Bitef

of

*She tells him that such behaviour is done only in the world of men, but angels never

feather

betray. He is |.ashamed and give the robe back to her.

Then she puts the robe on and dances before him with joy. Finally, she flies up over Mt. Fuji and disappeared into the hazy sky. This is one of the well-known worldwide tales. It was interoduced among »Once More Told Tales « in an English paper dated November 1919.

i Poreklo porodice Umewaka mojemo pratiti sve do Tachibaha-no-Moro-e (684 — 757), vrlo poznatog dvoranina

preci

visokog ciña i poznatog poete japanske poeme »waka«. Njegov deveti potomak živeo je u Umezu,

porodice

umewaka

usavršavala kao parodica Nô-drame. Njihova prefinjena umetnost prelazila je sa oca na sina pa na unuka, kao sto bi se sud sa vodom presipao iz jednog u drugi pa opet u drugi, i to sve do današnjih daña.

Pored ostalog, Monzabusro Umewaka XII bio je i največi glumac svaga doba ne samo u Kanze školi, nego u svih pet škola. Današnji Manzabusro Umewaka XIII bio je

she cannot ascend back to Heaven without it. Moved by her deep distress,

he agrees to return it if )she dances for him. The angel asks him to return

the

the robe to her first, but the fisherman refused it for fear of her flying away as soon as she gets it.

robe

u blizini Kyotoa, glavnog grada J apana, i uzeo je za svoje prezime njegovo ime.

Tridesetsedmi potomak, Kagehisa Umezu, izveo je ’ednu Nô-igru: » A shikari« koji se još i sada uspešno izvodi u prisustvu cara » Go-Tsuchimikado «, a koji je yladao od 1464. do 1499. godine. Mladi glumac je tada imao samo petnaest godina, ali car je bio tako duboko dirnut njegovim izvanrednim izvodenjem da mu je dodelio ime » waka «, što znači »mlad«. Tako je rodeno porodično ime Urne waka. Od tog vremena parodica Umewaka razvijala se i

obučavan od strane svoga oca još u detinjstvu. On sada giunti ne samo u Nò krugovima u svojoj zemlji, nego je bio već pet puta i na prekomorskim turnejama. Ovogodišnja turneja ce biti sesta po redu.

(F.M. Kuramochi)

Japanese No can be deemed the oldest drama in the world. It is not only old, but it has been inherited almost in the original form, though it

an

has been ¡refined and refined all through such a

introduction

'long time as several hundred years. Among the originators of No drama, Zeami (1363 — 1443) is most famous. This renowned actor, who composad, supervised and performed

Nó himself, is supposed, together with his father, his son and some others, to have finished a few thousand pieces of No plays. Among such a large

number, a little more than two

hundred pieces have survived and are still prevailing. Zeami improved primitive farces current at that time and achieved such a refined art as No. He left a lot of writings to his successors, explaining how to practice the art of No. Professional actors start training their sons from their babyhood even today, fostered by the spirit of Zeami’s writings, such as » Kadensho « (»A Flower Book«).

His writings were open to the public in relatively recent years. The scholars specialized in classical arts are

ardently studying his books and publishing a lot of essays. The basic principle is called »Yügen«, the highest ideal oj the aesthetic concept of No. But the spirit of No, in an easy word, is flower or beauty. He repeats the word of

»flower« more than hundred times in his »Flower Book«. No plays are classified in five groups: God, Warrior, Young and Beautiful Woman, Various Dramatic pieces and Supernatural Being. But all of them must have beauty, as claimed by Zeami.

Nò is enjoyed in Japan by many thousands of ordinary people, and it is not to be overlooked that great number oj them are practicing the chanting Nò »songs«, the performing of the short » dance « sequences and the playing of Nò » musical « instruments, under the tutorage of professional Nò actors and Musicians. The above three underlined are the components of Nò drama. Thus Nò drama is in the very short distance from the public.

This is just a brief introduction of Nò both in ancient and recent ages. If audiences, however, come to see Nò, expecting »a play with a story « in the style of Western theatre, they must be lead only to disappoinment, as well said by Mr. O’Neill. If, however, foreign audiences find

of

no