INI Summer Intensive 2023

This is just a quick reminder about the International Noh Institute’s 2023 Summer Intensive Program, scheduled to be held in Kyoto this July. After a long gap due to the pandemic, Japan has reopened its borders, and it is now possible to travel in and out of the country with relative ease. Please consider applying and/on pass on the information to those whom you think may be interested.

Call for participants – INI Kyoto Summer Intensive 2023

The INI – International Noh Institute is now accepting applications for its 2023 Summer Intensive Program

Who can apply?

Anyone interested in studying nō chant and/or dance. There is no age limit, and previous knowledge is not required. The course is taught by English-speaking Japanese instructors.

What will participants learn?

Participants will study nō dance and chant according to the Kongō school tradition, and learn about various aspects of nō performance, including masks and costumes. The training period will culminate with a public recital alongside professional actors on a nō stage located within a gorgeous Kyoto-style traditional townhouse.

How does training work?

Nō classes take place daily, in the morning, or in the early afternoon. Every day you will be coached by one of our instructors, and you will be encouraged to practice independently in preparation for the following class. (A day-to-day calendar will be announced after the selection is complete).

What makes studying with the INI unique? 

The intimate environment in which lessons take place, reflecting the traditional nō training style, allows students to interact directly with the teachers. Lessons comprise both group work and one-to-one coaching.

For this 2023 edition of our Summer Intensive, the INI will collaborate with Discover Noh in Kyoto. Participants will be given the opportunity to explore Kyoto with a professional tour guide, discovering the deep connections between nō and the city.

Program highlights

  • Train intensively in noh dance and chant. 
  • Practice in a small group for an immersive experience.
  • Perform alongside professional actors.
  • Watch noh performances on traditional stages.
  • Visit noh-related historical locations.
  • Experience living in the ancient capital, Kyoto.

Program details

  • Training period : July 10-23, 2023
  • Recital: July 23
  • Fees: Regular ¥80,000 Student ¥60,000 (includes graduate students)
  • Capacity: 6 participants

Fees include : Dance/chant lessons, materials, Kongō school nō fan, participation in the final recital, and a certificate of completion. Fees do not include: White tabi (split-toe socks), transportation, accommodation, and any other personal expenses.

Instructors: Udaka Tatsushige, Udaka Norishige (Kongō school actors), Udaka Keiko (nō mask carver) 

Coordinator: Diego Pellecchia (Kyoto Sangyō University, Certified Kongō school instructor)

How to apply

  • Send an email to ini.kyoto[at]gmail.com attaching the following documents:
  • Your Curriculum Vitae
  • A brief statement of interest (around 300 words)

Application deadline: May, 22nd 2023. Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application by May, 29th 2023.

For more information about the program contact us.

2022 Kei’un-kai Summer Recital

On July 24 2022 (Sun) the 2022 Kei’un-kai Summer Recital will be held at Kurochiku Momochitaru-kan, a beautiful traditional house off Shinmachi-dōri, in the heart of Kyoto. There is a proper nō stage on the second floor of the building. Coincidentially, the second round of Gion matsuri floats parade is scheduled for this day, and I expect the neighborhood to be in a high festive mood. Yet, this day marks the end of the great festival celebrations: the floats will be taken apart and stored away until next year. This is the first proper Gion matsuri celebration we will have since the pandemic, so I am very much looking forward to it.

This year’s Summer Recital will be rather small, because it is still difficult for some to move with ease across busy train stations, or join events that may include eating/drinking. Also, it is still basically impossible for people abroad to come to Japan, unless they hold a work or study visa. Thankfully, INI members / Summer Intensive participants who are already in Japan will be able to join the recital.

Students from the Kyoto Sangyo University nō club will also participate.

I am going to perform the kiri of the nō Funa Benkei. This is a rather difficult piece involving numerous complex movements with a naginata, as well as lots of jumping and twisting here and there. Fun, but tiring, especially this season.

The First Udaka Michishige Memorial performance event / Maibayashi “Kantan”

English and Italian follow Japanese

8月22日（日曜日）故 宇髙通成一周忌追善会「景雲会大会」にて舞囃子〈邯鄲〉を金剛流師範として勤めさせていただきます。通成先生は芸術として能を稽古するだけではなく、能を通じて人生を新たな視点から見る方法を教えてくれました。私たちにとってこの日は通成先生にもう一度感謝を伝える大事な機会となります。皆様のご来場を心よりお待ち申し上げます。

I’m happy to announce that, on August 22 (Sun) 2021 I will perform the maibayashi excerpt from the nō play “Kantan” on the occasion of the first Udaka Michishige Memorial Performance event at the Kongō Nō Theatre in Kyoto.

This will be my first performance as “shihan” (licensed instructor) of the Kongō School. Michishige-sensei took care of my shihan license application in 2020, from his hospital bed. Though the illness weakened him, he took care of his students until the very last moment. This day will be an important chance for us to express our gratitude to Michishige-sensei, whose work showed us a way we see nō not only as art, but as a way to see life. I hope you will join us on this special day! The event begins at 11:00 with various dance excerpts. I will perform at around 12:45.

Sono felice di annunciare che, Domenica 22 Agosto 2021 parteciperò alla prima performance in memoria del Maestro Udaka Michishige con un maibayashi estratto dal dramma nō “Kantan” presso il Teatro Nō Kongō, a Kyoto.

Questa sara’ la mia prima performance in qualità di “shihan” (istruttore certificato) della scuola Kongō. Il Maestro Michishige si prese cura della mia domanda di certificazione nell’inverno del 2020, dal suo letto di ospedale. Nonostante la malattia lo avesse indebolito, il Maestro si prese cura dei suoi studenti fino all’ultimo momento. Questo giorno sarà un’opportunità per esprimere nuovamente la nostra gratitudine al Maestro Michishige, il cui lavoro ci ha mostrato un modo di vedere il nō non solo come arte, ma anche come vita.

The future of 3D nō experience?

Canon and IBM Japan will join forces to promote performing arts using volumetric video technology, which I understand as being a form of 3D video filming which will allow to freely move the point of view around the stage. Captured images are digitally processed so that they can be modified adding CGI. The Iemoto of the Hōshō school, Hōshō Kazufusa, is collaborating with this project – you can see samples of his performance of Aoinoue on the Volumetric x Noh Website.

Video del nō “Shōjō” con sottotitoli in italiano

The video of Udaka Tatsushige’s full performance of the nō play Shōjō with English and Italian subtitles is now available online.

Sono molto felice di condividere con voi il video completo del nō Shōjō (猩々), con sottotitoli in inglese e in italiano! La performance e’ prodotta da Udaka Tatsushige e Norishige, ed e’ stata filmata nell’autunno del 2020 presso il teatro della Scuola Kongō, a Kyoto. Il ruolo di protagonista (shite) e’ interpretato da Udaka Tatsushige.

In occasione della pubblicazione di questo video ho avuto il piacere di tradurre il testo del nō e ho deciso di approfittarne per studiare questo brano approfonditamente. Spero di poter pubblicare presto i risultati della mia piccola ricerca in italiano. Anche un dramma breve e apparentemente semplice come Shōjō e’ in realtà molto denso di significati e ricco rimandi a leggende e tradizioni. Purtroppo il formato “video con sottotitoli” non permette di aggiungere le note, supporto indispensabile per apprezzare appieno la molteciplità di significati che ciascun verso contiene. Nella mia traduzione ho cercato di rendere il testo comprensibile anche senza un apparato critico. Aggiungo una breve introduzione e vi auguro buona visione! (Non dimenticate di attivare i sottotitoli in italiano. Se non sapete come fare, leggete qui).

La storia del nō Shōjō è ambientata nella Cina della Dinastia Tang (secoli VII-X). Un uomo di nome Kōfu vive alle pendici del monte Kanekin, nei pressi del villaggio di Yōzu. Kōfu racconta di essere molto devoto ai suoi genitori – la pietà filiale (kōkō 孝行) è una delle virtù centrali del pensiero Confuciano, fondamento etico della società giapponese. Kōfu riceve in sogno un oracolo nel quale i genitori gli suggeriscono di andare al mercato e vendere il sakè. Lui segue diligentemente il consiglio dei genitori, apre un negozio di vino, e si arricchisce. A un certo punto, un misterioso avventore prende a visitare il negozio di Kōfu. Dice di essere “Shōjō” e di venire dal mare. Incuriosito, Kōfu si reca alla baia e attende la nuova venuta di Shōjō, il quale presto emerge dall’acqua. Kōfu e Shōjō bevono insieme, elogiando le virtù del sakè, e Shōjō celebra questo incontro con una danza. Infine, Shōjō premia Kōfu donandogli una giara di vino inesauribile, prova della sua virtù e allo stesso tempo, in termini più pragmatici, assicurazione di prosperità economica per i suoi discendenti.

Fra i molti temi che varrebbe la pena commentare, vorrei soffermarmi brevemente sull’associazione fra sakè e crisantemi, ricorrente nel testo di questo nō. Secondo una tradizione di origine cinese, durante la notte i fiori di crisantemo venivano coperti da pezze di cotone per poter raccogliere la rugiada depositata su di essi il mattino seguente. Si credeva che cospargersi il corpo con questa rugiada profumata potesse allungare la vita o curare le malattie. Questo rito veniva svolto il nono giorno del nono mese del calendario lunare. Tale giorno, noto come chōyō no sekku, era una delle cinque festività stagionali. [1] Nel periodo Heian (secoli VIII-XII) l’aristocrazia giapponese usava festeggiare questo giorno con un banchetto durante il quale si beveva sakè nel quale erano stati immersi fiori di crisantemo. La festa divenne quindi associata al sakè, ma anche alla stagione della raccolta del riso, con il quale si prepara questo vino. [2] Il crisantemo e la luna, simbolo di purezza e di sincerità, sono elementi tradizionalmente associati all’autunno. Il colore rosso, che caratterizza il costume di Shōjō, allude non solo al suo possibile stato di ebrezza, ma anche ai colori del fogliame autunnale. La veste interna surihaku e la gonna-pantalone hakama sono decorate con motivi di onde in oro su fondo rosso, mentre il kimono broccato karaori è ricco di motivi floreali fra cui sono evidenti, appunto, crisantemi di vari colori.

[1] Il significato simbolico della data e’ il seguente: il numero 9, segno dispari, quindi “positivo” (yang) e indivisible e’ il numero a singola cifra più grande. La ripetizione del 9 rende il nono giorno del nono mese il giorno più “yang” dell’anno.

[2] Questa leggenda compare in un altro nō, Kiku jidō (o Makura jidō).

Noh theatre shining in the dark

I haven’t written here for a long time. Apologies. As the “corona days” continue, noh and kyogen activities have resumed, albeit with restrictions in terms of audience capacity. Programs tend to be shorter, and in some cases plays that feature fewer performer appearing on stage at the same time are chosen. Chorus members, often reduced in number, wear cloth masks. I have also seen productions with plexiglas panels between the musicians. I think this is more a way to show that the performers “care” to reduce the chance of infection more than anything else…

Meanwhile I was asked to write a short essay for “Noh”, a small publication produced by the Kyoto Kanze Noh Theatre.

I translate the Japanese title in “Noh theatre shining in the dark”. In the essay I talk about an age-old issue: what should be done to attract new audiences to the noh theatre. Tanizaki Junichirō praised the darkness that enveloped noh performers before the advent of natural light. Much of that darkness has been lost with the advent of artificial light. Artificial, not artistic. I am drawn to the “darkness” of noh, a word which I use as a metaphor for the the unknown, the unseen, the unprocessed. Perhaps even the non-existent. Although this is what I find fascinating about noh, most of the attempts to attract new audiences to noh theatre go the opposite way. Explanations, demonstrations, workshops – all of which, I admit, are things in which I am involved, and that I myself promote. These activities provide answers to questions. They “shed light” on something obscure that needs to be understood in order to be enjoyed. This is a misunderstanding of how art appreciation in general (not just noh) works. I find this tendency to be particularly strong in Japan, where manuals on the “correct way” to appreciate noh or other arts proliferate, and performances are typically preceded by an “explanation” by a scholar or other expert (again, something I have done and will probably keep doing). I believe that enjoying noh cannot be reduced to finding confirmation in the answers we give in workshops. Noh is not Q&A. It should be more like a conversation emerging from the encounter with the unknown. The preparation we need to watch noh is not to be found in manuals, but in an education in “creative interpretation”, something that requires a much longer period of “study” than a workshop.

Learning from Corona: nō videos

In a recent interview for Tokyo Shimbun, Hōshō Kazufusa, iemoto of the Hōshō school, has commented on the current coronavirus crisis, saying that (I paraphrase) many people think that the tension perceived in a nō performance cannot be transmitted through videos, but there are things such as the breathing of the performers or the sweat dripping from their chins that film techniques can capture in order to convey the “drama” of nō performance.

I very much agree with this. The problem with YouTube videos of nō is that many of them are produced without the necessary attention to how the performances are filmed. Of course, there are reasons for this, including organization, timing, and, most importantly, budget. But there could also be a lack of awareness of the shortcomings and potentials of the video medium.

I think that there could be a future for nō videos if the quality improves. Filmed performances of kabuki, but also of the National Theatre or The Globe may serve as inspiration. The current crisis will eventually (hopefully) end, but the Internet is going to stay. I hope nō will be able to make good use of it.

On kamae – the basics of standing

For any actor, the most basic, yet the most difficult thing to do is to ‘just stand on stage’. We try to ‘be natural’ – but there is not one single way of ‘looking natural’, yet we can perceive ‘naturalness’, which may also be interpreted as  ‘confidence’. Since there is no set way of doing it, the inexperienced actor will try think about what kind of thing would be best to do in order to look natural.

We feel exposed, naked, we feel like we appear too neutral, too uninteresting. We feel compelled to express something by doing something. We chose to do something and we are judged by this choice.

A terrible example of kamae – The Mood performing Blackberry Way

In nō, there is no need to do all that, since we have kamae – we are told how to stand and look natural on stage – then it’s just a matter to do it properly. We are not judged on the basis of what we decide to do, but on the basis of how well we are reproducing a pre-existent form.

This actually extends well beyond just nō. In Japan you can find kamae everywhere. Hands together in front of the body, or along the sides. There is a kamae for sitting, with hands on your knees (men) or on your lap (women). 

Vr Noh: Ghost in the Shell

Performances of the “Vr noh” Ghost in the Shell (攻殻機動隊) will be held at Tokyo’s Setagaya Public Theatre on August 22 and 23, featuring young shite actors from the Kanze School, Sakaguchi Takanobu and Kawaguchi Kōhei. More info and tickets here (Japanese only – all performances seem to be already sold out, perhaps due to with-coronavirus restricted seating)

After various animation films, the 2017 Hollywood feature film (sparking controversy because of the almost-all Western casting), and a recent all-digital sequel on Netflix, Shirow’s manga is recast in nō form.

As I kid I used to collect Masamune Shirow’s manga. Appleseed, my favorite, has been one of the first available in Italy back in the early 90s, followed by Black Magic, Dominion, and Orion. His works, mixing cyberpunk with fantasy and Japanese spirituality, were extremely popular outside Japan (I think he was published by Dark Horse in the US).

Ghost in the Shell blew us readers away because of the amazing color rendition of some of its pages. How is it going to look like in “vr nō” style? I imagine the plot will play with the idea of the “ghost” or “soul” transmigrating from body to body, or from body to another material vessel, something familiar to the nō repertory, rooted in buddhist thought. From the poster we can see the female protagonist, apparently dancing wearing a purple chōken, typically used the the depiction of female spirits.

As I pointed out at the beginning of the article, all tickets are already sold out, so we can only hope for future re-runs, or for a video!