While kabuki is performed exclusively by male actors, noh features female performers as well. However, the classical theatrical genre is overwhelmingly dominated by men -- of the 1,150 members of the Nohgaku Performers' Association, only 200 are women.
Hisa Uzawa is a noh veteran who has fought in this male-dominated world throughout her career, which spans more than 60 years. She will lead a special program later this month at the National Noh Theatre in Sendagaya, Tokyo, in which the main roles will be performed by Uzawa and some of her female peers.
Uzawa, 69, was the only child of a noh performer from the Kanze school, one of the five main schools for "shite," the protagonists in noh plays. Uzawa fell in love with the traditional performing art from an early age spent playing in a training studio at her home. She debuted on the stage when she was only 3.
Her father would often say that noh was something "women should not perform," Uzawa recalled.
"However, whenever I was told I shouldn't, it only fueled my motivation," she said. "I have a spirit of defiance and hate to lose, and this attitude has helped me continue to perform until today."
Uzawa studied noh at Tokyo University of the Arts, continuing on to its graduate school. At 25, she got a chance to study under Kanze Hisao, a noh star who was described as the "second coming of Zeami," a playwright from the Muromachi period (early 14th century to late 16th century) who is recognized as a major architect of classical noh theater.
Kanze gave Uzawa a warning early in her studies: "You should practice with the understanding that you may never get a chance to perform in a play in your whole life. Train with a resolve to sacrifice yourself [to help future performers]."
That comment, however, did not discourage her. "At that time, it was far more important for me to learn directly from Hisao-sensei," she said. "I thought the possibility of performing onstage was a long way off."
Uzawa's tutelage under Kanze did not last long -- he passed away at 53. Under his brief mentorship, she learned how to perform a dozen noh plays.
"Whenever I remember his eyes, which were like shooting arrows, I still tremble," she said. "I absorbed every single word he said, like a rice field soaking up water."
The special program performance on March 24, for which tickets are already sold out, will feature three noh dances before Uzawa serves as shite in "Takasago" (Takasago Bay), a play about a pair of pine tree spirits disguised as an old man and woman. Created by Zeami, the piece is sometimes performed at weddings and on other celebratory occasions.
It is quite rare for a female performer to serve as shite in the play as it is such a physically demanding role, according to the National Noh Theatre. Uzawa will perform together with her daughter Hikaru.
Kanze was willing to teach Uzawa how to perform "Takasago" because he described the play as "having all the elements necessary in noh." "All performers in this field must work on the play," she recalled him saying.
"He told me to produce my most powerful voice," she said. "I'll play the role of the protagonist in the hope that I can express onstage the powerful energy of nature."
Uzawa has fought against the discrimination faced by female noh performers for decades, while also pushing to make female-led programs into a regular feature at the national theater.
"I may sound arrogant, but I'm confident of my words because I've practiced so hard," she said. "I hope male and female performers think together about the future of noh, rather than men dominating the narrative."
Workshops in English
The Japan News
The theater will offer two workshops to share the essentials of noh and kyogen in English on March 9 and 23, starting at 7 p.m.
The workshops, titled "National Noh Theatre Showcase," will start with talks, followed by two performances with English subtitles: "Busshi" (The Fake Sculptor), a kyogen comical story about a man from the countryside who travels to the capital to get a Buddhist statue to enshrine in his home; and a shortened version of "Hagoromo" (The Feather Robe), a play about a fisherman who finds a beautiful cloth hanging from a pine tree on the shore.
Admission is 1,000 yen. Visit www.ntj.jac.go.jp/nou.html for details.
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