Nôh

Movement in noh, like many forms of traditional Asian theater and dance-drama, is highly stylized. Stylized forms have specific patterns of movement which become the building blocks for the choreography of a play. In Japanese, these movement patterns are referred to as kata.

The kata in noh tend to have specific names because they are commonly used in many plays. There are also kata which are unique to one or only a few plays whose names are their descriptions rather than a concise term. But in general, all movement in noh is thought of in terms of kata. By referring to the specific kata names, it is easy to quickly teach the choreography of a piece as well as write it down for future use.

Movement in noh is often described as “highly symbolic.” This is somewhat misleading because it suggests that the movement patterns have specific meanings or symbolize specific ideas. Unlike the mudra hand language used for several forms of Indian traditional dance and theater, kata in noh are largely without specific or symbolic meaning. Instead, the movement and its meaning are abstract and serve to convey visually the feelings and emotions behind the poetry being sung by the chorus or the actor/dancers. It does not describe these emotions by having a specific kata to convey, for example, one for jealousy and another for anger. Rather, the kata employed might be the same for both of these but its use serves to heighten the emotion felt through the poetry.

There are also of course kata which do have specific meaning such as the stylized movements for crying, for pouring and receiving sake, and for various sword and halberd battle movements. There are also kata which more or less fall in between such as pointing movements which in some cases may indicate pointing to a far off mountain or river, or may just be an extension of the character's emotional state. In any case, the preponderance of kata are of the type without specific meaning or those of the in between nature which take on meaning only in certain contexts.

One of the results of this lack of a specific movement pattern language is that it places a greater demand on the audience. It forces the audience to understand the emotions being presented, not by understanding a pattern which symbolizes that emotion, but rather by perceiving directly the energy of that emotion and therefore the emotion itself. Those who have studied the play beforehand will have help in this category. Those who have not will need to rely on the visual and aural impact on their own senses of the costumes and masks combined with the movement and music. In this sense, noh can perhaps be best described as visual-aural poetry.

During my first couple of years of seeing noh performances, I would sometimes go to a noh theater totally in the dark about the story to be presented. For me, letting the waves of emotional energy from the dancer and the musicians and chorus flow over me without really understanding the specific plot, was itself an exciting theatrical experience. The abstract movement language of noh makes one realize that the plot or story development is not necessarily the most important aspect of its presentation. More important is the expression of deep emotional energy.