one a shoulder drum). The
characters at times perform dances as well, often
to indicate heightened emotion, and these dances
are also accompanied by the musicians, and
sometimes also by the chanting of the chorus.
The stage for N¯o plays is a 19-foot square with
a bridgeway (from the dressing room to the left
side of the stage) that can sometimes serve as a
second performing area. The stage contains no
scenery, so that the dialogue itself must indicate
the play’s setting. Props are also rare, with an occasional prop taking on symbolic meanings during the play. Costumes, however, are beautiful and
elaborate, often to the point of obscuring the
body and face of the performer, so that even with
those not wearing masks, the audience must focus
on the subtle and graceful movements of the
actor rather than on facial expressions.
Most of the 250 or so N¯ o plays still being performed are ghost dramas, a type of play made popular by Zeami in the 14th century. In such plays, a
wandering monk meets a ghost who has taken the
form of a local peasant or other figure in the first
act. In the second act the monk dreams of the
ghost in its true form, who in the dream reenacts
its death or whatever incident in its earthly life has
prevented it from resting in peace. In many plays
the monk’s prayers bring about the pacification of
the restless spirit.
Subtlety, suggestion, simplicity, and internal
conflict characterize Japanese N¯ o theater. Westerners experiencing the plays for the first time are
likely to be confused and put off by the lack of “action.” But like most drama, a N¯ o play is a sensual
experience involving sound, color, and movement,
and so cannot be defined simply by the words on
a page: It must be experienced.
Bibliography
Japanese N¯ o Dramas. Edited and translated by Royall
Tyler. London: Penguin, 1992.
Miner, Earl, Hiroko Odagiri, and Robert E. Morrell.
The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press,
1985.
Rimer, J. Thomas, and Yamazaki Masakazu, trans. On
the Art of N¯ o Drama: The Major Treatises of Zeami.
Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1984.
Sekine, Masaru. Zeami and His Theories of
Noh Drama. Gerrards Cross, U.K.: C. Smythe,
1985.
Terasaki, Etsuko. Figures of Desire: Wordplay, Spirit
Possession, Fantasy, Madness, and Mourning in
Japanese Noh Plays. Ann Arbor: Center for
Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 2002.