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Entertainment from antiquity

As part of Japan-India Friendship Year, the Embassy of Japan in New Delhi in collaboration with the Japan Foundation, the National School of Drama and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations is presenting Noh, the world's oldest extant professional theatre, at Siri Fort Auditorium this Saturday.

The professional theatre will be staged by Grand Master Kiyokazu Kanze of the Kanze School of Noh. Noh was created during the Muromachi period by the father-and-son team of Kan'ami (1332-1384) and Zeami (1363-1443). Zeami penned down a number of plays, some of which are performed even today. He also wrote many works that explain the aesthetic principles governing Noh and give details as to how the art should be composed, acted, directed, taught and produced. The masks and costumes used in Noh plays are several hundred years old and the essence of the efforts has been passed on to successive generations by Kan'ami and Zeami. At present it is Kiyokazu Kanze (26th generation) who has been honoured with the title of a Living National Treasure by the Japanese Government. Grand Master Kiyokazu Kanze together with Grand Master Motomasa Kanze (25th generation) performed Noh at the opening ceremony of Japan Month in 1987 at Vigyan Bhavan.

— Madhur Tankha

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