Studies of Noh and Kyogen by Kunitake Kume and His Aesthetics of Noh Performance: From listening to Noh drama to seeing Noh performance

Abstract

KUME Kunitake (1839-1931), a Japanese historian, published an official report of the delegation led by the Foreign Minister Iwakura to the USA and Europe from 1871 to 1873. After his return he worked with Iwakura to restore traditional Noh and Kyogen. In 1906 he wrote “Kabu Shourei Wa Sengo No Kyumu”, claiming that the first thing we [Japanese] must do after the Russo-Japanese War was to promote a flourishing music and dance culture.

This paper focuses on historic aspects of Kume's essay. He put a unique aesthetic interpretation to the representation of Noh actors' performance, comparing it to the expressions of European sculptures. He innovatively suggested that the public should enjoy Noh plays not only as ‘listening’ drama but also as ‘visual’ art. It appears that this idea was developed under the influence of his son, KUME Keiichiro (1866-1934), who was a Western-style painter. The essay also argues that it is important to show the cultural level of Japanese people to other countries and for the educated classes to enjoy Noh and Kyogen as a demonstration of excellent taste. Noh and Kyogen have both visual and sound elements that are essential to the complete appreciation of this performance art.