Sado - Island of Noh
About one third of the Noh Theatre stages in Japan are found on Sado Island. Here, the local color of Noh is so prosperous that Sado also boasts more types of Noh stage than you�fll find in any other one place. Every year from the early summer months, the various Noh stages present Takigi Noh Performances (by firelight). Sado Islanders have an ongoing fascination with Noh. When you visit the island, be sure to take in one of Sado�fs Noh performances.
For locals, walking down the street to a neighborhood Noh performance is as easy as going out for dinner. But their discerning eyes watch intently. With the breeze and the sound of insects chirping, this is a unique style of theater that you really have to experience for yourself.
On Sado, "Noh is what you do."
It is said that Noh became most popular on Sado Island around the Meiji era (1868 -1912). At that time, there were around 200 Noh Stages on the island, the same number as there were villages. Novelist and poet Takashi Nagatsuka (1879 - 1915) visited Sado in that time and wrote about the Hono Noh (shrine dedication noh performance) he saw in his work entitled "Sadogashima." He was surprised at how knowledgeable about Noh the cattle trader was who showed him around Sado, and he was astonished to learn that the master of the inn where he was staying was one of the performers he watched on stage.
Noh was a performing art that was loved and kept alive by samurai warriors, but Sado�fs Noh turned into a performing art that was danced, recited, and watched by the townspeople. This is the biggest characteristic of Sado Noh. In the Edo period , Sado was entirely under shogunate control, but there were no feudal lords, and there were far less warrior class members than in other areas. The villagers came to adore Noh as their own hobby and entertainment.
The second characteristic is that many of the Noh stages were built at Shinto shrines. A shrine is a common establishment in each village, and the Noh stages were built with communal funds. The Noh performed on such stages was for amusement, and was simultaneously a Shinto ritual. Many Noh programmes featured stories of someone dying who could not go to heaven, and whose soul would then be purified to get them through. By performing and watching Noh, the people of Sado have helped send off many hovering spirits such as these.
The third characteristic is the abundance of Noh stages. Even now, there are still around thirty Noh stages on Sado Island. You can ask why there are so many when you visit the island for yourself. Probably you�fll be told, with a laugh, that it is because "of rivalry with the next village over." Each village used to compete with its neighbors when they built their own Noh stage, and little by little individuality manifested. Differences in size and structure came about, until a point where some stages lacked essential features and other boasted unheard of additions.
However, one must not forget that Sado Noh was performed by its villagers, and it is still loved and upheld in the same manner to this very day.
Among the remaining Noh stages on Sado, the oldest one is the Daizen Shrine Noh Stage, also affiliated to Domyoji Temple, which is famous for its giant bell. The backdrop is of course a pine tree, but it features an unheard of unique addition: the sun.
