Diana Cretu

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Misha Albert
Drama 101 Introduction to Theatre Arts
2 December 2014

The Art of Walking and Stillness: The Essential Elements of Traditional Japanese Noh Theatre
and its Influence on Method Acting
Traditional Japanese theatre has an extended performance tradition spanning several
years. Japanese Noh theatre with an unbroken performance lineage of six hundred years is
considered the worlds oldest living theatre and has a particularly rich theatrical and aesthetic
heritage offering a doorway into Japanese history and culture. A fundamentally symbolic and
highly stylised theatre which puts emphasis on ritual, physicality and suggestion, Noh theatre can
be synthesized in six essential aspects: kamae, suri-ashi, kata, ma, jo-ha-kyu and omote and
constitutes the basis for the contemporary anti-naturalistic and anti-Stanislavskian work of
Tadashi Suzuki and his method acting. In its powerful minimalist and formal environment, Noh
theatre becomes an event to be experienced directly and personally, engaging its audience and
requiring a certain level of commitment in order to be fully understood.
The first essential aspect in Noh theatre is to master the kamae, the basic standing
position from which everything else follows. This is the basic posture of a Noh performer, it is
very strong and energy-charged [] from it all movement develops and returns (Griffiths 37).
In the lower body, the knees are slightly bent, lowering the center of gravity of the performer. In
the upper body, the arms are slightly bent, elbows out, making a kind of circle shape with the
arms and in the right hand a fan is held. The most used prop in Noh, transforming into any
needed object, the fan also becomes part of the costume as its decoration will reflect the nature of

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the character. In Noh, kamae is a position of readiness: actors are grounded, centred, energised
and ready to do whatever comes next. It is a position of relaxed strength, tension and contained
energy, when the posture has been learned, it looks natural and relevant to the other movement
patterns (Griffiths 37). The fascination of Noh is that it displays what cannot be seen. The pose,
or kamae, is fundamental to Noh. The character stands still, seemingly frozen, but instead of a
lack of motion, the kamae displays dynamic stillness. The actor is not moving, but the pose is
full of pent-up energy. In Noh theatre, the kamae represents the standing between heaven and
earth in which the body floats like a marionette and allows the actor complete freedom and
steadiness.
After mastering the kamae and the art of stillness, a Noh apprentice moves on to the
essence of Noh movement and is taught suri-ashi or sliding feet. Avoiding harsh steps on the
easily vibrated Noh stage, the actor slides his feet ensuring that [they] never completely leave
the floor, even when the toes are lifted slightly at the end of a step (Griffiths 38). When
walking, the actor seeks to maintain his body at the same level, without bobbing up or down. The
stillness and control of the suri-ashi depends not only upon the strength and control of the
kamae, but also in the control of the slightly bent knees which act as shock absorbers to maintain
a level and erect gliding movement (Griffiths 38). With both the toes and heel in near constant
contact with the floor, until the end of the step, the effect of this walk is quite striking to behold
by the uninitiated and initiated both. The size of the steps taken, as well as the angle of the feet
will vary, depending on the character being portrayed. Women are usually portrayed with the
feet parallel and almost touching. Their steps will be small; usually no more than the length of
one foot, and even smaller for old women. Men will spread the feet slightly apart and hold them
angled outwards. The distance between the feet, as well as the size of the step will be greater,

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when portraying warriors, or demons, in order to present a strong figure on stage. Regardless of
which character is portrayed, both suri-ashi and kamae remain graceful, relaxed and flowing,
allowing the actor to convey his energy, and the personality of his character to the audience.
A third essential aspect of Noh theatre is the kata or pattern, the stylistic movement
patterns that form the gestural vocabulary and blocking of the dance. Although the kata do not
carry specific symbolic meaning, they convey the feelings and emotions of a character or
dramatic moment (Baron 144), their meaning is created by their context in the dance. Whilst
some kata are designed for specific plays, the majority are used in all plays as the same basic
movements allow a contextual novelty of expression without altering the structure of the
movement (Griffiths 38). The actor needs intense concentration and a willingness to find
freedom within the limitations of that rigorous gestural vocabulary. Noh performers take finely
detailed kata and within the dance turn them into a series of successive, fluid, emotive motions
that in turn give emotional expression to Noh.
Ma, is the Japanese aesthetic concept that can be understood as space, time and spacetime, as the interval or timing between two structured parts. In its multiplicity of meanings ma
becomes a unique conceptual term, one without parallel in other languages (Komparu 70) also
capable of referring to a performers internal sense of time. Representing an actors ability to
perform from a deeper level of being that is in-tune, ma transforms into a pregnant" or
potential space where the performer and the audience can fall in the same time achieving the
ideal state of performance. Ma is about a space, pause, interval or gap that allows the
imagination of the viewer to fill something in and complete it and is present in Noh theatre
through the design, architecture, text, music and performances acting as a core element. To
appreciate ma, it becomes vital to understand that Noh is an art form that is pointing to

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something beyond what is simply perceived by the senses. Noh, through its theatrical design and
symbolic-like choreography, between action and stillness, relaxes the superficial consciousness
in order to draw up the deeper consciousness. At these intervals between actions, if the audience
is moved, it is because the actor was able to transcend his own consciousness so that he can
bind together the moments before and after that instant when nothing happens (Komparu 71).
This moment can be attributed to the inner tension that is created when an artist maintains
unperturbed concentration between actions. Thus, if a movement is performed and brought to a
resting place, ma, the actor does not at any point drop or lose the internal tension, but sustains the
flow of energy throughout.
The most important aesthetic principle in traditional Japanese Noh theatre, Jo-ha-Kyu,
beginning, middle, end or slow, fast, faster fundamentally refers to the expansion and
contraction of energy. Originally an ancient Chinese concept, jo-ha-kyu is fundamental to Nohs
rhythm: a slow start, development and disruption, and then resolution (Komparu 145). Jo-hakyu appears in other art forms, but it is best known today as part of Noh. Rather than simply
dividing a whole into three parts, it incorporates not only the play itself, but the songs and dances
within the play, and even the individual steps, motions, and sounds that the performers make.
The progression is always cyclical and is generally applicable: it orders the segments within the
scenes, the scenes within the plays, and the plays within a day's program, each of the arts of Noh,
having its characteristic mode of jo-ha-kyu. Starting at the jo of the progression is a single
performer chanting a line of prose, and ending with the kyu extreme is a performer dancing in
time to rhythm maintained by the drums and the chorus with the flute adding touches of color.
Although the omote, noh mask is beautifully carved in wood, generally with a neutral
expression, an experienced Noh actor will be able to give expression through small and subtle

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movements in order to portray a myriad of emotions. For example, actors may tilt the mask up to
suggest that the mask is laughing or tilt the mask down to suggest that the mask is crying.
Nothing demonstrates the simplicity of Noh more than the use of mask as the fixed expression
of the mask requires that it provide the quintessence of the emotional atmosphere of the
play.(Griffiths 46). In total there are over 200 different masks in Noh theatre, the protagonist
choosing the right one based on the theme of the play, as opposed to the character. Most, but not
all, main roles require the use of a mask, the roles of actual living men are performed without a
mask in a performance style named hita-men (direct face"), where the actor performs without
expression, as if his own face is the mask. The omote is sculpted in a way in which the real and
the abstract are ingeniously joined to produce a beauty of form which depending upon the
movements of the actor, can cause various moods to be expressed upon the stage.
Contemporary Japanese theatre director Tadashi Suzuki, was inspired by the elements of
Noh theatre and was unimpressed by modern naturalist method acting. Thus, he developed the
Suzuki method of acting, a style derived from the classical Japanese tradition, particularly Noh,
which involved the use of the whole body so that communication was carried out nonverbally as
well as verbally. The Suzuki method is non-realistic in its expression (Suzuki 29) and works
to build an actors awareness of his body, especially his center as opposed to the Stanislavsky
cerebral method to acting. The method uses exercises that are inspired by Noh theatre and
requires great amounts of energy and concentration. They result in the actor becoming more
aware of his natural expressiveness and allow him to commit more fully to the physical and
emotional requirements of the play.

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Bibliography

Carruthers I.; Takahashi Y., The Theatre of Tadashi Suzuki, Cambridge University Press
David G. The Training of Noh Actors and The Dove Hardcover Feb 1 1998
Komparu K. The Noh Theatre: Principles and Perspectives. N.Y. Weatherhill. 1983
Tadashi S. The Way of Acting: The Theatre Writings of Tadashi Suzuki, trans. J. Thomas Rimer.
New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1986.