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        The Noh players’ costumes, emulating the costumes of an older Japan, suggest that the Japanese were aware that their architecture required the correct costume if a total aesthetic picture were to be made.  In other words, the adoption of the Western clothing now prevalent in Japan has destroyed a major element in the aesthetic unity conceived by the architects of the past.  There is certainly a clash of values when the modern visitor, dressed for efficiency, enters buildings built for individuals dressed for beauty (Fairservis, 1971, 139.)

Development of Noh Costuming

          Noh staging is very basic in its design.  While the staging is basic, the clothing is extremely elaborate.   Noh costuming could be as elaborate as the most sumptuous aristocrats’ robes.  In appreciation for performance, audience members would strip off articles of clothing and throw them on the stage for the actors (Lacher, 2002, 9.) Thus, surviving examples of Noh costumes reflect the clothing worn daily by the upper classes of the times and the costumes of brocades and soft, shiny embroidered silks are some of the most sophisticated woven and embellished textiles of Japan (Phoenix Art Museum, 2004.)

Actors became very much leaders of fashion.  In Japan’s Noh theatre, the costumes, the fabric, color and design, play a primary role in the characterization of age, gender, social status, and emotional state.  The beautifully established silk robes and carved wooden masks transform the performer’s body into a mysterious sculptural form (Phoenix Art Museum, 2004.)

Noh Masks

There is a Japanese expression which describes an impassive face as being “like a Noh face.”  (Noh text, 2004)   Noh masks are richly varied and expressive, since the works are the actor are not spoken but conveyed through the mask itself.  Thus, the mask is crucial to the role of the actor, and the best masks are said to be able to shout, whimper, scream, purr, or grow silent.  The expression of the eyes is considered most important, while sculptural details further define characteristics of the role’s mood and temper (Phoenix Art Museum, 2004.)  The mask is hand carved from a single piece of Japanese Cypress, about 12 mm thick and finished with thirteen layers of back.  The expressions of the masks are both symbolic and ambiguous, and the performers’ art turns the suspended expression into a definite character. (Sichel, 1987, 46.) 

To express sorrow, an actor flutters a fan before his mask.  To show overwhelming happiness he may tilt his mask upward.  (Gelber, 1993, 44.)

Noh masks are considered to be descendant of the masks worn in gingko theatre.  Zeami considered the greatest Noh actor of all time, explained how masks should be made in the book he wrote in 1430 entitled Discourses on the Principles of Suragaku as follows:

A face mask should not have a long forehead.  There are persons today who would begrudge trimming it shorter.  It is absurd.  If one wears a headpiece- the eboshi, for example- part of it will be under the mask’s forehead, and the resultant tilt in the mask will bring about a lack of balance that is undesirable.  Though it may not be visible if a hairpiece is worn, a high forehead is undesirable because it may show through the scattered strands of hair.  The upper part of a long face mask should be cut away.  (Araki, 1964, 40.)

Noh Accessories