NEWS

Noh play Kazuragi

Update: June 17, 2018

On Saturday, July 7, 2018, ICU's Institute for the Study of Christianity and Culture held a Noh play Kazuragi performed by the Komparu school Noh players (including ICU graduates) and Waseda Komparu-kai at the Auditorium of Diffendorfer Memorial Hall East Wing.

The play attracted a lot of people led by ICU students, faculty members and alumni, as well as students attending the Summer Courses in Japanese to learn Japanese language and culture, in addition to international students studying at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. In order to enable international students and other people who are not familiar with Japanese language and culture to understand and enjoy Noh, explanations were given in both Japanese and English ahead of the play. During the performance, subtitles in hiragana and English were displayed on a screen.

Ms. Yuri Sato, Noh researcher and ICU alumna, outlined the historical background of Noh and the summary of Kazuragi and pointed out key interpretations such as the punishment received by the goddess (shite or protagonist) in the play and the lack of redemption for the goddess from the perspective of gender studies.

A Noh stage was created in the auditorium with a backdrop of pine trees and the passageway, and the audience were able to forget the sultry weather outside for a while, enjoying the refreshing fantasy weaved by the professional Noh performance.