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142 Dialogue and Monologue in Nò Dòmoto Masaki To Dance With an inundation of decorative speech, Oscar Wilde’s end-of-thecentury play Salome exalts functional aestheticism. Within this play, the heroine Salome dances the famous dance of seven veils and in Richard Strauss’ opera Salome (1907), she does the same. Nonetheless, one does not say the actress or the singer is “dancing” the part of Salome, because dance is only a part of the play or the opera. Contrary to this, those of us connected with nò generally refer to “nò acting” as “nò dancing.” Indeed, when watching nò, the purely abstract dance scenes (mai)—normally savored without being distracted by sung lyrics (utai)—are impressive, and the audience accepts the expression “nò dancing” as natural. In addition to this, there are also dramatic dances and dramatic dialogue sequences in a play like Kanze Kojirò’s (1435–1516) Benkei in the Boat (Funa Benkei), a living person (genzai) play. Why is it that even in such cases, we do not think it strange to say “an actor dances Benkei in the Boat”? Granted that such a phrase is a customary expression among those connected with nò, still isn’t it strange if one thinks about it? When we say mau, it generally means “to dance,” but strictly speaking the word contains other meanings as well. Japanese performance essentially contains two different kinds of dance, known by the Japanese terms: mai and odori. During the Meiji era (1868–1912), both were arbitrarily subsumed into a new word, buyò, created by joining the Chinese readings of the characters for mai (bu) and odori (yò). Such is the convenience of the Japanese system of creating new words. Mau means to turn—an action of going around in one spot in either large or small circles. After a while, a person becomes dizzy, mentally Dialogue and Monologue 143 confused, and falls. Into this muddled consciousness, a god gains possession and gives the human dancer supernatural awareness. In primitive times, an act of godly possession started with turning in circles; therefore, in antiquity dances offered to gods were known as mai. Furthermore, mai referred to a gratuity or bribe offered to the gods. An example is found in a poem in the imperial collection Ten Thousand Leaves (Manyòshu) by Yamanoue no Okura (d. 773), which laments the death of his infant child: Being that he is so young, He would not know the way. I’ll give you a gratuity (mai), Oh, messenger from the netherworld, Please carry him there on your back. The mai mentioned here is the dance (mai) that becomes the gratuity (mai). Proof of this is the fact that the song is sung in the voice of the spiritual possessor and in a set rhythm. Likewise in nò, the chants (utai) are songs that make an “appeal” (ut[t]ai) to the audience. Concerning the second type of dance, odori, I would like to touch upon its basic nature. Odori agaru means “to jump up.” It is believed that jumping (odoru) is an action that simulates upwardness, and hence stimulates the rapid growth of agricultural crops. It is also thought that odori depicts the violent movements that occur in the moments just before a god leaves the dancing body it has possessed. In the final section (kiri) of the nò play A Roll of Silk (Makiginu), which dramatizes a god’s possession of a priestess, the script says “run around as if to fly, and at one spot jump up (odori).” In performance today the actor playing the role does not jump, but a vestige of it can be felt. The turbulent action of odori, the serene circular movements of mai, as well as the sung utai are all incorporated in the expression “dance the nò” used in the current world of nò theater. The expression “dance the nò” is supported by more than anthropological explanations, briefly suggested here. All of the many physical forms or patterns (kata) that a nò actor learns as part of his basic skill are reified “dance forms” (mai no kata). Therefore, the actor who acts in nò is, in actuality, dancing his part. Necessarily the basic techniques inculcated in the novice, the learning of which takes up a large portion of his daily life, consist for the most part of excerpts of dances and of songs, for they are the essential elements of nò. Is nò then a dance, buyò? It is...

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