Kanze-kai
Interview (English version)
What is Noh? Not many people are familiar with the traditional culture of Noh. In this article, three students will introduce you to the glamorous, interesting aspects of Noh. These are three students who met at a Noh performance.
Naomi:
From Junko, the present president of the University of Tokyo Kanze-kai, an introduction of the last year’s performance.
Junko:
My club, Kanze-kai, performed at the Kokuritsu Nohgakudo Honbutai (National Noh Performance Theatre) on Dec. 19th. Kanze-kai receives instructions from Dr. Shoroku Sekine, and Dr.Yoshito Sekine and mainly study Noh, Dance, Song, and music. We practice hard for the once in a year event.
Naomi:
Junko has become the president of Kanze-kai since after the Noh performance on December. So Junko, when did you start Noh, and why?
Junko:
I felt I lacked knowledge about Japanese culture, because of the years I’ve spent overseas. I was determined to join a club that has to do with traditional culture in order to get to know Japan. When I saw a Noh performance during the welcome season for the freshmen, I decided to join the club. I have to admit, Kimono was part of the reason for my joining the club.
Naomi:
Haha. Did you have knowledge about Noh before joining the club?
Junko:
Not at all! I don’t think anybody does.
Naomi:
Nobody knows Noh?
Junko:
There are only a few people who have seen it, and even if they have, they either fell asleep or thought is was boring. (Although, even I still do fall asleep too sometimes.) Some people confuse Noh with Kyogen and Kabuki. Also, about Noh club, people think we just study Noh, but we actually dance and sing it. It seems like there’s a gap between Noh and the public.
Naomi:
Zoya, what do you associate the term “traditional Japanese culture” with?
Zoya:
When I hear “Japanese culture” manga isn’t what comes to my mind. Something with history and tradition, a “Michi,” like calligraphy and tea ceremony for example (the character “Michi”-road are in their names) are what first appears on my mind; things with skills. Women wearing kimono enjoying flower arrangements and tea practices are still a strong image of Japanese culture in me. Did you know Japanese culture has gained much popularity in Moscow? Any intelligence would know the word Noh and Kabuki these days.
But like Junko said, there are people who don’t know the difference between Noh and Kabuki. Some who roughly know the difference say Kabuki has more dynamics and less boring. There are still much mysteries about Noh in Russia.
Naomi:
Lack of understanding seems to appear both in and outside of Japan.
Junko:
One time, my French teacher was telling me that Noh is scary. It’s not hard to understand her.
Naomi:
Haha, I see. Such an honest comment about Noh is refreshing.
Zoya:
I didn’t feel scared but it was hard to understand.
Junko:
It is, because so much of it is abstracted. Japanese culture to me is a culture that value rituals and manners.
Naomi:
Did you realize that through the experience of Noh?
Junko:
Yes, I feel it all through the salutations in the beginning until the very last salutation of each practice.
Naomi:
What part of Noh, Zoya, did you feel was Japanese?
Zoya:
I felt it in the mixture of costumes, movements and songs. I only have a general image because I’ve only seen it twice. One thing I feel is that Japanese traditional culture is hard to access. You have to have money to join practices. It requires more money and practices than imaginations and talent.
Junko:
That’s true. Noh have a kind of a separate world. That’s why many people don’t know about it. When you go see a Noh performance, all you see is elderly in the audience. But that is exactly why I recommend you learning it during college years, you don’t get much chance to learn it any other time.
Naomi:
You might be right! I also thought, from seeing the wide range of generations in the audience, we’d be able to interact with many interesting people, which is a valuable experience.
Junko:
Yes! Unlike sports, youth is not all in Noh. In fact, I’ve become to talk a lot more with my grandfather recently because he has experience in Noh also. There is no common link between generations in music, sports, and education, but in traditional culture, there is. Ages bear meanings in its self.
Naomi:
What did you enjoy the most about Noh, Zoya?
Zoya:
Because it was so difficult to understand the speech, I listened to its intonations and watched the actors’ impressions. I think one of the reason why Junko's French teacher said that Noh is scary is that in Noh actors do not use their mimics as much as actors use in western theatre. and all the movements seem to be very restricted, as if it wasn’t the impulse coming from their heart but from outside - as if somebody was manipulating the gesters of actors. some kind of "invisible hand"
I wanted to ask Junko - what do you feel when you perform Noh?
Junko:
My teachers always teach us to feel the gravity from all sides and to do the minimal movements-only the necessary movements. hmn...difficult. I dance with great “ki”-spirit. I don’t relate myself too much to the character.
Zoya:
Because I was observing the faces - and was astonished: everybody was so concentrated and for me it was like as if all of the actors were on the spiritual seance, when the spirits of past transformed into their bodies...
Junko:
yeah exactly, there is this intense “ki” or concentration that makes the dancer and the audience together.
Naomi:
The “ki”?
Junko:
Yes very difficult to explain. It’s something that appears only when you are not trying to be or acting something. It’s the spirit of dancing; our teacher always tells us.
Zoya:
But wait a minute - maybe because I’m a foreigner I couldn’t share the same experience of "being together"
Naomi:
you know, some people say Noh is similar to Western Shakespeare, you have to study it to understand it. How do you think the audience can come to understand it better?
Junko:
yeah the reason why I can now enjoy watching Noh is because I actually learn it. If I didn’t it would be a very distant and far world
Zoya:
For example, once I went to see Indian dances. and was lucky, as after the dance the dancers explained us that in Indian dance every dance is just like a pray to the gods. and they explained what every movement meant and then danced again - then I felt like I started to "hear" their message, their prays.
I want to know in the same way, to "hear" the message of Noh. But I don’t know where can I learn these kind of things..
Junko:
You should join my club! Haha. I promise, that’s the best way to appreciate and enjoy Noh.
Zoya:
With pleasure. Haha.
Naomi:
What other ways?
Junko:
hmn... take one aspect and concentrate on that aspect for the entire Noh play. for example, in my club there is an art school student, she doesn’t do the dances but she is interested in the Noh masks and the outsides. also a classmate of mine was interested in the architecture of the Noh scene. some people may like the, the costume. Also, many Noh stories come from “the Heike-story” so someone who likes “the Heike-story” or “the Genshi-story” would find Noh interesting. There’s the recent played “Yoshitsune,” the TV-series in Noh version. Also we have “Funabenkei” “Hashibenkei” “Yashima” too.
Plus, people often think Noh movements are slow and boring but have you seen those jumps? I say Noh is also a sport, you need muscles. No where and no time do you move so slowly so quietly!
Zoya:
I found the movements interesting - some kind of trance
Naomi:
Many ways to enjoy Noh!!
Junko:
Yeah! What’s very interesting in Noh is that there is no absolute conductor, like in orchestra. So everybody on stage make the performance. That’s the fun of it.
Naomi:
I think those aspects of Noh will be a good way for people to have interest in Noh, and eventually someday we'll be able to understand that "ki" and the unity.
Zoya:
I think I will start reading Heike tales. That would be great to understand, thanks. And I hope on your support to understand even better the mysteries of Noh!
Junko Horiuchi
Major: Law
Overseas experience: Luxenburg
Future plan: Interested in study of region-integration. Thinking betweenchoices of becoming a journalist, government official, moving on to graduate school, and much much more.
Vdovichenko Zoya
Major: Cultural History
Birth place: Russia
Future plan: Interested in becoming an interpreter or a translator. Plans to go back to Russia after studying abroad, and dreams of traveling around the world.
Naomi Kumazawa
Major: Aesthetics
Overseas experience: United States, South Africa
Future plan: Interested in the advertisement industry.
