Noh Masks (面, Men): The Spirit of Noh Theatre 

I just love how thoroughly Japan maintains their traditional customs and crafts like this. It's fantastic!

The best documentary I've seen so far that focuses on Noh masks. Thank you for sharing this wonderful masterpiece with us.

英語分からないけどサムネのお面がどれも素晴らしいもので大変見入りました。神社にお参りすると、たまに奉納されたとっても上質なお面を見ることが出来ますが、神様の顔が本当にそこに在るかのように神聖で見ていて飽きません。そのかわり、あまり質の良くないお面には良くない存在が入っていることが多く、それがお面の良くない側面だといつも思います。なんにせよ、能面も神楽のお面も底無しに素晴らしいと思います✨職人さんはほんとうにすごいです✨

I just like how the Mask represent the state of mind or in other words, the present moment of feelings.

The vitality of a mask is a concept similar to the ancient Roman concept of genius. According to the ancient Romans when people lived together in a place or used objects over time a certain spiritual force was generated, this force could represent the unity of a family or of a troup of soldiers, or the collective spirit of a home and its inhabitants, but also the individual spiritual power of a man or woman. Cherished objects also would develop genius over time. Interestingly the female form of the spiritual force was referred to as iuno. This word was also used to indicate the most powerful female Roman diety, the goddess Juno.

The stubble on the shite's chin (playing a young woman) at 34:30 had me

in 2009 I backpacked Japan and stumbled on a Hannya Mask in a little antique shop in Kyoto. I fell in love with it on the spot. As everything in Japan, it was packaged with great care so that it would survive the journey home. I've done some reading about the hannya mask and its background since, but never seen a documentary on the subject as exceptionally rich in detail as this one. Thank you so much for sharing!

Yknow, I didnt think id be watching a 46 minute video on something I never knew existed, and yet I did. Fascinating!

3:33 I feel that now Im getting closer to being an adult.

能面コレクション、良いですよね。うちも、コレクションしてますよ！

I just got two noh masks: a male and female that are vintage from Japan. This elderly lady was selling them at a yard sale. I’ve always wanted one. I almost purchased one at an antique store in Seattle for $375 US dollars. The two that I purchased at this yard sale were nicer than that one and much more detailed and beautiful than I’ve seen after looking all over on the internet. I think I purchased some very beautiful ones, possibly valuable. But I will never sell them. I love them.

Aloha from Hawai'i! Excellent video. I remember when I grew up here, before I went back to England, that the Japanese theatre arts were celebrated much more. Now, the americans have given us fast food, plastic, and particle board, a sad sad substitution. Hula has remained but Japanese performances are few and far between. Aloha ino!

This is one of the most informative documentaries I've seen of any subject. It also provides excellent and diverse imagery using quality cinematography.

BEST DOCUMENTARY ON NOH ON RU-vid I VE LOOKED THRU SO MANLY LECTURES AND PSEU DOCUMENTARY FINALLY ONE WHO EXPLAINS EVERYTHING THOROUGHLY

I'm so thankful that this beautiful documentary is available to everybody, thank you for making and sharing this!

An incredible documentary showcasing the long tradition of the Japanese obsession with subtly and refinement.

After watching the "Japanology" episode with Peter Barakan about noh theatre, I wanted to learn more about noh and found this documentary. Thank you very much, it was enjoyable and informative. :) Noh is fascinating!

I sincerely appreciate the captions added to the video. It's an often overlooked feature but makes these documentaries much more accessible ♡

Watching a Noh performance is something traditionally special which you don't see everyday, I wouldn't mind watching one of these performances, And that's coming out of a normal 20 year old.

I did not know about Noh Theater but thank this program I learnt a lot. Thanks!

Wonderfull, many thanks, ....!

Thanks you for producing and posting this highly informative film! As an artist and art historian I'm fascinated by both Noh and Kabuki Theatre, and greatly appreciate the fine points of Noh Theatre identified in this film! I just returned from a 3 month trip to Japan and came away with ever more interest in Japan's fascinating culture. Hopefully I can return one day when a performance is actually being conducted, and because of your film, have a fuller appreciation for the art form. Interesting that there are western practitioners/actors of this art. Stephen Marvin's collection of masks was indeed a remarkable treat!

So, if I'm not mistaken the mask allows the actor to see enough as to move around the scenery but in reality the play itself is a mind projection, it all happens mentally and the actor perform in the fictional event, as a vehicle of the character perspective and as an element to fabricate the zeitgeist of the moment.

This story is wonderfully told - a docu-theatre in itself. The masks are haunting, strange yet familiar.💐

This is a very informative documentary. Thanks for sharing it with us!

Best documentary I've ever seen about Noh! Thanks!

This puts the video game "The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask" in a whole new light. While it is not the only Zelda game to feature masks, they are the central mechanic of this particular entry in the series. Most of the masks in the game are rather whimsical, however a few do somewhat resemble some shown here. It may interest you to know that the most powerful mask the player can use is called the "Fierce Deity Mask". It is not easy to obtain as you have to first get all the other masks in the game then trade them away. The final boss will then give you this mask once you have none left. The Fierce Deity Mask is one of four masks in the game with a peculiar quality: transformation. You play as Link, a young boy around 10 years old (in this game), and these four masks will almost completely transform you into a different character. I say "almost" because there are hints of Link still in each transformation. Even so, some of the characters you turn into are seen by other characters in the game as the person they know. That is because these masks are more or less made out of dead people, or perhaps more accurately their spirit, allowing you to become them. The origin of the Fierce Deity Mask is unknown, and when you transform you resemble adult Link from Ocarina of Time, however with a different outfit. The Legend of Zelda is no stranger to putting references to Japanese folklore and history into its games. Most famous is perhaps the "Hand in the Toilet", which also made its first appearance in Majora's Mask, and is in at least three games. Nintendo drawing upon these masks and others for inspiration does not surprise me. Much like the Noh masks being uncomfortable, the transformations that Link undergoes seem rather painful. It only makes sense since his body is completely changing into something/someone else. At any rate this video was quite interesting. I hope I didn't bore you too much with all the Legend of Zelda lore. It was the Fierce Deity and the concept of character transformation that helped me make the connection. I hope you found it equally interesting. There is a sort of happiness in knowing old entertainment traditions can have an influence in modern day entertainment.

Loved this film! I would love to see your work expanded to the other forms of Japanese theater.

Absolutely epic

Thanks for uploading this, pretty inspiring stuff for the nō lovers

your resources are of an incredibly high standard. Unbelievable how many beautiful Noh masks you are presenting. thanks for this great documentary, respect.

This was beautiful!!!

Incredible documentary! Love it immensely !

This is very much appreciated. Thank you.

The idea of honmen reminds me of how people want and try to recreate the original Friday the 13th movie masks. The painters want the hockey masks perfectly like the originals just like the mask carvers want the wooden masks to be perfectly like the originals. What a strange parallel.

Nicely done! Don't use automatic captions: "Shinto" becomes "Sheepdog" ;)

I knew once I fell down the Kabuki rabbit hole it'd be all Japan all the time. I literally just learned Noh existed, and here it comes in my suggestions like I asked for it.

I’ve just started to get into Noh and this video was well done and very educational. Thanks.

Very informative! Fun to find out interesting stories about Noh masks.

Superbe reportage. Merci.

Fantastic documentary, thank you 👹👺

This was very nice, thank you sensei

Bro, this shit hits different.

Incroyablement beau !!!! Un travail de génie !!!!!!

i bow before you with eternal gratitude

Now I've remembered something when watching this documentary. There's a Noh drama made in 2005, called Isseki-sen'nin based on Einstein's theory of Relativity.

I don't know how I got here, but I liked this very much.

I don't know why I watched this and I'm glad I did.

Gracias

I love those mask's I wish i could work as a mask carver.

These long format Noh videos are FANTASTIC! Thank you so much for making them!

Fantastic!

i tried to watch a traditional japanese performance, but the actors had noh talent

"After being cut down, the tree is exposed to water for 5 to 20 years" what "And then dried for another 5 to 20 years" WHAT "Alright boss, I cut down the tree, what's next" "See me in two decades" "Alright boss, it's been twenty years, what now?" "Pull it out of the water" "And?" "And then see me in another twenty years" Oh and I forgot the best part "Boss, it's been almost half a century since we met, I met a wife, started a family, went to war, I saw many wonderous and terrible things. But at last, I have returned, and the logs are dry. What is the final step to this journey?" "Alright get like three pounds of wood so we can make a mask for a play"

I've been to this Theater! 👹👺 It's in Fukuoka in Ohori Park! 大濠公園能楽堂 😀

This is incredible! Informative and expressive art. 👏🏾

Can someone please tell me de instrumental of minute 1:28, please. It appears in the Tale of Genji and wanted to know for so long.

I really really wish i had one. Some genuinely shock me at its realistic human character. Like, i actually jump at the sight of some.

6:23 what looks to be a VERY early version hyottoko mask.

Its like Stephen Marvin says: You _feel_ it.

You know you’re dealing with a level of perfection only the Japanese respect when literally the first step is “wait 5 to 20 years, and then wait again 5 to 20 years.”

Onryō-men masks are in my opinion the coolest masks by far 16:48 And what mask is this one called exactly? 39:27

🤓🤓🤓😲💖💜💜💜💜this documentary of Noh mask's and japan is so cool👺👹⛩🗼🏯🏯🗻🗾

Thank you for sharing your experience with this ancient art form. This was truly fascinating. This nothing of what I was expecting. My only experience is from the movie memoirs of a geisha, which is nothing like this. This makes me think the aMErKin author didn’t really represent Japanese traditional theatre 🎭 at all. Is there any thing that looks like the kabuki performance in the movie, memoirs of a geisha?

Greek theater also had one single protagonist who wore a mask, were all men, and were performed to music. This started in the 6th century BC.

I am an artist and I am studying this so I can draw them better :-)

I love the noh mask and the onii mask :000

42:36 I was gonna make a joke that the mask looked like elvis but that's what they were going for lol what a twist

Some elements of Noh are from japanese Gagaku. The woman mask is from Ayagiri. Gagaku had been for only noble people, budhists and Shintonists till 1868.

Distant vision. Ha! I know what that is! Been able to do it ever since I almost died from chicken pox as a child. Takes a great amount of concentration but it's a very VERY odd state of being.

why does it show dogu when he's talking about masks? 6:05

Great, just great! I've gotta wonder, if an exact copy is warranted, why not just make a mold and cast away? I guess the hand labor is thought to enhance the performance or something.

E tão lindo ver as traduções do Japão.

Noh masks are the most realistic masks.

Thanks so much for this documentary. If you could make more, I'd be very grateful; nothing on RU-vid comes close to this depth. (One episode could be done on the setting alone: the colours of the curtain, the movement from outdoor to indoor.) Two questions: I'm curious how Noh was affected by covid restrictions, whether the art suffered? And finally, I've just finished Zeami's Fushikaden. I don't understand the strict rules around playing demonic/mad characters. Thank you again!

I thought Hannya represented a jealous woman. At least that's what i was told when I lived in Japan by wood carvers in Hida Takayama.

16:03 "Fierce Deity" Well now...I didn't expect to find the roots of a Zelda item here. 0.0

I wonder what Stephen Marvin fells about having his masks stored and never used n brought to life in Noh plays.

Ya’ll Spy mains love to wear the Noh Mercy huh?

We know what we know. We know what we don't know. We know where to go to find out what we don't know.

The phase is "hell hath no fury."

22:08 🤔 seems like a great metaphor for Japanese society...

Do you intend to make more vids about noh @Dym sensei

Are these masks good for Covid??

00:30 headphone warning. Lol great Docu, but turn down your volume for a bit or your ears are going to explode.

Fatal Frame 4 brought me here

Noice

44:33 animation of mask

One slip - off comes a toe.

Safin brought me here

No wonder my gold leaf never shines right, I'm not polishing with a boar's tusk

Masks in Venice Carnival, in Shamanism, Nuo culture of the Tujis people and the anonymous symbol against oppressive regimes... served various purposes. Japan culture, majority of which, is the reproduction of Chinese culture; Nuo, means (儺) in the south， Shamanism (薩) in the north, the witchcraft related to various exocistic religions becomes a transformed art. Amazing!

日本人で英語分かんないけどみてまーす笑笑

16:48 Orochimaru sama.....

Brahma Bro Man

An Elvis Presley Noh play. The perfect blend of eastern and western cultures.

too many adverts it was torture trying the watch this video

28:14 밤에 길다가 만나면 지릴듯;; 귀신같네;;

16:21 give us your MONEY!!!