Performers

Performer types and roles in a nō performance

Nō performers belong to professional groups called ryūgi (stylistic school). Each of the roles––shite, waki, kyōgen, as well as musicians ōtsuzumi, kotsuzumi, taiko and nōkan players––has several stylistic schools, as summarized in the “Nō Stylistic Schools” chart below. A professional household that has transmitted the nō arts for generations heads each stylistic school. In addition, the ryūgi include trained members who are not blood relations with the head (iemoto) and are enriched by associates such as amateur students who became semi or full professionals.

With the advent of the Meiji restoration in 1868, the feudal system that patronized noh throughout the Edo period was dismantled, and with that the role of nō as ceremonial entertainment. Numerous families of professionals were forced to interrupt their activities. There were cases of provincial actors becoming iemoto, or of wealthy amateurs being recognized because of their dedication and patronage, and of their sons becoming professionals. Many of the noh families active today were in fact created by the heirs of those actors. Although several aspects of noh underwent a process of modernization, its social structure has remained largely unchanged from the times during which it thrived as the entertainment of the warrior class.

Types of performer

Ryūgi are pyramid-shaped systems at the top of which stands a grand-master, the iemoto (lit. ‘origin of the house’). The iemoto lineage, from which each ryūgi takes its name, is the highest-ranking within the stylistic school. Among the exclusive powers of the iemoto is the right to authorize performances, to revise and publish scripts, or to grant teaching licenses. Leading positions such as that of the iemoto are hereditary and are only open to male heirs.

Under the iemoto are the leaders of other families of professionals who may have ancient lineages, transmitting their own tradition of chant style, choreography, or masks, albeit within the larger tradition of the ryūgi. It is said that if the art of noh is passed down for at least three generations, a family can be called a ‘family of professionals, therefore it is possible for new groups to emerge. It is not unusual for these families to form relationships with each other, training or producing events together. Although the iemoto retains the authority over the ryūgi at large, the smaller sub-systems of families and associates results in a complex and varied assemblage of distinct traditions following the same general style but with individual flavors. Actors and musicians specialize in one role type or one instrument and are trained within their ryūgi.

Today, there are five stylistic schools of shite, three schools of waki, two schools of kyōgen. As for the hayashi musicians, there are three schools of fue (also nōkan, the transverse flute), four schools of kotsuzumi (small hand drum), four schools of ōtsuzumi (large hand drum), and two schools of taiko (stick drum). Performers specialize only in one of these arts, hence their professional affiliation is with only one of the stylistic schools.

There is a common misunderstanding deriving from the use of the word ‘school’ as a translation of the Japanese ryūgi. The Japanese word ‘ryū’, which literally means ‘flow’, indicates the continuous flow of a tradition shared by a group of practitioners, like a school of thought. This should not be confused with an educational institution. such as a drama academy or a conservatory, that has a team of instructors teaching a unified curriculum in classrooms.

Performer types and roles in a nō performance

Nō professionals are called nōgakushi, a compound word whose ending, ‘shi’, signifies ‘specialist’, or ‘teacher’. Although the distinction between professionals and amateurs varies according to the stylistic school, and is not without ambiguities, usually members of the Nō Professional Association (Nōgaku Kyōkai) whose main source of income is performing and/or teaching noh are considered professionals.

Today, individuals who are not born into a family of professionals often start practicing Noh at university clubs, or within an amateur group, and may become professionals or semi-professionals later. In addition, unlike Kabuki, in Nō there are female professionals, although their activities are de facto limited, and men are preferred if not imperative for the hereditary transmission of professional titles such as that of the iemoto.

There is a small number of non-Japanese practicing noh at different levels, but even those who have trained enough to receive a license to teach do not regularly act on stage as professionals. Rebecca Ogamo Teele (Kongō School) is the first and, up to date, only non-Japanese member of the Noh Performance Association. While she does not perform as a professional, she acts as a backstage assistant during the Kongō school regular performance series.

Actor-dancers are:

Shite kata
Waki kata
Kyōgen kata

Hayashi instrumentalists are:

Fue kata
Kotsuzumi kata
Ōtsuzumi kata
Taiko kata

Artistic schools

Shite
- Kanze, Hōshō, Konparu, Kongō, Kita
Waki
- Hōshō, Fukuō, Takayasu
Kyōgen
- Izumi, Ōkura
Nōkan
- Issō, Morita, Fujita
Ko-tsuzumi
- Kō, Kōsei, Ōkura, Kanze
Ō-tsuzumi
- Kadono, Takayasu, Ishii, Okura, Kanze
Taiko
- Kanze, Konparu

Interactions between ryūgi

One distinctive feature of noh is that its performers do not partake in long, common rehearsal periods: they train separately and meet on stage only for one rehearsal (mōshi-awase) before the day of the performance, which is, in turn, a one-time event, never repeated with the same group of people in the same place. The only exception is touring abroad.

The ability to stage a performance after a single rehearsal is possible because the noh repertory (its texts, music, choreography, and staging conventions) forms a fixed canon, and its performers, regardless of their specialization, must understand all aspects of its performance in order to be considered professionals.

Though the performers belong to distinct groups, together they form an integrated network of professionals. The existence of different specialized schools allows for different combinations. Kanze-ryū shite could perform with Fukuō waki or Hōshō waki, with kō-ryū or okura-ryū ko-tsuzumi, etc. However, because of the substantial discrepancies in texts and performance conventions, it is highly unusual that two shite from different ryūgi perform together in the same play. Ryūgi are not represented uniformly throughout Japan, so some combinations of actors and musicians are determined by geographic regions.

Performers' roles

Shite-kata (シテ方, also 仕手方) are performers who can take the following roles

Shite シテ: main role. Often masked.
Tsure ツレ: companion to the main role. Sometimes masked. Less important male tsure roles are called tomo トモ.
Kokata 子方: child actor. Usually they are children of shite-kata, who play the roles of children and, less often, of high ranking characters
Jiutai 地謡: chorus. It is usually composed of 8 members
Kōken 後見: on-stage assistant. Usually one to three actors who sit at upstage right. Backstage, the same assistants take care of costuming shite, tsure, and kokata. They are also in charge of preparing and bringing on stage properties (tsukurimono 作物).
Hataraki 働キ: backstage assistants. They help the kōken backstage, but do not sit onstage during the performance. Backstage assistants also take care of operating the sliding door (kirido) upstage left. Kōken and hataraki can take the additional role of curtain-lifter (maku-age), especially for the entrance of shite and tsure.

Waki-kata (ワキ方, also 脇方) are performers who can take the following roles:

Waki ワキ: side actor.
Waki-tsure ワキツレ: companion to the side actor.
Hataraki 働キ: backstage assistants. Although waki actors do not take the role of kōken on-stage assistants, they usually act as hataraki backstage assistants, dressing the waki and waki-tsure, lifting the curtain, and operating the sliding door.

Kyōgen-kata（狂言方） : actors who can take the following roles:

In a kyōgen play (hon-kyōgen 本狂言), performed independently from a nō play :
- Shite
- Ado
- Ko-ado
Within a nō performance (ai-kyōgen 間狂言)
- Ai (アイ or 間）: these are usually roles of servant, local men, or, in some cases, lesser deities. They often perform a narrative section between two acts of a play or, less often, at the beginning of a play. Alternatively, the ai may also appear as followers of the shite or waki and perform alongside them.
- Kōken（後見）: on-stage assistant. Usually one stage assistant sits upstage right during an independent kyōgen performance. The stage assistant is in charge of handing or removing small and hand-held properties, as well as prompting lines.
- Hataraki（働キ）: backstage assistants. Since kyōgen performances usually do not involve large stage properties, the main job of a kyōgen backstage assistant is to help kyōgen actors with their costumes.

Hayashi 囃子 refers to the music of noh performance.

The hayashi ensemble of musicians is composed of three or four instrumentalists (hayashi-kata) depending on the play. Each musician specializes exclusively in one instrument. They are:

Fue kata 笛方: flute player. Plays a transverse flute called nōkan lit. ‘noh flute’ 能笛) or simply fue(lit. ‘flute’ 笛). Flute player schools are: Issō, Morita, Fujita.
Kotsuzumi kata 小鼓方: the small hand drum player beats a drum called kotsuzumi (lit. ‘small drum’ 小鼓) or simply tsuzumi (lit. ‘drum’ 鼓). In English, this drum is often called ‘shoulder drum’ because it is held near the right shoulder (hence the name ‘shoulder drum’) with the left hand and beat from below with the right hand. Small drum player schools are: Kō, Kōsei, Ōkura, Kanze.
Ōtsuzumi kata 大鼓方: the large hand drum player strikes the ōtsuzumi (lit. ‘large drum’ 大鼓) or ōkawa (lit. ‘large skin’ 大皮). In English, this drum is often called ‘hip drum’ because it rests on the left thigh. It is beat from the side with the right hand. Large drum schools are: Kadono, Takayasu, Ishii, Ōkura, Kanze.
Taiko kata 太鼓方: the stick drum player strikes the taiko (thick drum 太鼓). This is a barrel-shaped drum that is suspended horizontally from a frame and played with two sticks. The taiko plays for only a portion of a nō and only in a limited number of plays, as well as a few kyōgen plays. Stick drum schools are: Kanze, Komparu.

Musicians can be helped by assistants (hataraki), in some cases students of the musician performing in a given play. Assistants sit behind the musician and take care of handling objects such as the taiko stand, cords, or the two chairs and cushions used by the small and large drum instrumentalists.

Contributor: Yamanaka Reiko and Diego Pellecchia

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