The Noh Actors

There are four major categories of Noh Actors, and eight major categories of roles in Noh:

• The Shitekata are the most common form of actor in Noh. They perform various roles, including:
  • "Shite" (Primary actor)
  • "Tsure" (Shite's companion)
  • "Jiutai" (Chorus, usually 6-8 actors)
  • "Koken" (stage assistant, usually 2-3 actors).
• The Wakikata perform the Waki role, a secondary role that is the counterpart of the Shite.
• The Kyogenkata perform the kyogen interludes during and between plays.
• The Hayashikata are the instrumentalists who play the four instruments used in Noh theater, the flute, hip-drum, the shoulder-drum, and the stick-drum.

A typical Noh play will involve all categories of actors and usually takes 30-120 minutes. Kyogen farces provide comic relief in the interludes. There are approximately 250 plays that are performed in the current repertoire. There are six categories of Noh plays, which are organized roughly by subject:

• Okina/Kamiuta: A unique play that combines dance with Shinto ritual.
  The oldest Noh play.
• 1st Category: God plays
• 2nd Category: Warrior plays
• 3rd Category: Woman plays
• 4th Category: Mad woman plays.
• 5th Category: Demon plays.

The Tale of the Heike, a medieval tale of the rise and fall of the Taira clan, originally sung by blind monks who accompanied themselves on the biwa, is an important source of material for Noh (and later dramatic forms), particularly warrior plays. Authors also drew on Nara and Heian period Japanese classics, and Chinese sources.

There are about 1500 professional Noh actors in Japan today, and the art form continues to thrive. The five extant schools of Noh acting are the Kanze, Hosho, Komparu, Kita, and Kongo schools. Each school has a leading family known as Soh-ke, and the head of each family is entitled to create new plays or edit already existing songs. The society of Noh actors is quite feudalistic, and strictly protects the traditions passed down from their ancestors.

According to Zeami, all Noh plays should draw from an aesthetic ideal called 'Yugen', meaning subtle and profound spirit. Noh truly represents the Japanese culture of finding beauty in subtlety and formality.