People | 20 QUESTIONS Feb 22, 2020
Jonah Salz: What's life without the drama?
by Andrew Eglinton
Theater scholar and director Salz on Beckett, kyogen and teaching in Japan.
National Oct 24, 2019
Abe treats foreign dignitaries in Japan for enthronement to banquet featuring traditional arts
Foreign dignitaries enjoyed a rare show combining different Japanese traditional arts on Wednesday at a banquet following the enthronement ceremony of Emperor Naruhito the previous day. During the evening event, hosted by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife, Akie, at the Hotel New Otani ...
Stage Feb 19, 2019
Hikaru Uzawa blends old and new to add vitality to the world of noh
by Katherine Whatley
Hikaru Uzawa is a noh performer who marries her work within the traditional confines of the art form with performing in contemporary pieces internationally, bringing freshness to the traditional world of noh. Uzawa, 39, comes from a long line of noh performers. Her mother, Hisa ...
National Feb 12, 2019
Kyōgen actor Nomura Man and two noh actors honored with French Order of Arts and Letters
Kyōgen actor Nomura Man and two noh actors were honored Sunday with the French Order of Arts and Letters for their contribution to promoting Japanese performing arts in France. Nomura, 89, received the rank of officer, the second of the award's three degrees, while noh ...
National / History | THE LIVING PAST Oct 20, 2018
Life lessons from the master of noh Zeami
by Michael Hoffman
Stately, stylized noh arose from primitive, rollicking ancestors — sarugaku (monkey music) and dengaku (rural music). Two qualities in particular define it: yūgen (mystery) and monomane (imitation).
Stage Mar 1, 2018
Living and breathing history, through noh
by Katherine Whatley
Noh performer Hisa Uzawa has spent her life devoted to an art form that — with its slow and steady movements, sparse staging and ancient chanting — may at first seem staid. In her hands, however, the 650-year-old tradition becomes relentlessly contemporary. Uzawa was born ...
Stage | Backstage Pass Mar 1, 2018
Rethinking noh for the opera crowd
by Chiho Iuchi
Artists have long mined older works to create new forms of expression, just look at the continuing relevance of Shakespeare's stories. Among the oldest surviving performing arts of Japan, noh has been a source of inspiration for many in Japan. Combining narrative chanting, slow movements ...
Stage Feb 6, 2018
Kazufusa Hosho: 'Noh is necessary in times of social unrest'
by Kris Kosaka
The challenge facing Kazufusa Hosho is one that many guardians of traditional Japanese art forms know well: ensuring the survival of a centuries-old culture by attracting new and younger audiences. The 32-year-old is a 20th-generation head of the Hosho Noh School, which is based in ...
Stage Jun 8, 2017
Ginza's new noh theater seeks to break down cultural barriers
by Ayako Takahashi
The Kanze Noh Theater reopened in April in Ginza Six, a new upscale shopping complex in central Tokyo that seeks to attract domestic and foreign audiences to a wide range of the country's traditional performing arts. With this in mind, the complex's owners reached out ...
Business / Tech Aug 11, 2016
Noh players seek new audiences with live subtitles on tablets
by Kazuaki Nagata
Tightly traditional noh drama is loosening up, with theater groups trying out tablet computers to help baffled audiences understand what's going on. The devices show the actors' lines and help to explain plot twists in real time. "Noh groups are trying to get more people interested ...
Stage Feb 19, 2016
Osaka noh theater tapping a traditional art to gain new followers
by Hiroko Shoji
The overseers of Yamamoto NohGakudo, a theater built in the center of Osaka more than 90 years ago, are tapping into the interest of new followers of the traditional theatrical art to fill morning classes that were launched last November. On a Sunday morning in ...
Stage Mar 18, 2015
All change for Kanze noh theater
by Ayako Takahashi
Of Japan's many traditional performing arts, noh is the most refined — and among its most prominent figures today is 55-year-old Kiyokazu Kanze, the 26th head of its largest faction, the Kanze School. A descendant of the father and son pair Kan'ami and Zeami who ...