![]() ![]() Portraits of kabuki actors, from an album of 49 woodblock prints (c.1848) HIROSADA, KUNIMASU, MASANOBU, KUNISHIGE, NGV Collection It was a grand occasion that I will never forget with the audience full of exquisitely dressed Japanese ladies and gentlemen most of whom were dressed in beautiful silk kimono and obi and traditional accessories such as netsuke and inro. I understood that his family were patrons of the production and that they were honour-bound to support it by inviting their friends and acquaintances to buy the very expensive tickets. He was from an aristocratic family and his brother had married into the Imperial family. In the 1970s I was invited to a Noh production by a gentleman who was one of the managers at Japan Airlines where I then worked. Noh was developed and patronised by the aristocratic samurai class. Dressed in black, the stage attendants are not part of the play but assist the performers in various ways, such as handing them props. ![]() Four musicians provide accompaniment for the performance with a flute ( fue), shoulder drum ( kotsuzumi), hip drum ( otsuzumi) and stick drum ( taiko). Their story is narrated by a chorus which sits to the left of the stage. They walk slowly across the stage in a stylised fashion. The actors wear masks and brightly coloured costumes. It could be compared to an English play performed in Chaucerian English which spectators today would struggle to follow. The archaic language used is highly poetic and not easily understood by modern Japanese. In essence, a Noh play is a dramatic recital with music and dancing of an event which has taken place before the play starts. ![]() It bears some similarities with classical Greek drama. It flourished in the 14 th and 15 th centuries but is still performed today. Noh is the classic drama of Japan and the progenitor of the more popular Kabuki theatre. The woven silk fabric depicts a classical Japanese design of pine trees and thatched roofed Japanese houses. Noh theatre robe, Karaori (1860-1890), woven silk, Felton Bequest 2012. ![]()
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