It is a traditional style of Japanese theater that combines lyric drama and comic storytelling.
As far as Nôgaku theatre is concerned, its heyday was in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but it actually originated in the eighth century when it was transmitted from China to Japan by the Sangaku theater. The term referred to various performances featuring acrobats, songs, dances, and comic sketches. As the Sangaku became more ingrained in Japanese culture, it was adapted to other traditional arts, which eventually led to its assimilation with other art forms. Its performances integrate masks, costumes, props, and a dance-based performance based on stories from traditional literature. Furthermore, Nôgaku theatre requires highly trained actors and musicians.
In Nagaku, two types of theatre are performed together: Noh and Kyôgen. It has influenced the Bunraku and Kabuki, the Japanese puppet theatres. Traditionally, emotion in Noh is shown through stylized conventional gestures. The hero is usually a supernatural being who takes on human form to tell a story. Masks that are characteristic of Noh are used to represent ghosts, women, children, and the elderly. On the other hand, Kyôgen is less reliant on masks and derives from the humorous plays of the Sangaku as reflected in its dialog. It is written in an ancient language and vividly describes the life of the common people of the twelfth to sixteenth centuries.
Noh performances are based on musical theatre including chanting and usually take place outdoors on a specially constructed stage. Though Nogaku is mainly performed indoors today, the stage structure is still free-standing. Nogaku presents a stage that has columns and a roof, which is open on three sides, with a bridgeway in the middle. There are no curtains that separate the audience from the performance area.
The Japanese Government designated Nôgaku as an Important Intangible Cultural Property in 1957, which provides the tradition as well as its most accomplished practitioners with a degree of legal protection. A regular performance company that stages regular Noh productions as well as courses for actors who wish to learn the leading roles of the Nôgaku, the National Noh Theatre was founded in 1983.
As of today, Nôgaku is one of the major forms of Japanese theatre and has greatly influenced puppet theatre and Kabuki. And although Noh and Kyogen developed along separate paths, they are both still performed on the same stage. However, each performance always highlights each play's unique qualities.
References
(https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/ngaku-theatre-00012) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C5%8Dgaku) (https://meguri-japan.com/en/the-arts/20210731_4955/) |Subject=dance, Entertainment and Recreation, Music, Verbal Arts and Literature |Country=Japan |SDG=(08) Decent Work and Economic Growth, (09) Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, (11) Sustainable Cities and Communities |Media_URL=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auUB0q0QUt8 }}