“Kyogen”: The traditional Japanese satire

I saw a kyogen-play on stage at The Festival Hall in Osaka, which is usually used for the classic music concerts of orchestras. Kyogen which is the traditional Japanese satiric comedy is usually performed in combination with Noh at a Noh hall, but this-time Kyogen was independently performed on its wide stage. So I felt the essences of Kyogen directly.

As a silent play in the sorrowful drama

“Narayamabushi-ko” is a sorrowful story in a poor old mountainous village. The village has little food, so the number of the population is limited. Thus, a newly born baby means removing an elderly person from the village, who is taken to the depths of Narayama Mountain and will not return. There is an elderly mother who has a filial son and a grandson who will have a new baby. She has to leave the village and she wants to go to the mountain. She has accepted the rule of the village and her fate, and she waits for the day when she will be taken. Of course this is my imagination. She said nothing but I felt that she allowed being meant to die. The filial son wants her to stay for as long as possible. The grand-son wants her leave, and the son hates his cold-heart son.


This sorrowful story was performed by the act of Kyogen. The performers of the son, the grand-son and other villagers played with minimum voices, but the performer of the mother played without words. He ( Kyogen is traditionally performed by only males) performed by only his actions which was made up of traditional action forms. Moreover, he covered his face with a mask of an elderly female, so his facial expression was sealed. The son taking the mother on his back to Narayama Mountain often asked her to return, but she refused and ordered his son to go forward as each time. The actions of the mother were weak and restrained, but therefore, his actions pierced my heart more than the case with words. I filled many space of no words among the performance with my imagination. Her lovely, passive and hopeful mind without slight movement to her son, her fate and going to heaven was vividly felt. Of course this play is a Kyogen, so it has comedy. A crow who is performed by a Kyogen actor with only cries is waiting for her death added a taste of comedy to the sorrowful story. The son who was dismayed by his mother’s consistency left his mother in the depths of the mountain, and he returned to his home village without looking back, which was the rule of the village. The snow began to fall and the mother felt the coming of her death. She remembered her life from her childhood between life and death, finally her life faded away into the dark night as a white spirit.

Kyogen

This program with “Narayamabushi-ko” was performed by performers of three generations of a renowned traditional Kyogen-performing family. The grandfather is a national treasury person, the father is a popular performer and the son is a promising performer. The grandfather acted as the mother who was taken to the depths of Narayama Mountain and the father performed as the crow. These actors were perfectly matched.


The father of this family, Mansai Nomura, says about Kyogen as follows.

“Kyogen is one of the traditional Japanese entertainments but to play present-day normal people is the most attractive point of Kyogen. Finally, Kyogen is a story of present-day people. Kyogen isn’t a type of comedy which strongly pull the audience into laughing but a type of satire which naturally brings a smile of the audiences. It is similar for an audience to smile by thinking that he is the same as an innocent person on stage.

All things on a stage are only voices and bodies with actions of the performers. Then I want you to feel the ambiance and the passing of time which the performers generate. Performers have been training for the ambiance and the passing of time along with mastering a lot of traditional forms of acting.

And another attractive point of Kyogen is the degrees of dexterity, the ability of making the ambiance and the passing of time which attract audiences through the same acting and words. You will be able to know the difference between the abilities of the performers. And when a synchronized feeling between audiences and performers is generated the stage is successful.”

For firsthand visitors of the traditional Japanese acting


There is a wall of language actually but voices on a stage are minimum. You can know the story of the program in advance. The most important point is to fill your imagination into the space and the passing of time which the performers generate. To fill your imagination into the space and the passing of time is the Japanese method of the aesthetics of subtraction. By subtracting many sub functions and things from a normal-day laughing behaviors, the traditional active forms of Kyogen were made. Please enjoy Kyogen by your own imagination. And know the Japanese method of subtraction. Besides Kyogen, you can see such a method at any traditional place like a Zen garden.