Скачать или смотреть Getting to Know Japan: The History and Ideas Behind Noh Drama

The Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies presents the Getting to Know Japan Webinar Series that is recorded live on Zoom monthly. For more information about the Getting to Know Japan Webinar Series and our upcoming events please visit our webpage https://www.ycaps.org/know-japan.

During June 2025, we hosted Dr. Naohiko Umewaka as he presented on "An Introduction to Japanese Performative Arts: The History and Ideas Behind Noh Drama".

This lecture explored the profound world of Noh—one of Japan’s oldest and most revered performing arts, which endured even through periods of political upheaval, including the fall of the Tokugawa government.
Historically, Noh masters were not merely performers; they were granted the status of Bushi (samurai). When the samurai class was dissolved during the Meiji Restoration, Noh itself faced the threat of extinction. It was Minoru Umewaka, a Noh master and my great-grandfather, who single-handedly preserved the art and ensured its survival into the modern era.
In many ways, the modernization of Japan began with the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853. At that moment, Minoru Umewaka was performing inside Tokugawa Castle—only later hearing the news of Perry’s landing.
Soon afterward, the American scholar Ernest Fenollosa—a Harvard man and pioneering figure in Japanese art history—became the first non-Japanese to study Noh formally, under Minoru’s guidance. This unique intersection of cultural and diplomatic history is vividly captured in Fenollosa’s book, Noh or Accomplishment.





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