SOURCE: Ishii, Mikiko. “The Noh Theater: Mirror, Mask, and Madness.” Comparative Drama 28, no. 1 (spring 1994): 43-66.

In the following essay, Ishii discusses the development of Noh over 600 years, discussing its origins, use of mirror imagery, stagecraft, portrayal of characters, use of masks, and recurrent theme of madness.

Noh is often misunderstood as a frozen theatrical tradition only, a relic of antiquity, or a suitable subject for a scholarly study of medieval culture in Japan. However, ever since it was first developed and refined as an independent dramatic form it has never ceased to be performed. Unlike the English mystery plays that have been revived in modern productions which have struggled to re-create lost traditions, Noh is a living art, and it also is a representative of those Japanese art forms that have been seen as introducing Japanese culture in a wider sense. Originating in dance and music performed at...