On Saturday 6th December 2014 from 13:00 to 17:00 the 17th Memorial Performance commemorating the late Iemoto (Head Master) Kongo Iwao II will take place at the Kongō Noh Theatre in Kyoto. This exceptional event will feature two special plays: Obasute, starring the current Iemoto, Kongō Hisanori, and Dōjō-ji (koshiki version) starring his son, Kongō Tatsunori. (See full program below. If you are interested in purchasing a ticket, contact me here).

Obasute, by Zeami Motokiyo is one of the highest ranking plays in the Noh repertoire, and is based on the ancient Japanese legend of obasute-yama, a mountain where the elderly were abandoned by their own relatives, and left there to die. The legend of obasute-yama has been popularised by the famous film The Ballad of Narayama by Kinoshita Keisuke (1958 remade by Imamura Shōhei in 1983). In the Noh play Obasute, the spirit of a woman who was abandoned on Obasute-yama appears to a traveller who is visiting the area, and describes how her loneliness prevent her to break away from her attachments to this world and reach enlightenment. The play is pervaded by the imagery of the full moon, a buddhist symbol of enlightenment, also associated to the Seishi-bosatsu, Bodhisattva of Wisdom and companion of Buddha Amida.

The story of Dōjō-ji is well known in Japan, also because of its Kabuki rendition. The play tells the story of a young woman whose impossible love for a monk transforms her into a deadly monster. After having learned about the girl’s feelings, the man finds refuge in a temple, where monks hide him under the bell. Realising his hiding spot, the woman, now transfigured into a monstrous snake, wraps herself around the bell. As her own snake-body burns with deadly passion, the bell melts along with the man hiding underneath. Years after this accident, a ceremony is held to celebrate a the rising of a new bell. The Abbot has prohibited women to enter the temple precincts, but a young and attractive girl comes knocking at the gates… This

17th Kongo Iwao II Memorial Performance

Time: Saturday 6th December 2014 – 13:00 to 17:00. Doors open at 12:30.

Place: Kongō Noh Theatre, Kyoto.

Noh: Obasute. Shite: Kongō Hisanori; Waki: Hōshō Kan; Flute: Sugi Ichikazu; Shoulder drum: Sowa Hiroshi; Hip drum: Kamei Tadao;  Stick drum: Maekawa Mitsunaga.

Kyōgen: Jisenseki. Shite: Shigeyama Sengorō: Ado: Shigeyama Dōji.

Noh: Dōjō-ji (koshiki) Shite: Kongō Tatsunori. Waki: Fukuō Kazuyuki; Flute: Takeichi Manabu; Shoulder drum: Okura Genjirō; Hip Drum: Kawamura Masaru; Stick drum: Maekawa Mitsunori.

Seating: S seats stage front 15,000¥; A seats stage side 13,000¥; B seats stage middle 10,000¥; balcony 8,000¥; students 5,000¥