The Damask Drum has maintained the formulae of Noh theatre in its spiritual outlook, its themes, characters, relationship to nature and use of symbol. Like Zen Buddhism and Taoism, The Damask Drum is meditative, introspective, slow-paced, subtle and suggestive. The depth and meaning of Iwakichi's love may be apprehended in sudden flashes of illumination; it is not brash or aggressive, but turned inward, felt, sensed. [Iwakichi is an old janitor who eventually commits suicide because of his unfulfilled love for a woman in a dressmaker's establishment.] Like conventional Noh drama, The Damask Drum has no real plot, and therefore it may take an infinite amount of patience for a Westerner to understand the series of complex images which make up its song-and-dance sequences, tonalities and the inflections included in its choral and orchestral accompaniments. Of import are Iwakichi's sensations; the feelings evoked during the course of the performance...