On Wednesday, April 2, Noh Theater: Artists-in-Residence Tokyoite performers Uzawa Hikaru and Uzawa Hisa hosted a music workshop and demonstration. Hazy light streamed in through tall windows of David H. Stull Recital Hall and illuminated Hikaru as she danced. On her right sat Hisa, singing in Japanese, captivating her audience with resonant vocals. They immersed listeners in an excerpt from Kiyotsune, a Noh warrior play.
Noh is one of Japan’s premier performing arts and has existed for over 650 years. It is a form of traditional drama that combines dance and song to portray tales from traditional literature. Noh originated during the Muromachi period, which was Japan’s medieval period from approximately 1336 to 1573. Hisa and her daughter, Hikaru, travelled all the way from Tokyo to Pittsburgh and then Oberlin to share this tradition with a wider community.
College fourth-year Sean Norton attended the workshop and learned a lot about the art form.
“I have never seen anything like this exactly, which is part of why I wanted to come check it out,” Norton said. “I hadn’t even heard of it prior to this.”
The Noh music demonstration was one of three Noh workshops. College second-year Anouk Peyser attended part one of the movement workshop. She echoed similar sentiments to Norton.
“I had no knowledge of Noh before this workshop,” Peyser said. “I learned that it is a warrior type of dance from Kyoto that certain families did or belonged to certain families.”
Professor of Japanese Ann Sherif translated from Japanese to English for Hisa, who explained Noh’s intercultural relevance.
“Noh can reach audiences east and west because of the universality of the themes, but also because of its strong cultural identification of Japan’s rich culture,” Sherif said.
Hisa expressed desires for Noh to reach wider audiences.
“In Japan, they should include Noh as part of music education because it’s part of Japan’s long musical heritage,” Hisa said. “Most music teachers in Japan are trained in western music and don’t know much about Japanese traditional music and musical instruments at all. Some of them come to learn about it, but it’s not a major subject in Japanese schools and education.”
Hisa shared that Noh used to be more valued in Japanese culture. Japanese companies used to pay for their employees to take dance and singing lessons in Noh. They believed that this would benefit their companies because the lessons would spiritually enrich the employees. However, many have changed their policies and no longer pay for lessons.
“The arts is an important part of being a person in the world and understanding the world,” Uzawa said. “It’s very unfortunate; the kind of support for the arts, for the business sector, for example, is really something of the past now.”
Although Noh has lost some popularity, there is still something to be said about its longevity as an art form.
“Part of it has been precisely because of Noh’s simplicity and the minimalism of movement, stage story, and so on,” Hisa said. “In every age there’s been themes, emotions that audiences have responded to.”
Many audience members did not understand the words of Hisa and Hikaru’s performance, as they sang in Japanese. Even those who understood contemporary Japanese might have struggled to understand, as Hisa sang in Old Japanese.
“It was super interesting,” Norton said. “It makes me wish I understood what they were saying.”
Yet, despite the language barrier, the audience was enthralled. Hikaru’s silk costume was covered in boats and golden waves that glinted in the sunlight. Her mask was detailed and eerily realistic, her movements slow and deliberate. Peyser commented on the unique type of movement required in Noh dance.
“I used to dance a lot but not really this type of slow movement,” she said. “It was a challenge for me because I like hip-hop and moving fast, but this form required a lot of slow [movements] and upright posture. It definitely tests your strengths and patience.”
After Hikaru and Hisa performed, they led a workshop in which they taught their audience a Japanese song. Hisa guided the workshop using a Japanese worksheet, motioning for people to sit up straight as they sang. She humorously recounted her experience as a child learning songs from her father, who would repeat a section three times to her and then expect her to memorize it. Afterward, the audience asked as many questions as they could in the limited time remaining. Hisa explained the appeal of Noh to an Oberlin audience.
“Noh demands the audience use a lot of imagination,” Hisa said. “Audience members who like to use their imagination — flights of fantasy, thinking of other people, empathy, profound joy and sorrow — can be very moved by Noh. In that sense, it might be similar to people here at Oberlin who love classical music. Classical music, too, demands that audiences and the listeners use their imagination to create meaning and emotion.”
