By a twist of fate, at my first Noh lesson which I attended with Furukawa Sensei at the Yarai Theatre, I was taught the dance from Hagoromo.  It was incredible to feel physically what I had seen only the night before and to be given an interpretation of the gestures.  What I love about Noh is that the text is so poetic and the gestures seemingly obscure that nothing is expressed explicitly.  There is, of course, a certain particularity to each phrase or gesture but it is up to the performer and audience to gain their own understanding from the piece.  Therefore, the more, you invest yourself in a piece, the more you gain from it.  This is contrary to modern culture today where everything is so easily accessible.  I can see Noh suffering in the future, because people are going to become less and less willing to invest so much of themselves in it.

For traditional art forms to remain alive, it is essential that there are young people who take an interest in culture and, more importantly, that there are some willing and able to express themselves.  When I gave a lecture at Showa University to students in Arts Administration, I found evidence of a healthy balance of interests between traditional Japanese theatre and modern forms, and I also met some young people who take Noh lessons (Bunraku has apparently become popular in recent years, and the famous Kabuki actors attract many young people, ladies in particular).  As for those willing and able to express themselves, it is very important to determine between those truly reflecting their thoughts and experiences and those simply copying others.  I witnessed a very good example of this one day when I went to the University of Fine Arts and Music in Ueno to see a workshop by German director Peter Konwitchny and a programme of contemporary dance that evening at Session House in Kagurazaka.  It was very interesting to hear Konwitchny’s thoughts on Aida and Der Freischutz and watch him divulge some of his extensive experience to the young singers.  It seemed however that the singers were being told how to express alien emotions in a way that was unfamiliar to them.  The contemporary dance, on the other hand, was called D-Union and contained four groups Japonica-ponica, Project Oyama, Korupto and 7 Years 2 months.  I felt they were expressing themselves in a way that connected the audience to the performance and the world in which we live with a very high level of technical skill.

FWW

Next Installment is Part 4: The Art of Banraku and Kabuki (Previous Installment- Part 2: The Noh Plays)

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