Database: Noh Theater

Noh Theater was born during the 14th century from the evolution of various forms of performance including sung, recited, or danced dramas. These performances took place during ceremonies to delight and thank the deities. Therefore, they were initially religious performances. These genres mixed and gave birth to true theater, under the impetus of playwrights and genius actors, Kan'ami (1333–1384)—known by his stage name Kanze I—and especially his son Zeami (1363-1443)—known by his stage name Kanze II—who innovated by introducing narrative. These were widely attended provincial shows put on by traveling entertainers, despised for their lower status, who took part in this medieval religiosity expressed in villages and small towns, particularly in the Kinai region. This new theater type fascinated the shōgun and the great lords who patronized Noh troupes. Performances were given in Kyoto, in provincial towns, and in front of temples and shrines. Besides the new quality of the proposed performance, success came from the creation of a new culture that integrated the capital and the villages, it was the world of the court but also merchants, peasants, and even outcasts. In the staging of dramatic situations, Zeami created such intensity that the spectator, seized by intense emotion, must be nailed to the spot. This is what he calls "the Flower" that captivates the audience, an elusive and often ephemeral element that he explains in a theoretical collection, Fūshikaden, "the transmission of the Flower."