Japanese theatre. Noh, also spelled No, is a traditional Japanese theatrical form and one of the oldest extant theatrical forms in the world. Noh theatre\u2019s name, derived from n\u014d, meaning \u201ctalent\u201d or \u201cskill\u201d, is unlike Western narrative drama. Rather than being actors or \u201crepresenters\u201d in the Western sense, Noh performers are simply storytellers who use their visual appearances and their movements to suggest the essence of their tale rather than to enact it. Little \u201chappens\u201d in a Noh drama, and the total effect is less that of a present action than of a simile or metaphor made visual. The educated spectators know the story\u2019s plot very well, so that what they appreciate are the symbols and subtle allusions to Japanese cultural history contained in the words and movements.
\nNoh developed from ancient forms of dance drama and from various types of festival drama at shrines and temples that had emerged by the 12th or 13th centuries. Noh became a distinctive
\nform in the 14th century and was continually refined up to the years of the Tokugawa period (1603\u20131867). It became a ceremonial drama performed on auspicious occasions by professional actors for the warrior class \u2014 as, in a sense, a prayer for peace, longevity, and the prosperity of the social elite. Outside the noble houses, however, there were performances that popular audiences could attend. The collapse of the feudal order with the Meiji Restoration (1868)
\nthreatened the existence of Noh, though a few notable actors maintained its traditions. After World War II the interest of a larger audience led to the revival of the form.
\nNoh theatre has been recognized by UNESCO as an item of world intangible cultural heritage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Japanese theatre. Noh, also spelled No, is a traditional Japanese theatrical form and one of the oldest extant theatrical forms in the world. Noh theatre\u2019s name, derived from n\u014d, meaning \u201ctalent\u201d or \u201cskill\u201d, is unlike Western narrative drama. Rather than being actors or \u201crepresenters\u201d in the Western sense, Noh performers are simply storytellers who use<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-participants-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/komitasmuseum.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/komitasmuseum.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/komitasmuseum.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/komitasmuseum.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/komitasmuseum.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4158"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/komitasmuseum.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4161,"href":"https:\/\/komitasmuseum.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4158\/revisions\/4161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/komitasmuseum.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/komitasmuseum.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/komitasmuseum.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/komitasmuseum.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}