Benkei on the Bridge (Hashi Benkei / 橋弁慶)

Encounter of two historical icons

Program: Know Noh #48
Date: February 11, 2016
Venue: National Noh Theatre (Tokyo, Japan)

 

Story

Benkei (left) fights young Ushiwaka

Benkei was a big and strong warrior monk, who had been assigned to do rounds of nightly prayer visits to the Gojo Shrine in Kyoto.  On his last day, he hears a rumor that a young boy with incredible sword skills has been challenging people to sword fights on the Gojo Bridge, and beating everyone.  Benkei, a skilled fighter, decides to go and catch the troublemaker.  When Benkei arrives at the Gojo Bridge, he sees the young boy with a blouse covering his head, and mistakes him as a woman.  As Benkei passes by, the boy teases him by kicking Benkei's long-pole sword.  Provoked, Benkei fights the boy, but is easily defeated by the boy's incredible speed and sword skills.  Benkei surrenders and asks the boy for his identity.  When Benkei finds out that the boy is Ushiwaka (Yoshitsune's childhood name), son of Yoshitomo Minamoto, Benkei swears to serve Ushiwaka to be his servant.


My Comments

Before the play started, a scholar came on stage and talked about Benkei:
Even though Benkei is an extremely popular historical character, very little written record is available; therefore most of his stories are based on folk legends, including this one.  According to popular folktale, it was Benkei who was challenging people to sword fights on the Gojo Bridge.  In Noh, this is vice versa for some reason. 

I guess it just shows that, regardless of factual accuracy, people love the story of Benkei the big goliath and Ushiwaka the tiny little boy.  This story marks the beginning of Benkei's lifetime relationship to serve Yoshitsune, until he dies trying to protect Yoshitsune.  But that is also a popular folktale.  The only known fact is that Benkei accompanied Yoshitstune as he fled from his brother Yoritomo, who wanted to capture and kill him.

Ushiwaka was played by a little girl (Shite's granddaughter).  The sword fight scene was relatively slow but charming nonetheless.  Not much else to comment on.  I did notice that the old Kyogen actor who played one of the townspeople had an amazing voice.  He was an old man with a raspy voice, yet his voice resonated so well.  I really need to find out how these actors train their voices...

Lady Aoi (Aoi no Ue / 葵上)

Story of a woman's painful vengeance over lost love



Aobanomori Hall is a concert hall with a demountable Noh stage.
Can't believe this Noh stage was assembled just for this one day!

Program: Aoba Noh #35
Date: February 21, 2016
Venue: Aobanomori Park Art and Culture Hall (Chiba, Japan)

Story

Here is a good synopsis in the-noh.com

My Comments

I had expected Lady Rokujo to be a demonic crazy woman, full of rage and jealousy.  But she was surprisingly classy, complicated, and heartbreakingly sad.  Lady Rokujo's repressed devotion for Genji and jealousy towards Lady Aoi had turned her spirit into a raging phantom, but this was unintentional, and she was embarrassed of her own transformation.  There were signs of ambivalence and confusion in her attack towards Aoi.  In the end, Rokujo is defeated by the power of priest's prayers, and her raging spirit withdraws back to sanity.  But I think her "salvation" amplifies her tragedy because she has to live the rest of her life dealing with this shameful fiasco that she caused (not to mention loss of Genji's affection).

Shite (lead actor)'s portrayal of Lady Rokujo' spirit was deeply moving and drew a great deal of empathy from me.  I think any woman (or man) could relate to the helpless feeling of being overcome with uncontrollable emotions, while still holding on to that last thread of reason, self-respect, and dignity.  From the moment Shite entered the stage, his portrayal of Rokujo was both elegant and heart-wrenching.  I had expected a crazy woman's battle for vengeance, but the play was actually about her painful internal battle and acceptance of loss of love.  Very profound and heartbreaking.

Love this beautiful flyer

I particularly enjoyed the scene in which the priestess used a harp-like instrument called Azusa no Yumi to summon the phantom.  Of course, this is Noh, so there is no harp in sight; you've gotta feel it.  One of the drummers portrayed the sound of the harp, using his voice and his drum.  His voice was deeply hypnotic and actually sounded like some kind of harp.  The scene then leads to the entrance of Rokujo's spirit, who is summoned by the sound.  This entire sequence was beautiful and haunting.

I also found it interesting that Lady Aoi was portrayed not by an actor but by a piece of cloth (a kimono) placed on the stage.

[Edited on March 12th] Also, I found it peculiar that Lady Rokujo supposedly enters the stage in a horse carriage, even though there is no horse carriage.  Audience has to "see" the imaginary horse carriage by the way she carries herself as she walks across the stage.  I am learning that Noh audience needs to do quite a bit of imagining, because the actors rarely use large props.  When Rokujo entered the scene, I could kind of see the carriage imagery, by the way she covered herself with a cloth (hard to explain), but I would never have noticed it had I not read about it in the synopsis beforehand.

Benkei in the Boat (Funa Benkei / 船弁慶)

 Popular tale of a tragic hero, his sidekick warrior monk, and devoted lover

Program: Know Noh #48
Date: February 11, 2016
Venue: National Noh Theatre (Tokyo, Japan)

Story

Benkei is the monk in white scarf
shown at the top of this flyer

Yoshitsune Minamoto was an outstanding warrior, whose strategic war skills contributed to Minamoto clan’s epic victory over the Taira clan in the historic Sea Battle of Dan-no-Ura, which took place in the Shimonoseki Strait in southern Japan (1185 A.D.).  After the win, Yoshitsune’s big brother Yoritomo Minamoto established a new military government in Kamakura and became its first shogun.  However, due to Yoshitsune’s dogmatic behavior, Yoritomo now saw his little brother as a threat, issuing an order to have him captured and killed.  Yoshitsune, now a fugitive, fled to western Japan, accompanied by Benkei (guardian warrior monk) and Lady Shizuka (Yoshitsune's mistress).  When they arrived at a small inn west of Kyoto, they set plans to ride a boat down Yodo River, out to the sea to go even further west.

This is where the story of this Noh play starts.

Act 1: The first half of the play is set at the inn, where Benkei tries to persuade Shizuka to return to Kyoto, since a woman would not endure the arduous trip ahead.  Shizuka is determined to stay with her lover Yoshitsune, but when Yoshitsune himself suggests that Shizuka return to Kyoto, she tearfully agrees to leave.  The tearful party share farewell drinks, and Shizuka performs a dance to pray to the gods that some day the Minamoto brothers would reconcile.  Yoshitsune requests Benkei to delay their departure until the next day, so he can spend his last night with Shizuka, but Benkei persuades him that they set sail immediately.

(C) Kyoran / Nohgaku Illust

Act 2: In the latter half of the play, Yoshitsune and Benkei’s boat has reached the sea and is encountered by a terrible storm.  Then, on the tidal waves of the ocean, Yoshitsune and Benkei see ghosts of the Taira clan warriors that were killed in the recent war.  In particular, General Tomomori Taira’s vengeful ghost appears out of the waves and fiercely attacks Yoshitsune with his long-handled pole sword.  General Taira is determined to kill Yoshitsune at sea, just as Yoshitsune had demolished the Taira clan fleet in the sea battle at Dan-no-Ura.  While Yoshitsune tries to fight the ghost with his sword, Benkei starts praying and rubbing his Buddhist rosary beads.  Calmed by Benkei’s prayers, General Taira’s ghost eventually withdraws into the sea at dawn.

Synopsis in the-noh.com

Running Time: 65 minutes

My Comments

In the first half of Benkei in the Boat, the Shite (lead actor) plays Lady Shizuka.  Shite for this program was a tall male actor, taller even than Benkei the bodyguard.  Regardless, when Shite came out donning a beautiful kimono and a facial mask with a woman’s face engraved on it, together with his elegant demeanor and movements, he was actually convincing as the frail mistress.  He obviously had a male voice, but when he sang Shizuka’s sorrows, he sounded surprisingly feminine.  His prayer dance movements were subdued and graceful.  Even more surprisingly, when he placed his hand over his eyes and slightly tilted his head, which is a typical Noh gesture to imply that the person is crying, I was overcome with the outpouring of Shizuka’s deep sorrows.  Perhaps because all of his other movements had been minimal, the seemingly subdued hand gesture struck me as a very powerful expression of Shizuka’s tearful separation from her lover.

In the latter half of this play, the same Shite actor plays the ghost of General Tomomori

(C) Kyoran /
Nohgaku Illust

Taira, wearing an evil ghost mask and a flashy warrior costume, flinging around his long-handled pole sword.  He was a tall and scary ghost.  The sword fight was obviously an entertaining climax, but what scared the crap out of me was when the ghost initially entered the stage (or more precisely, when he entered the bridge that connects to the stage, as seen in the left half of the photo).  He appeared out of the curtain, glared at Yoshitsune and Benkei (who were sitting on the boat at the opposite end of the stage), and then suddenly started darting across the bridge towards the boat, in a smooth sliding motion as if he was on a snowboard.  This is apparently a Noh technique in which the actor walks or runs without bobbing his body.  The Shite actor's movement was so smooth, that as he moved fast and furious across the bridge, he really looked like a ghost, and it was sooooooo creepy!!

All the actors had amazing vocal skills.  This venue was by no means a small theater, housing over 600 seats, but surprisingly everyone’s voices were very clear and expressive.  There was no microphone, and none of the actors were yelling.  I would suspect that their vocal training must resemble that of an opera singer.  Maybe they also design the stage in such a way that it helps enhance the acoustics?  Also, the chorus consisted of about eight singers (each of whom are themselves professional Shite’s), and their chants were very soothing to my ears, somewhat resembling the Buddhist monks chanting.  I really enjoyed listening to the chorus.



Why I Lucked Out

Know Noh Program booklet

I picked this program simply because I like Benkei, a popular historical figure, but it also turned out that the Know Noh Program is aimed for beginner audience, so that was a nice surprise.  They handed out a booklet filled with information and historical backdrop on today’s plays, loaded with descriptive pictures of the characters and their costumes, plot-by-plot storyline, maps, historical timeline, etc.  This booklet was very helpful.  (I hope they make an English version too!)

Venue

National Noh Theatre
Personal screens display subtitles in Japanese and English

Every seat came with a small personal monitor installed on the back of the seat in front.  This monitor displayed the subtitles in three channels: original transcript, English, and modern Japanese.  I tried all of them, and noticed the English channel had very good English.  (They used tax money to build this thing, so they’d better use a good translator!)  The subtitles really helped me follow the story with ease, so that I could instead focus my attention on the vibe and ambiance of the production.  Many other Noh theaters are not equipped with the personal monitor system, so I would highly recommend the National Noh Theatre as the venue of choice for first-timers.


Last Impression

Attending this Know Noh program was an eye-opening experience for me.  I was surprised to see myself truly enjoying the entertainment, as well as being wholeheartedly moved by the profound expressions of human emotions.  I am excited about “discovering” this great form of theater and cannot wait to go see more!

Why Yes to Noh?

Like any average Japanese person, I had never bothered to go to see Noh, assuming it was exclusive to the elderly and the esoteric.  Noh is highly respected and is registered world heritage, but it’s difficult to understand and outright dull.  Right?  Some foreign scholar apparently once called it the most boring form of art in the world.  I mean, the actors hardly move on stage, speak some archaic Japanese that no one understands, and what is the deal with those creepy looking masks? 

So, when I finally decided to go see a Noh play for the first time, I easily expected it to turn into nap time. 

Instead, I walked out of the theater with unforgettable depth of emotions that captivated my heart and mind for days to come.  It was an amazing experience.  What a shame, to have missed out on this wonderful form of entertainment until now!  And why did I always assume Noh was difficult?  It was not --- The story was easy to follow, and the subtitles (available in Japanese and English) really helped.

I think watching a Noh play is a bit like looking at an impressionistic painting.  If I stood in front of a masterpiece for ten minutes, for instance, I would probably walk away with some kind of feeling or vibe that was conveyed through the painting.  That's what Noh felt like for me.  Moreover, feelings typically conveyed through Noh plays are basic human emotions such as love, hatred, and loss, so they were quite easy to related to, despite the ancient drama setting or the archaic language.

I started this journal to keep track of my Noh experience for my own record, and to share my reviews with anyone who might be interested.  As I learn more about Noh appreciation, I will hopefully become a more cultured reviewer and able to provide some interesting insights.  Enjoy.

Best,
Harley