Assignment: Choose one of the genzai (present time or living person) plays listed below and rewrite it as a mugen (dream vision or ghost) play. Note that you might have to change the ending of your genzai noh so that it has an unhappy ending -- otherwise why would the ghost come back?

Creating your play (you don't have to follow these steps in order -- you may need to go back and forth between plot, costumes, poetry, etc):

1. Start by reviewing the basic outline of a mugen noh (see below). Use this as a basis for your play.

2. Now decide what plot changes need to be made to make your genzai play into a mugen play, including which characters would be the shite (first half and second half), waki, ai-kyôgen, etc.

Remember, if you don't follow the mugen noh structure, you've basically failed the assignment!!!

3. Write out a basic outline of your new version of the play to use as you consider the questions below.

4. Now write an introduction to your play. Use the introductions to the plays in JND and TJT as examples. The intro should include:

a) Notes on important poetic images in the original that you will retain in your new version. What are the main poetic images (metaphors/symbols) used in your genzai noh? Can you use the same kind of imagery for your mugen noh or do you need to revise them? Use quotations to support your analysis.

b) An explanation of costuming and masks for each character. Think about what costumes and masks are used in the genzai play you have chosen and then consider what changes you need to make to fit your new version. Remember that you can use the original costuming for the shite in the second half, but make sure that you change the shite character's costuming in the first half so that they are disguised!

c) What props (smaller hand props and larger stage props) will you use? How do they relate to the main thematic images/plot of the play?

See here for basic costuming and props, and here and here for basic masks. For costuming for specific plays, see introductions in TJT and JND, and on <the-Noh.com> website click on the play and then on <data> (upper right) to see a list of masks and costumes used in the play.

NOTE: a simple list of props and costumes is not sufficient to answer these questions, nor is something like “a fan is an important image in this play.” You need to analyze how the images are used (quotations from the play will help!!) and reinforced by props and costuming, and explain why you've chosen the costumes/ masks/ props for your mugen dream vision version.

5) Now that you have the basics for your play in place, go ahead and write a detailed synopsis or a full play. Feel free to incorporate imagery and language from the original (inventing new imagery is okay too). The more detailed the better!

Basic Outline of Mugen Noh:

This kind of play is called mugen (dream vision) noh because the waki often appears to fall asleep and dream the visitation of the spirit. A mugen noh usually progresses along the following lines:

a) The waki (a priest) appears and explains why he's traveling through this place

b) The shite appears in the form of a local person and gets into a conversation with the waki about a story connected to the place. The shite knows too much, and the waki gets suspicious.

c) The shite reveals his or her true name and promises to return if the waki prays for her/him, then vanishes.

d) A local villager (ai-kyôgen) arrives and the waki asks him/her the story about this place and about the ghost. The ai advises the waki to pray for the ghost. While praying and awaiting the ghost's return the waki apparently dozes off or goes into a trance and has a dream vision.

e) In the second half the shite returns in their true form and reenacts through dance an important memory that keeps them attached to this world. 

f) The shite usually achieves enlightenment because of the waki's prayers (but not always) and disappears.

Other Helpful Hints:

Examples of mugen Noh that we've read include Atsumori (warrior play); Izutsu (woman play); and Komachi and the Hundred Nights (woman play).

Note: a mugen Noh usually has far fewer characters than a genzai Noh -- basically the shite, waki and ai-kyôgen. So the extra characters in the genzai Noh need to somehow be relegated to the "back story" related by the ai-kyôgen.

Note: the waki in a mugen Noh is always a priest (so he can exorcise/pacify the ghost). Therefore you need to figure out how to fit that into your genzai story (see Atsumori for one example of how to do this).

Format: You can write the paper purely descriptively, or as an actual play with dialogue and stage directions, or some combination of the two. But if you do the latter, you need to clearly distinguish (using different fonts, caps, italics, etc.) between your explanations, dialogue, stage directions, and so on.

Length: anything less than 2-3 pages is not enough, and double-spaced (except for dialogue/poetry) is best.

Citations: When using lines from the original play, make sure that you cite them with page numbers. Footnotes are fine.

PLAYS

I've linked the following plays to images where I have them. There are also images in Traditional Japanese Theater and on <the-Noh.com>. And see masks and drawings of costumes and props by clicking here.

Genzai plays in Japanese Nô Dramas:

Hanjo (Lady Han): woman goes mad because her lover appears to have abandoned her

Kantan: a man becomes Emperor of China in a dream (has a dream vision, but not quite like mugen noh)

Semimaru: the blind prince Semimaru meets his crazy sister Sakagami

Sumidagawa: a mother driven mad by grief searches for her son who was stolen by slavers, but when she reaches the Sumida River finds he has died the year before

Genzai plays in Traditional Japanese Theater:

Miidera: a mother driven mad by grief searches for her son and finds him at the Mii Temple

Shunkan: a priest who has been exiled by the Heike government to a barren island does not get the pardon he hoped for

Other Genzai plays from The-Noh.com (the translations are less poetic than JND or TJT and the introductory analyses tend to focus purely on plot with little attention to imagery):

Ataka: Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Benkei fool the border guard

Funa Benkei (only the first half): Minamoto no Yoshitsune says farewell to his love, Shizuka Gozen

Hagoromo: a heavenly maiden loses her feather robe

Kagetsu: a lost son is reunited with his father

Kosode-Soga: before the Soga Brothers can take revenge on their father's killer, they need their mother's forgiveness

Makiginu: a man who is tardy delivering silk is almost killed but spared by the intervention of a deity

Sakuragawa: A mother driven mad by grief finds her lost son

Yuya: A young woman is kept from visiting her dying mother by the selfishness of Taira no Munenori.