Next week Kyoto Kanze Kaikan is holding two charity Noh performances to raise funds for victims of the 2011 Tohoku Disaster. They will be held on the morning and evening of March 11th – the anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami.
If you aren’t familiar with Noh, it’s best to take a script with you. There is a lot of talking in Noh plays, they are speaking medieval Japanese, and the speech patterns are very stylized, so even for native Japanese they can be hard to understand. Mewby and I went to see a couple of Noh plays at the Kanze Kaikan last weekend, but we only had a script for one of the plays. Let me tell you it makes a big difference when watching Noh, if you have a script with you to follow along with. Fortunately, translations of the scripts for both of the plays next week are available on the excellent the能.com site, with both English and modern Japanese.
Date and Times: Tuesday March 11th
10:30-12:30: The main performance is of the Noh play Tsunemasa. You can download a translated script here: 経正
18:30-20:30: The main performance is of the Noh play Shōjō Midare. You can download a translated script here: 猩々乱
Location: Kyoto Kanze Kaikan is on the south side of Niomon Street between Higashioji and Jingu-michi. It is a 10 minute walk north from from Higashiyama Subway Station. Here is a map.
Both performances cost 1,500. They can be booked in advance at this number: 075-771-6114
075-771-6114 (Japanese). However, specific seats cannot be reserved.
More details of the performances can be seen here (Japanese): http://www.kyoto-kanze.jp/performanceguide/gien-noh.htm
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