No theatre, 600 years of Japanese history

2019年 05月23日


The theatre Nô, one of the most famous but also one of the oldest theatre of Japan classified today in the Intengible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO. Created in 14th century, the Nô has been risked to be extinct many times during the history. In 1868, with arrival of the Meiji period, Nô opened the door for the first time to abroad. Then, for the second time, a little later than the world war II, under the occupation of US on the Japanese territory.

The Nô theatre is composed by only men. The mask is worn by actors who play the principal role called "Shite", means "who acts".

The masks of Nô are thoughtfully worked which intend to transmit different emotions in accordance with the lighting. And also, oriented to the left-side has the mocking impression and the oriented to the right-side has the tear-stained face.

The actors without masks are called "Waki", which means "the one who is in a side" play the supporting role.

Today, the Nô play is taking over a new impetus. The spectators of the whole world are very interested to find out the Japanese culture, and they wish to be able to enjoy the play by the comprehension of dialogues. In many theatres, already received the request, they do the efforts for understanding the performances.

A l’heure actuelle il est tout à fait possible de voir les représentations avec les dialogues traduits en temps réel grâce à de petits écrans distribué avant le début de la pièce. Malheureusement les traductions sont, pour la plupart du temps, en anglais.
At present, it is quite possible to see the representations with the translated dialogues in real time thanks to the small screens before starting the play. Unfortunately, most of the time, it is available only in English.


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