Nō Theatre Transversal (review)

The editors of this fascinating volume contend that of all Japanese performance genres, nō has had the greatest impact on twentieth- and twenty-first-century world theatre. They note the responses of Yeats, Brecht, Claudel, Copeau, Brook, Barrault, Wilson, Lepage, and others—a list, they suggest, that "reads like a Who's Who of Western modernism" (7). Yet these essays seldom consider such luminaries; rather, the book's strength resides in the presentation of various aspects of contemporary no that are little known in the West. Combining contributions by theorists, historians, and practitioners, the essays expand the notion of transversal theatre to include intercultural, intracultural, cross-genre, interchronological, and intermedial manifestations. A recurring theme is the continual creation of new nō plays that respond to current events and/or artistic innovations. The essays derive from a 2006 conference jointly sponsored by Trier University and the University of Mainz.

The book is divided into three sections. The first, "Crisis and Modern Identities," focuses on the burdens placed on nō as purveyor of national and communal identity from the Meiji period (starting in 1868) through World War II. These essays deal with politics and ideology, arenas that most English nō scholarship has avoided. Kagaya Shinko analyzes the diaries of nō actor Umewaka Minoru (1828-1909). Kagaya focuses on Umewaka's nationalistic activities during the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars, such as his new (1894-95) nō Mikuni no hikari (The Blazing Light of Our Nation) with its valedictory dances of praise for the emperor and his brave soldiers, and Umewaka's enthusiasm for Kawakami Otojirō's hugely popular, jingoistic "reports-from-the-field" war plays. Mae and Richard Smethurst examine two nō plays created during World War II: Churei (The Loyal Spirits), which praises those who died in service to the emperor, using traditional nō structure and language; and Miikusabune (The Emperor's Warship), which is far more provocative. This latter 1943 work depicts the God of the South Seas offering his blessings to a warship en route to do battle with American and British forces. James Brandon's essay on wartime kabuki summarizes key aspects of his brilliant book, Kabuki's Forgotten War: 1931-1945, which demonstrates that all "traditional" performing arts actively participated in the war effort. Eike Grossmann considers how the remote village of Kurokawa continues to reinforce communal identity by balancing tourism with a semi-ritualized, semi-professional no festival that is embedded in the community's life.

Part 2, "Reformation and Renewal," reminds us of the constant artistic transformations of a genre that prefers to present itself as static. Takemoto Mikio deconstructs the changing meanings of the aesthetic term jo-ha-kyū. Takemoto offers a careful re-creation of Zeami's use of the term and considers its relation to earlier, variant iterations. Yamanaka Reiko's essay asks what makes nō different from other performing arts, and cogently maintains that a new nō play (shinsaku-nō) can be called nō only if it retains both the formal textual units and specific performance practices unique to it. Kasai Ken'ichi, the artistic director of Tessankai Theatre Company, superbly summarizes the historical development of new nō plays. Kasai pinpoints the contributions of seminal modern nō practitioners, Kanze Hisao and Umewaka Rokurō, and offers cogent analysis of recent nō plays about current issues like heart transplants and environmental poisoning. Kasai also considers his own formal experiments, such as fusing nō with opera, butoh, or avant-garde performance. Nō actor Umewaka Rokurō embellishes these comments by discussing his performances in experimental plays; he also laments the lack of depth and commitment of younger performers. Oda Sachiko offers a taxonomy of some of the same plays discussed in other essays in this section, creating fresh perspectives on these unfamiliar works by analyzing script structure, performance style, language use, and content. Oda envisions a new genre that merges nō and the avant-garde.

Two essays in this section deal with contemporary women in nō, a subject that will surely be new to most readers...