The Ethos of Noh : Actors and Their Art

Since the inception of the noh drama six centuries ago, actors have resisted the notion that noh rests on natural talent alone.

Correct performance, they claim, demands adherence to traditions.

Yet, what constitutes noh's traditions and who can claim authority over them have been in dispute throughout its history.

The aim of this book is to describe how memories of the past become traditions, as well as the role of these traditions in the institutional development of the noh theatre from its beginnings in the 14th Century through the late 20th Century.

It focuses on the development of the key traditions that constitute the 'ethos of noh', the ideology that empowered certain groups of actors at the expense of others, and how this ethos fostered noh's professionalisation - its growth from a loose occupation into a closed, regulated vocation.

The author argues that the traditions that form the ethos of noh, such as those surrounding masks and manuscripts, are the key traits that define it as an art.