SOURCE: Teele, Roy E. “The Structure of the Japanese Noh Play.” In Chinese and Japanese Music-Dramas, edited by J. I. Crump and William P. Mann, pp. 189-212. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 1975.

In the following essay, Teele discusses the structure of the Noh play, presenting an abstract construct of an ideal play and holding his model up against several popular works of different types, including ceremonial or congratulatory plays, warrior plays, woman plays, and various “problem” plays.

Any attempt to study the structure of the Japanese Noh play must perforce start with Zeami Motokiyo, its greatest practitioner and critic. Therefore, at the risk of repeating what is known to most students of the Noh, let us begin by discussing Zeami's Nōsakushō, “Treatise on Writing Noh Plays.” He begins:

Involved in writing a Noh play are three elements (sandō, “three ways”): materials, construction...