A 500-Year-Old Tradition Blazes Again : An ancient form of Japanese drama, outdoors and lit by firelight, captures the imagination of audiences

“Noh by Firelight” or Takigi Noh is possibly the only public event in Japan today where you will see a stately matron in proper kimono sitting next to a teenybopper straight from the low-price, high-fashion boutiques of Harajuku, or a dark-suited businessman next to a leather-clad rock musician.

For some unexplained reason, the presentation of an ancient form of drama under the stars has caught the imagination of the people of Japan so strongly that they flock to any outdoor venue to see it. The plays, however, continue to be somber and frequently esoteric dance-dramas (with the lead actor often masked), supplemented by broad, one-act comedies.

Sadayo Kita, principal actor of the tour group that appears at the Japan America Theater Plaza on Tuesday and the following evening at South Coast Town Plaza in Costa Mesa, muses on the phenomenon. “Perhaps it is the natural ambiance of the stars and the moon and the trees,” he says, “or the play of the light from the flames on the masks, giving them an added depth of mystical expression.”

“Or it might simply be the picnic atmosphere that helps people relax and open their minds to share an experience they never thought they would be able to enjoy in the confines of an indoor theater.”

In any case, the variety of places it is presented today is vast. The number of shrines and temples (where it got its start) has increased and such unexpected spots as public parks, castle grounds and shopping malls have joined the list as well.

There is even one high-rise office complex in the downtown Tokyo business district with a plaza between its towers, which becomes an ice-skating rink in the winter. In warmer weather, a stage of steel pipes and unfinished wood is set up for Takigi Noh. All together the unofficial count of Takigi Noh venues comes to about 100.

And the traditional torches mounted on iron tripods are supplemented by complex modern lighting systems--with strobes and lasers in some cases.

Major Noh ensembles have periodically appeared in Los Angeles--and the Kita Noh company graced the Japan America Theatre three years ago. But those performances were all indoor events in contrast to the upcoming Takigi Noh performances.

In Japan, however, the history of sacred outdoor performances by firelight is extremely long, Kita explains. “The earliest records indicate that a festival was presented every February at the Buddhist Kofuku Temple and the Shintoist Kasuga Shrine complex in Nara beginning in the 9th Century,” he says.

“Since this was 500 some years before the time of (Motokiyo) Zeami, the creator of the Noh drama as we know it today, the performing arts given by firelight in the early days was in the realm of primitive Noh, called Sangaku or Sarugaku. “

But the tradition proved a strong one. The story is told that when a certain shogun died on the day of a performance, an official order was passed down to cancel the festivities, but the actors insisted on going on anyway. They declared that the only things that could keep them from performing were the death of the emperor and rain.

Today a temporary platform is provided, but at one time performances were given on the grass. If the grass seemed damp, an official and the leading actor would place five layers of Japanese rice paper ( washi ) on the grass and step on it. If moisture came all the way through, the performance would be canceled, but if even the top sheet remained dry, the show would go on.

Until 1868, the joint precincts of the Kofuku Temple and the Kasuga Shrine was the exclusive home of Takigi Noh. However, its history was broken off in that year, it was not revived for 17 years, and its presentations remained quite fragmentary until after World War II.

Kita adds, “It was around the turn of the century that Noh was brought indoors for the first time. Even today, the (indoor) stage maintains something of its original outdoor dignity with a highly crafted thatched roof supported by pillars at the four corners, and its token area of white pebbles (which was much broader and meant to reflect the light of the sun during the day, and the flames of the torches at night, up onto the stage).”

“The new cramped quarters resulted in a more staid, museum-like, ‘official art form,’ attitude among both actors and audiences, and the subsequent drop in attendance,” he says.

The popularity of Takigi Noh began to rise in the late 1940s. During the ensuing decade, the Heian Shrine in Kyoto, the Kamakura Shrine in Kamakura, and the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo “took up the torch.” Then in the ‘50s and ‘60s, about 30 more shrines joined in, but it wasn’t until the late ‘70s that the number began to burgeon with breathtaking speed.

In a way it is all part of a general return to the “real” traditional arts and crafts by the Japanese people that seems to have been touched off partly by the opening of the National Theatre of Japan (for Kabuki and Bunraku, basically) in 1966.

On the opening night of this U.S. tour of the Kita Noh Company and the Nomura family of Kyogen, the program will consist of two Noh plays with one Kyogen (comedy) in between. About 1,000 portable seats will be set up in the Japan American Theater Plaza.

The first Noh play, Zeami’s “Takasago,” is presented in an abbreviated version consisting of the final scene. Anshin Uchida, who dances the role of the deity in it, says: “We chose this half-Noh due to its ceremonial elements. It serves to purify the stage, bless the audience with good fortune, and bring peace to the entire land.

“We felt that this would be a most appropriate way to begin our Takigi Noh tour of the United States.” Half-Noh are often given for such special ceremonial purposes.

Instead of the previously announced “Persimmon Thief,” the Kyogen is titled “The Snail” (Kagyu). The servant Tarokaja is sent out to find a snail for his master. Since he has never seen a snail before, he finds a warrior priest in a thicket and thinks he is a snail. The warrior priest decides to go along with Tarokaja as a joke.

Mansaku Nomura, who plays the warrior priest, explains: “The ending is a special celebratory one. In the more usual version, the master and Tarokaja chase the warrior priest off, scolding that he has tricked them.” Like Sadayo Kita, Nomura has been designated an “Intangible Cultural Asset” by the Japanese government.

The final piece on the program is the classic demon-play “Maple Viewing” (Momiji-Gari) by Kojiro Nobumitsu Kanze. Sadayo Kita, who plays the devil-woman in it, says: “This play deftly shows two contrasting types of acting in a single character. A devil-woman is disguised as a beautiful high-ranking lady at first, and then reveals her true nature later.”

“Thus we have an elegant woman’s dance in the first scene with a ferocious demon’s dance and a battle scene in the closing part.”

The program for Costa Mesa will include the Noh plays “Sumidagawa” and “Kokaji,” along with the Kyogen “Kakiyamabushi” (Persimmon Thief). Performances in Berkeley, Ithaca and New York City are also scheduled--many of them indoors.