能樂

About this photo

This photo shows a scene on a Noh stage. It appears in Nihon Fukei Fuzoku Shashincho (Photo Album of Japanese Scenery and Customs), published in 1910, titled "Nogaku," with the English caption "A Scene in the celebrated 'No' Dance." It is not known which stage this is.

Noh is a form of musical drama in which a story is acted out in a dance-like way to chanting (utai) and instrumental music (hayashi), and it took shape around the 14th century. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, the third shogun of the Muromachi shogunate, watched Kan'ami and the 12-year-old Zeami perform sarugaku. After that, Noh and kyogen (comic plays) took root as the performing arts of the warrior class. When the shogunate came to an end with the Meiji Restoration, actors left the profession and masks and costumes flowed overseas. In time, with the backing of powerful government figures and the nobility, the art recovered, and the name "sarugaku" was changed to "nogaku," covering both Noh and kyogen.

Nogaku was designated an Important Intangible Cultural Property in 1957 (Showa 32), and in 2008 it was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Glossary