Written in November 2010 Wrote this for a course I took on Japanese theater in-depth analysis of Noh styles and construction using a specific, unique play.
With the Heart of a Human: An Analysis of the Nue as the Shite
Zeami’s works are characterized by a fine lyrical sensibility, and the Noh play Nue is no exception.What is unusual, however, is that it is spoken through the mouth of a demon, the nue monster that gives the play its name. By altering the perspective and narration of the original text found in the Tale of the Heike for his Noh play adaptation Nue, Zeami effectively sets the audience up to be sympathetic toward the nue creature and allows for its emotions to become the central focus of the play. This creates a very memorable character out of the nue, which despite being a demon exhibits a certain humanness, allowing the audience to connect and empathize with the nue.
The Noh play, Nue takes place in the village of Ashiya in Settsu Province in, where a travelling monk, who performs as the waki, on his way to the Kyoto capital from Kumano Shrine, asks for lodging for the night. He is refused, but following a villager’s suggestion decides to stay at a small temple built by a river. There, he meets a mysterious boatman, the mae-shite, who is sailing without oars in a dugout boat which looks like a log. After the boatman confesses to the monk that he is actually the ghost of a monstrous creature called a nue, he starts to relate the story of how he was slain by the famous warrior poet from the Tale of the Heike, Minamoto no Yorimasa. The ghost of the nue then disappears on the river. When the monk holds a Buddhist ritual for the placation of the nue’s tormented spirit, the nue’s ghost appears to express gratitude for the monk’s prayers, but this time in its true guise (nochi-shite). After narrating for a second time the scene of being slain by Yorimasa, the nue expresses his aspiration to be saved by Buddhist teachings and disappears into the water, its ultimate fate left ambiguous.
In terms of the five categories of Noh plays–gods, warriors, women, mad characters, and demons–Nue is classified in the demon category because the protagonist in the play, the nue, is a monstrous, supernatural creature. According to Zeami, there are two styles of demonic roles, saido styleand rikido style. The demon in the saido style “has the form of a demon, but the heart of a human being. Neither body nor mind is vested with forcefulness, which makes the lightness of the body become a defining attribute.” (Quinn 298) In contrast, Zeami states that the rikido style “has the movement of forcefulness as its substance and does not have refinement.” He defines demons portrayed in the rikido styleas “with the force, the form, and the heart of a demon.” (Quinn 298)
Panda Samurai 