Noh Theatre, Japan





http://bit.ly/d7Q6j3



Noh theatre is a big part of japanese culture. It is the oldest form of theatre existing and is increasing rapidly in popularity thanks to a new generation of noh actors and actresses. The Noh theatre has influenced the culture of the Japanese since the beginning of time. 

In my post, i will talk about the positions that are taken in tradition by the different people that are key components of the noh performance.

In the noh theatre, there are different places for all of the different people.



http://bit.ly/H0J4TW



Here is a basic Noh Stage. As you can see there is different people situated everywhere. In the purple Yukata in the center of the stage stands the shite. The Shite is basically a human at first in the play and then a ghost in the second half. The first Shite would be called maeshite and then the second half is called nochishite. When i first read this i didn’t quite understand but now, i know that the Shite is a character in the play and changes from being a human to being a ghost during the Noh.

The small person sitting in the very front right in the golden yukata is called the Waki. The waki is the counterpart of the Shite. He sits there throughout the whole play and watch.

The eight people sitting on the left of the stage in the blue and black yukatas are the chorus choir that helps the background music and the sound effects throughout the performance.

The four people sitting at the back of the stage behind the Shite is hayashikata which are the musicians.

Beside the musician are the two people which have the title of the kōken. They are the two stage hands, they move things around when the have to change a scene or something.