Any aficionados of Kabuki/ No Theatre?

[StewySmoot]

I want to get into it desperately but dont know how!

[Paul Thomas]

very different beasties, each one of 'em, but a good start for Noh (other than the usual Google, and of course going to see some in Japan...) would be a book by Arthur Waley "The Noh Plays of Japan"

It seems you can find an online free version here.

Also try Googling [arthur waley noh] and you'll come up with some other good results.

Just saw Shochiku GRAND KABUKI Chikamatsu-za in Seattle and found it to be a fascinating experience, but a little frustrating as there's so much to learn and there's a huge body of knowledge on kabuki - Google found a good primer on the subject.

I prefer Noh to Kabuki myself, but have yet to have the chance to see it performed live. The structure, music, & poetry are exquisite. It has influenced modern stage folks like Robert Wilson. Structure is quite different from that of western art & rhetoric, can be described as a three-part sequence called "Jo - ha - kyu" -- beginning - breaking - rapid. Structure of classical Japanese court music and some say indeed of Noh theater performance practice is "jo-ha-kyu within jo-ha-kyu within jo-ha-kyu." Much fun to explore, happy listening/watching/reading!

Paul

[Nanohedron]

Kabuki has a range of styles, from the fantastic (with wild face paint and bizarre costuming) to the realistic (with comparatively subdued cosmetics and costuming). The latter tends to be found in later works.

I had a chance to see a production at Tōkyō's Kabuki-Za theater. It was one of the latter style, very energetic and enjoyable. If ever you watch kabuki in its native environment, you'll probably witness a phenomenon you would consider inappropriate in Western audiences: they'll sometimes carry on conversations ignoring the production, but will also really get into it as well, cheering at favorite parts or dissing the bad guy (these productions are well known to afficionados, and they don't tire of seeing them again and again); it's almost like going to a Rocky Horror Picture Show viewing. There was one point during the show I was at where the main character -a well-known and popular actor- was doing a sort of soliloquy, and at a crucial pause where the audience were riveted and quiet, a guy yelled out -for all to hear- a sympathizing but buddy-buddy elbow-rubbing familiarity that translates into something like, "You're working hard!" or more literally, "You're tired!" Normally inappropriate grammar for the occasion given usual social norms, it sent the whole theater into cascades of laughter. If the hero and the rest of the cast so much as missed a beat, you wouldn't know it.

I'm glad I had the opportunity.

[Matt_Paris]

I discovered No because of the nohkan, the little flute that is used for it. It is the strangest way of making a flute you can imagine.

I saw my first No drama last year on TV. I had that strange feeling that I understood 5% of what was shown, but was anyway deeply touched by the beauty of the thing...

Now my dream would be to see the real thing. Last time there was No in Paris I was on holiday in Sweden.

[Paul Thomas]

<...>the nohkan, the little flute that is used for it. It is the strangest way of making a flute you can imagine.

Please elaborate - this sounds interesting!

Yes, to all of you who may say "just Google it," I know the search engine exists. However, I read the board for the human interpretations and interactions, for personal & direct experiences of a self-selected community--not as an adjunct to Google!

I hereby establish NEDCOGARP: National Experience Disintermediation Campaign - Omit Google, Ask a Real Person!

Next thing you know, I'll be advocating radical steps like "looking it up in a book" or "stepping outside" or God forbid "meeting with someone face-to-face!

Whoops, that went too far, I hear the black helicopters coming, gotta grab my medication & run.

Ahem, OK now: nohkan(s)

[khl]

very different beasties, each one of 'em, but a good start for Noh (other than the usual Google, and of course going to see some in Japan...) would be a book by Arthur Waley "The Noh Plays of Japan"

It seems you can find an online free version here.

Also try Googling [arthur waley noh] and you'll come up with some other good results.

One question that will help as you do your search here is to ask: "What part of Noh don't you understand?"

[Nanohedron]

*rimshot*

[Dale]

very different beasties, each one of 'em, but a good start for Noh (other than the usual Google, and of course going to see some in Japan...) would be a book by Arthur Waley "The Noh Plays of Japan"

It seems you can find an online free version here.

Also try Googling [arthur waley noh] and you'll come up with some other good results.

One question that will help as you do your search here is to ask: "What part of Noh don't you understand?"

That's funny. I like funny. You, sir, made a funny.

Dale

[khl]

very different beasties, each one of 'em, but a good start for Noh (other than the usual Google, and of course going to see some in Japan...) would be a book by Arthur Waley "The Noh Plays of Japan"

It seems you can find an online free version here.

Also try Googling [arthur waley noh] and you'll come up with some other good results.

One question that will help as you do your search here is to ask: "What part of Noh don't you understand?"

That's funny. I like funny. You, sir, made a funny.

Dale

There was a cartoon along these lines in something like the New Yorker years ago. Can't take credit for it. But I can pass it along.

[I.D.10-t]

I had a chance to see a production at Tōkyō's Kabuki-Za theater. It was one of the latter style, very energetic and enjoyable. If ever you watch kabuki in its native environment, you'll probably witness a phenomenon you would consider inappropriate in Western audiences: they'll sometimes carry on conversations ignoring the production, but will also really get into it as well, cheering at favorite parts or dissing the bad guy (these productions are well known to afficionados, and they don't tire of seeing them again and again) ... etc.

I am glad to here this. I have often wonder if something from a different culture that I find interesting is dead. I remembering an Irish lady comment on one of the Irish events in the US and gave a lecture on how the US had made it look that Ireland had not changed for a hundred years. I often wonder if Norway has as many lefse turners with rosemaling hanging on the walls as Minnesota does and if they have something better to eat than lutefisk these days. I have wondered about certain activities that I enjoy (or would like to participate in) that originated in Japan, such as some of their martial arts, Go, the shakuhachi, and their food. It is nice to hear their theater has not disappeared.

[Matt_Paris]

<...>the nohkan, the little flute that is used for it. It is the strangest way of making a flute you can imagine.

Please elaborate - this sounds interesting!

Well to make a nohkan, the maker first selects a very old piece of bamboo. It must be several centuries old... The best ones come from the roofs of traditionnal houses, near the fire place, and so are called "smoked bamboo".

Then the pipe is split lengthwise in 8 pieces (sometimes more, depends on the no school). These are then glued back together to form a pipe, but inside out so that the hard part of the bamboo is inside the flute.

Then the enormous embouchure hole and the seven tone holes are drilled in the pipe. The pipe is then cut in three pieces, one after the embouchure hole, one containing this hole, one containing the toneholes. This is done to allow putting in place the "throat" (nodo) of the flute: a bamboo tube that makes the bore smaller between the embouchure and the holes. A piece of lead is also inserted in the head of the flute.

After that, everything is glued back together, the flute is lacquered inside with red lacquer (urushi) and outside with black. An ebony "cicada" (semi) is glued on the back of the head, and a metallic decorative plug is inserted at the end.

Then the flute is entirely bound with a thread made of wild cherry bark, except near the holes.

What makes the nohkan sound unique is that unlike any other flute I know, its octaves are not octaves, but minor seventh... And when blown very hard with a special fingering, it produces the caracteristic "hishigi", the piercing and breathy sound you hear often in no theater.

An average nohkan costs around 400,000 yens ($3,500), ancient ones are much much more expensive. I own a low end wooden one, can't play it, but love it

<a href = "http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~dl1s-ymgc/index-e.htm" target = _blank>Japanese flutes</a>

Players (I know):
Yukihiro Isso
Hyakunosuke Fukuhara

[I.D.10-t]

Well to make a nohkan, the maker first selects a very old piece of bamboo. It must be several centuries old... The best ones come from the roofs of traditionnal houses, near the fire place, and so are called "smoked bamboo".

Then the pipe is split lengthwise in 8 pieces (sometimes more, depends on the no school). These are then glued back together to form a pipe, but inside out so that the hard part of the bamboo is inside the flute.

Then the enormous embouchure hole and the seven tone holes are drilled in the pipe. The pipe is then cut in three pieces, one after the embouchure hole, one containing this hole, one containing the toneholes. This is done to allow putting in place the "throat" (nodo) of the flute: a bamboo tube that makes the bore smaller between the embouchure and the holes. A piece of lead is also inserted in the head of the flute.

After that, everything is glued back together, the flute is lacquered inside with red lacquer (urushi) and outside with black. An ebony "cicada" (semi) is glued on the back of the head, and a metallic decorative plug is inserted at the end.

Then the flute is entirely bound with a thread made of wild cherry bark, except near the holes.

What makes the nohkan sound unique is that unlike any other flute I know, its octaves are not octaves, but minor seventh... And when blown very hard with a special fingering, it produces the caracteristic "hishigi", the piercing and breathy sound you hear often in no theater.

Nice description. Wikipedia didn't have an entry.

[Nanohedron]

I had a chance to see a production at Tōkyō's Kabuki-Za theater. It was one of the latter style, very energetic and enjoyable. If ever you watch kabuki in its native environment, you'll probably witness a phenomenon you would consider inappropriate in Western audiences: they'll sometimes carry on conversations ignoring the production, but will also really get into it as well, cheering at favorite parts or dissing the bad guy (these productions are well known to afficionados, and they don't tire of seeing them again and again) ... etc.

I am glad to here this. I have often wonder if something from a different culture that I find interesting is dead. I remembering an Irish lady comment on one of the Irish events in the US and gave a lecture on how the US had made it look that Ireland had not changed for a hundred years. I often wonder if Norway has as many lefse turners with rosemaling hanging on the walls as Minnesota does and if they have something better to eat than lutefisk these days. I have wondered about certain activities that I enjoy (or would like to participate in) that originated in Japan, such as some of their martial arts, Go, the shakuhachi, and their food. It is nice to hear their theater has not disappeared.

It's not universally popular these days; to some people you'd be considered something of an otaku (geek or nerd) if you're a Japanese into Japanese traditional culture; all I can say is that the Kabuki-za was packed to bursting that night. So who knows.

[fearfaoin]

It's not universally popular these days; to some people you'd be considered something of an otaku (geek or nerd) if you're a Japanese into Japanese traditional culture

<a href="http://www.partiallyclips.com/index.php ... trip"><img border=0 src="http://www.partiallyclips.com/storage/p ... g.png"></a>

[Walden]

What language is aficionado?