•         Noh: 籠太鼓, 野守 (Rodaiko, Nomori)

7/16/17 (Sun), Umewaka Noh Theater, Tokyo

Rodaiko (The Prison Drum) is a unique piece about a woman who is imprisoned in place of her escaped husband and pressed to divulge his whereabouts. She remains tight-lipped, insisting she knows nothing. She gradually appears to go mad in confinement, especially when confronted with a drum that reminds her of her spouse. The guard eventually takes pity on her and, to commemorate the 13th anniversary of his father’s death (an important Buddhist date), grants her husband an amnesty and releases her from prison – only to find that she was feigning ignorance and madness all along.

No enlightenment or religious morals to be had here, which is fine with me (though the woman did thank Buddha for allowing the pardon to be granted). It is a straightforward narrative piece with an unusually large amount of dialogue. The interlude actor, often there just to give the main actor a chance to change clothes, plays an active role here in bringing the captive in, putting her away, going back and forth between her and the lord for questioning, and so forth. A far cry from the dreamier fare that Noh is better known for. The woman is a strong figure, berating the lord for treating an innocent woman as a criminal and, later, refusing his offer to release her unless he forgives her husband as well. She has a nice dance section with the drum to poetic lyrics, striking it to mark the time spent separated from her husband. If not a typical piece, it was certainly an enjoyable one.

In Nomori (The Watchman of the Field), a traveling mountain priest doing a bit of sightseeing comes across a pond and asks the watchman its history. The latter tells him that this is called the Watchman’s Mirror after an old legend in which a lord looking for his lost hawk spots it at the bottom of the pond – in actuality, a reflection of the actual hawk perched high behind him in a tree. The watchman says there was also a demon in ancient days with a mirror that shows things as they are. The priest looks in the pond and sees a wrinkled old man, a truth he had yet to acknowledge. This spurs him to ask the watchman to show him the demon’s mirror, but the watchman insists that would too horrifying to face. The watchman then disappears into the mound (represented by a covered stand situated mid-stage).

The priest learns from a passerby that the watchman may himself have been the demon. The priest rubs his rosary piously in mental preparation for the watchman’s return. The demon (in a completely new costume and mask – how the heck did he change in that tight space?) emerges with a mirror, a fearsome glowing object spitting fire and reflecting the demon’s eye. The priest is terrified but, determined to confront the mirror with the light of Buddhism, begs the demon to go on. The demon performs an energetic dance in which the mirror shows scenes of both heaven and hell from the Heaven of Neither Thought Nor Non-Thought (heaven’s highest realm) to the torments of the damned, implying that good and evil are a reflection of each other or one and the same. Having revealed all, the demon stomps his feet and returns to hell.

The theme of the show, that good and evil are entwined, was compelling. One commentary on the text noted a subtle reference in the opening lines to a legend about a jewel that was sewn quietly into the clothing of a sleeping man, who then goes about life without realizing the riches inside him. Such details and a knowledge of Buddhist beliefs help greatly in appreciating the play; I’m glad I read the script beforehand. Curiously there does not seem to be a full English translation of this piece. I can’t imagine why.

But even in sheer entertainment terms, it’s a highly watchable piece from start to finish. The actor, Yamanaka Gasho, switched adeptly from an old watchman hobbling in with a cane to a dynamic demon leaping and spinning and dancing, all the while brandishing the oversized mirror. (His wife said he was doing wrist exercises all week to strengthen his grip.)  An impressive performance in a thought-provoking show.