Category: Noh 能

Chant

Nō can be understood as a form of musical poetry in which the emotions of a character are expressed through utai, a term that contains both the notions of “poem” and “chant”. Utai refers to the chanted portions of the text of a nō play including the parts that are delivered in stylized speech (kotoba). In performance, the text is given voice, with every line rendered in a specific style. Even spoken conversations between characters are intoned according to a stylized model. The melody of the chant may be plain or ornate. Rhythmically, it can be loose or strict and is variously textured. The elements that define nō chant-rhythm, voice quality, mode, and style – are introduced in what follows. Variations in these elements serve as structural indicators within the shōdan system.

In this section

Rhythm
Voice production

1. Rhythm basics

Melody in nō is expressed in the chant of actors and chorus and with the flute. Rhythm is expressed by the drums, either the two hand drums working in tandem, or with the addition of the stick drum. Two basic rhythmic conventions are used to combine chant with the drums. In one, the syllables of the song or notes of the flute are matched to the drum beats, both melody and drums following an eight-beat unit. This is called hyōshi ai (translated either as “matched” or “congruent” rhythm). When the song matches syllables to beats, the drummers also match their playing to the song, beat by beat. There are several methods of matching syllables and drums, discussed below. With the second rhythmic convention, the syllables of the song are not aligned with specific beats of the drums and are therefore said to be “unmatched” or “non-congruent” (hyōshi awazu). With “unmatched” rhythm, chant and drumming progress together, but independently.

The two most basic rhythms are:

Matched rhythm（拍子合 hyōshi-ai) in which the chant matches syllables of text to the beat.
Unmatched rhythm（拍子不合 hyōshi-awazu), in which chant and music progress independently, yet begin and end together at designated times.

A significant characteristic of nō music is that even when the chant, drums, and flute follow the same eight-beat rhythmic unit, the performers intentionally avoid using evenly-spaced intervals between beats, in order to avoid the sense of a monotonous regular beat. Following an even beat would be considered artistically inferior and amateurish. The amount of elasticity in rendering a passage differs by individual and by nō school and may change with each performance. As a result, during a performance, the singers and instrumentalists must be constantly listening to each other and mutually adjusting their rhythm.

The most conspicuous passages that require performers to constantly listen and adjust to each other are the unmatched sections, where the chant is not bound to the eight-beat unit played by the drums and is rendered in a freer rhythm. For these sections, the drums still play patterns derived from the eight-beat units but freed from a constant beat. Because the chant proceeds without heeding the beat, the drummers have to measure (mihakarai) the speed with which they play their stipulated patterns and adjust their timing to coordinate with the chant. They make these adjustments by expanding or contracting the patterns. For instance, the instructions might be, “repeat pattern A until XYZ words in the chant”. The drummers might repeat A three times, only twice, or possibly four times. To make sure the chant and drum cadences end at the same moment, they might contract two patterns into one, playing the first half of A and joining it to the second half of B. These unrehearsed adjustments happen as part of the performance. They constitute an element of the here-and-now manifestation on the stage of the event of the play, as well as a measure of the performers’ skill.

When the rhythm of the chant does not correspond to the rhythm of the drums, the sounds that reach the audience follow different timings. It might seem like improvisation, but it is not. Rather, the sequences of patterns accord with a system that makes unmatched execution possible. Certain vocal interjections (kakegoe) are used to signal a shift to a new sequence of patterns (e.g., from repeating A in a loop to a closure pattern). Once one drummer switches to the next pattern, the others will follow.

The role of empty spaces (間 ma)

The fluid integration of drummers and chanters that creates a unified ensemble despite the lack of a metronome-like rhythm depends on the underlying concept of ma 間, a composite of the ideas of “space”, “interval”, and “the in-between”. For instance, in sections with a matched beat (hyōshi ai), each of the beats in the eight-beat measure has a unique position signaled by specific drummers’ kakegoe, such as “yo”,”ha”, “yo-i” or “ya” that precede the actual drum stroke. In the simplest hand-drum pattern (koi-ai + mitsu-ji), the drum strokes come mostly on odd-numbered beats: 3, 5, and 7. Singers and instrumentalists alike mentally mark the even-numbered beats: 2, 4, 6, and 8. For the drummers, marking the beat is often silent and internal, a “cue” (komi) rather than a drum stroke. This cue, a voiceless internal contraction, precedes the drummers’ calls on the half-beat in preparation for striking the hand drum on the odd beat. Likewise, the singers take a breath on beat 8 and match syllables of the chant to beats 2, 4, and 6. The way in which the “interval is taken” (ma wo toru) colors the mood evoked: large and expansive ma for slow, feminine pieces, or clipped and sharp ma for vigorous gods or warriors.

Chant book by Konparu Yoshikatsu (1510-1583)

2. Voice production

In order to chant nō, singers keep the chin pulled back, and let the voice resonate in the chest and abdomen, producing a vibrato that seems to originate from the depths of the body. Different voice techniques are used together. Singers alternate between an open projected voice and a restrained voice produced when the breath is pulled down (hiku) into the inner body. Variations in the method of voice production also characterize the different shite schools.

The style of singing differs depending on the role type. For example, shite characters tend to sing slower and at a lower pitch than the tsure, who sings in a lighter and slightly higher-pitched voice, and some waki performers minimize vibrato to emphasize the words. Pitch is relative, changing with the role and the level of intensity or excitement, and not necessarily related to the gender of the character. As a result, a shite playing a female role may sing at a lower pitch than the waki performing a man.

Modes: yowagin and tsuyogin

Japanese traditional music used to be based on a pentatonic scale with five pitches in the octave, but after the development of shamisen music in the seventeenth century, performers began to use pitches outside the old mode, incorporating partial shifts in key. However, nō music is essentially restricted to pitches in the fundamental pentatonic scale. Rules govern the way one sound is linked to the next, and these rules are not broken. Furthermore, unlike Western classical conventions developed from 19th-century European music, nō chant does not conceive of absolute pitch. Indications of pitch are relative, and depend on the pitch that is established by the shite or by the chorus leader. Many features of nō singing – the limited number of pitches, the set ways pitches are connected, the indication of the initial pitch for each chant section, and the predetermined end pitches – can also be found in other medieval Japanese musical arts, including narration with lute (biwa) of texts like Tales of the Heike, and Buddhist narrative chants (kōshiki).

The type of melody and rhythm used for the utai are important musical elements for both the expression of the content and for establishing the structural base. Modern utai distinguishes between two modes of delivery: yowagin, the “soft voice” or melodic mode, and tsuyogin, the “strong voice” or dynamic mode. Characters of women and old people appearing in calm, quiet scenes use yowagin, the melodic mode, while gods, demons and strong figures sing in tsuyogin, the dynamic mode. Yowagin has a steady, comparatively light vibrato, and the shifts in pitches are easier to distinguish. However, in tsuyogin, the breath is exhaled with force, producing a wide but less controlled vibrato. Compared to yowagin, tsuyogin has fewer differences in pitch.

Yowagin 弱吟

The yowagin mode has three main or pole pitches, jō-on (upper pitch), chū-on (middle pitch), and ge-on (lower pitch), each separated by a perfect fourth and connected by intermediary pitches. The singer alternates between letting out and holding back breath. Pitches are associated with distinctive singing styles: passages that are more chant-like tend to modulate around jō-on, the pole pitch of the upper register and to use quite a bit of vibrato.. Narrative passages tend to be set in the middle register, being sung centered on chū-on and without vibrato. Above jō-on, is the pitch called kuri, which uses a special vibrato called nabiki. Rising to kuri lays emphasis on the words, often expressing strong feeling or sorrow. Although there are a limited number of pitches in nō melody, by controlling the breath to change pitch level, voice quality, and the amount of vibrato, and by manipulating the intervals (ma) between syllables, chanting is minutely modulated to express the scene.

Tsuyogin 強吟

Tsuyogin uses four pitches: jō-on, chū-on, ge-no-chū-on (“lower middle pitch”), and ge-on, but in present practice jō-on and chū-on are essentially the same pitch, as are ge-no-chū-on and ge-on. Despite pitch difference being almost indecipherable to the ear, jō-on and chū-on continue to be differentiated in the notation. To simulate the nonexistent shift in pitch descent from jō-on to chū-on, the singer increases the intensity of the vibrato immediately preceding the notation indicating lowering the pitch, effectively producing a rising pitch and thus the illusion of descent when returning to the preceding pitch. On the other hand, no change in pitch marks an ascent from chū-on to jō-on. The same principle holds for movement between ge-no-chū-on and ge-on, except that ge-no-chū-on uses a softer exhalation than ge-on. Thus, the retention of notations like jō-on or chū-on are used not to indicate pitch levels, but rather to mark changes in breath support.

The lack of distinct pitch characterizing tsuyogin means that it is difficult to identify as a song. Today, tsuyogin is valued for clearly transmitting the force and the meaning of the words. In certain scenes, tsuyogin and yowagin are combined. For scenes with frequent interchange of these dynamic and melodic modes, such as scenes with crazed characters, the shifts in voicing suggest a complex psychological state.

Contributor: Takakuwa Izumi and Monica Bethe

Noh 能

List of nō translations

Noh translations: noh plays in alphabetical order of the Japanese titles

All 253 plays in the repertoire of the five schools have been included, together with some plays that are no longer performed (bangai yōkyoku), some newer compositions, and other plays of interest. See also genpei-noh for detailed information about canonical and non-canonical plays related to the Genpei wars. Database for other premodern Japanese texts and their translations.

        This page began as a guide to noh translations, but now encompasses other matters (e-texts, authorship, status of plays in the repertory of schools).
        Each entry begins with a title in romanization and in Japanese characters. Titles of currently performed plays are given in bold. Japanese words are now romanized here with the macron (ō, ū). To give you a better chance of reaching this page through internet searches, or hunting for words within it, several options have been given for many titles, including romanization without accents. See note below for more about titles.
The number in parentheses after the play title refers to the play type: (1) “god plays”; (2) “warrior plays; (3) “woman plays”; (4) fourth-category plays; and (5) fifth-category plays.”
   Under (E) you will find English-language translations listed in order of publication. Translations in French, German, and other European languages are prefaced by the Euro sign (€). If a title has been translated, either by translator or in secondary literature, that information is also given.
   Under (J), citations of print editions are being added slowly, but most entries now have a link to a full Japanese electronic text. Though based on a 1928 edition, these are handy for searches and reference–not least in giving quick access to information about the identity of the waki, shite, etc. After clicking links, you may have to change the browser encoding manually to “Japanese (EUC).”
Under (S), some related secondary literature in English has been listed. (Just a start…)
Under (A) you will find the name of the presumed author. The primary source for attributions is a guide to noh plays compiled by Nishino Haruo (Nishino 1999, 10-163, 438-443). Entries also indicate which of the five “schools” (ryūgi) include the play in their current performance repertoire. Parenthetical notations like “(Hōshō)” indicate that the play was once in the repertory of a particular school, but is no longer so. To distinguish these borderline plays, the romanized titles have been italicized. The five schools are given in their conventional order: Kanze 観世, Hōshō 宝生, Komparu 金春, Kongō 金剛, Kita 喜多. Plays that are not in the modern repertory are indicated as “[bangai]” for bangai yōkyoku 番外謡曲.
    See Western and Japanese bibliography below for full references of books, journals, information about JSTOR links for journal publications, and the notes for other matters.
    This bibliography focusses on nō plays themselves, but anyone interested in learning more about nō drama will also want to look at the early writings by Zeami, Zenchiku, and others about theoretical and practical issues of performances. A fairly comprehensive bibliography for Zeami’s writings is given on the premodern Japanese texts and translation page: Zeami jūroku bushū世阿弥十六部集. For Zenchiku, see Rokurin ichiro no ki六輪一露之記.
The editor is grateful for any corrections and additions. Annotations in red (“check,” etc.) indicate some of the items for which further information is needed. Contact information follows below.

— Michael Watson <watson[at]k.meijigakuin.ac.jp>
Latest revision: 2018.05.13

Updates:
(1) The excellent UTAHI site with texts of 350 plays has moved to http://hangyo.sakura.ne.jp/utahi/.
To read the UTAHI pages, you may need to change to EUC encoding. (Sometimes a different browser will do the trick–in my case Chrome works better than Safari.) I have globally updated all links but see that I need to check the links and correct. The master page is here: hangyo.
(2) Links are included to four complete translations by Kenneth Leo Richard (1940–2011). Ken Richard maintained a site that included an online project “Pretty Boys in the Noh” with translations of Kagetsu, Kanehira, Matsumushi, and Yoroboshi. With his death, the site disappeared but it proved possible to recover the translations from the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Details below.

Adachi ga hara (Adachigahara) 安達原 (4/5)
- (E) Shimazaki & Comee 2012: 299ff.
- Draft trans. by Fenollosa (Miyake, Kodama and Teele 1994).
- (€) Sieffert II 1979.
  (J) e-text (UTAHI). [EUC encoding]; ShinNKBZ 2 (as Kurozuka).
- (A) Zeami.
- Kanze name for play Kurozuka 黒塚 in repertory of other four schools.
Aisomegawa 藍染川 (4/5)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari.
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze, (Hōshō), Komparu schools.
Akechi uchi 明智討 (2)
- (E) Brown 2001 (“Conquest of Akechi”)
  (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 1:20-.22.
- (A) Ōmura Yūko
- [bangai] A Hideyoshi play.
Akoya no matsu 阿古屋松
- (E) Tyler 2013 (“The Akoya Pine”).
- (J) NKBT 40
- Bangai, revived for performance. (2012.3.13, 2012.4.27, etc.)
Akogi 阿漕 (4)
- (E)
- (€) Mario Marega, “Akogi, Ballata in un Atto di Seami Motokiyo,” MN 2: 2 (1939), 551-572 [JSTOR].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKS.
- (A) unknown. Possibly work of Kawakami kannushi 河上神主.
- All five schools.
Ama 海人 (5) (海士 in Kanze school)
- (E) NGS III 1960 (“Woman-Diver”); Tyler 1992 (“The Diver”).
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (I) (“La pêcheuse”).
- Waley 1921 (“The Fisher-girl”; summary, p. 236, with tr. of one short passage).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKS 1:15–24 (海士): NKBZ 34:474- (海士); SNKZ 59:533–548 (海人).
- (A) unknown. Old work, possibly by Komparu Gon no kami 金春権守.
- All five schools.
Aoi no ue 葵上 (4)
- (E) Fenollosa/Pound 1916b (“Awoi No Uye”); Waley 1921 (Aoi no Uye, “Princess Hollyhock”); NGS II 1959 (“Lady Aoi”); Goff 1991; Bethe and Emmert 1997 (“Aoinoue”); Brown 2001 (“Lady Aoi”). A revision of the NGS II 1959 translation appears in Shirane 2007: 927-936.
- (€) Steinilber-Oberlin 1929; {Italian translation as “Principessa Malvarosa,” Kokusai Bunka Shinkōkai 1938}; {Fulchignoni 1942, “La Principesssa Malvarosa”}; Herbert Zachert, MN 2: 2 (1939), 536-50 [JSTOR]; Giancarlo Calza, “La principessa Aoi” in L’Incanto sottile del dramma Nō (Milano: Vanni Scheiwiller, 1975; also Novara: Editoriale Nuova, 1983); Sieffert II 1979, 573ff; Godel/Kano 1994 (“La Dame Aoi”)
- Pound and Waley versions online at JTI.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKS. NKBZ 34:323-. SNKZ 59:274-284
- (A) Older work revised by Zeami.
- All five schools.
Arashiyama 嵐山 (1)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925]; Renondeau, France Asie 166 (March-April, 1961).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBT 41:229. SNKZ 58:87-96.
- (A) Komparu Zenpō 金春禅鳳 (1454-?).
- All five schools.
Aridōshi [Aridoshi] 蟻通 (ありどほし）(4)
- (E) Suzuki 1932, 51-57.
- (€) [Gundert 1925]; Sieffert 1979 (I).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKS. NKBZ 34:84-. SNKZ 58:87-96.
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Asagao 朝顔（槿)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (`UTAHI). SNKS 1:36-44. See Itō Masayoshi’s notes for performance history
- Spirit of asagao (morning-glory), with references to character known as “Asagao” in Genji monogatari. This play play inspired Yone Noguchi to write “The Morning-Glory (A Dramatic Fragment)” but comparison reveals little or no use of the plot or language of the noh play. See The Spirit of Japanese Poetry (1914], reprinted in Hakutani Yoshinobu, ed., Selected English Writings of Yone Noguchi, 2:85-87.
Ashikari 芦刈 (4) (葦刈)
- (E) Draft trans. by Fenollosa (Miyake, Kodama and Teele 1994); James A. O’Brien in Keene 1970 (“The Reed Cutter”)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBT 40:357f.
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Asukagawa 飛鳥川 (4)
- (E)
- “Asuka River” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Mikan 18. KYS.
- (A) unknown.
- Kongō, Kita schools.
Atago Kūya 愛宕空也 (5)
- (E)
- (€) Renondeau 1950, 109-117.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 1:67-.
- (A) Kanze Kojirō Nobumitsu 信光 (1424-1516).
- Kita school only.
Ataka 安宅 (4)
- (E) Brinkley 1901; Sansom 1911, 149-165 (“Benkei=at=the=Barrier”); NGS III 1960; Kenneth Yasuda, “The Dramatic Structure of Ataka, a Noh Play,” MN 27:4 (Winter 1972), 359-398 [JSTOR]; Yasuda 1989; Shirane 2007: 1016-1036 (“Ataka,” trans. Anthony H. Chambers).
- (€) Florenz 1905 (summary and excerpt, 401-404)
- “Ataka Barrier” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKS. NKBZ 34:301-. SNKZ 59:354-376
- (A) unknown. Possibly Kanze Kojirō Nobumitsu 信光 (1424-1516).
Atsumori 敦盛 (2)
- (E) Waley 1921 [e-text][also reprinted Keene 1955, 286-293]; Shimazaki 1987 (2/1); Yasuda 1989; Tyler 1992 (reprinted with small changes in Shirane 2007); Bethe and Emmert 1995 (with Karen Brazell); Brazell in Brazell 1998.
- (€) Péri 1912; Weber-Schäfer 1961 (“Die Flöte des Atsumori”); Godel/Kano 1994.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBT 40:233f. SNKZ 58:218-231.
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Awaji 淡路 (1)
- (E)
- (€) (Péri 1913/21); [Gundert 1925].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari.
- (A) Zeami (kusemai portion).
- Kanze, Komparu, Kongō schools.
Aya no tsuzumi 綾鼓 (4)
- (E) Waley 1921 (“The Damask Drum”); also reprinted in Keene 1955; Tyler 1992 (“The Damask Drum”).
- (€) Péri 1921/1944 (“Le Tambourin de Damas”); Arnold and Fukui 1957 (“Le Tambour de soie”).
- E-text at JTI of Waley translation, with Japanese text.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari. NKBZ 34:200-. SNKZ 59:249-259.
- (A) unknown.
- Hōshō, Komparu, Kita schools.
Bashō (Basho) 芭蕉 (3)
- (E) NGS I 1955
  (€) Gundert, Jubiläumband der deutschen Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens, 1933; Renondeau 1950.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:311-324.
- The title refers to the bashō-tree is “a banana-like plant with large leaves found in southern Japan” (NKG I:125, note). The haikai poet Matsuo Bashō later took his name from the same plant.
- (S) Shiveley 1957 (with trans. of passages).
- (A) Komparu Zenchiku.
- All five schools.
Bukan 豊干 (4)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 3:232-5.
- (A) unknown.
- (Hōshō) school.
Chibiki 千引 (5).
- (E)
- (J) e-text [UTAHI], KYS 2: 583-7.
- [bangai]. Recently revived (復曲能).
- Also known as Chibiki ishi. Governor of Kai (waki) wantes to move heavy stone in Michinoku to another province, but fails. The spirit of the heavy stone (shite) refuses to be separated from his “wife” (tsure). The stone finally agrees to move of his own accord….
- See entries: Maruoka, Kokin yōkyoku kaidai, 437-8 (with plot summary); Tanaka Makoto, Mikan yōkyokushū, zoku 21, 234.
- (A) unknown.
- (Hōshō) school.
Chikubushima (Chikubu-shima) 竹生島 (1)
- (E) Lombard 1928, 95-102; Tyler 1992 (“Chikubu-shima”).
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (I).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 2031f. SNKZ 58:67-76.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Chōbuku Soga [Chobuku Soga] 調伏曽我 (4)
- (E) Laurence Bresler, “Chōbuku Soga: A Noh Play by Miyamasu,” MN 29: 1 (1974), 69-82. [JSTOR].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 2119f.
- (A) Miyamasu.
- Hōshō, Kongō, Kita schools.
Chōryō [Choryo] 張良 (5)
- (E) Fenollosa/Pound 1916b (as “Chorio”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 2043f.
- (A) Kanze Nobumitsu.
- All five schools.
Chūrei 忠霊
- (E)
- (€) Italian trans. as “Le anime fedeli” by Salvatore Mergé for the Italian Embassy in Tokyo, 1942.
- (J) Tanaka Makoto, Mikan yōkyokushū, zoku 9.
- [bangai]
Daibutsu kuyō [Daibutsu kuyo] 大仏供養 (4)
- (E)
- “Dedication Rite for Great Buddha” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1743–1758.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools. Called Nara mōde 奈良詣 (“Pilgrimage to Nara”) in Komparu school.
Daie (Dai-e) 大会 (5)
- (E)
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (II), 461ff (“La grande assemblée”)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1777-1787.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools. * Sanari lists as: Kanze (Hōshō Konparu Kongō Kita).
Daihanya 大般若 (4/5)
- (E)
- (A) unknown.
- Revived in 1983 and now in current repertoire of Kurokawa nō.
Daihei Shōjō [Daihei shojo] 大瓶猩々 (5)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1759-1766.
- Kanze school.
Dairokuten 第六天 (5)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1767-1776.
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze school.
Danpū [Danpu, Dampū, Danpu] 檀風 (壇風) (4/5)
- (E) Smethurst 1998.
- The title literally means “sandlewood wind(s)”but its significance in the context of the play is unclear, as Smethurst notes (61n).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 2003f. NKBZ 34:342-. SNKZ 59:394-417.
- (A) unknown.
- Hōshō, Kongō, (Kita) schools.
- Source: Taiheiki, book 2.
Darani Ochiba 陀羅尼落葉 (3)
- (E) Goff 1991, 176-181.
- There are two different plays known as Ochiba. This play (beginning “tsuki wo miyako no shirube ni te”) is often referred to as Darani Ochiba to distinguish it from the other, in the Komparu school tradition, which is also known as Ochiba no miya. See Nishino and Hata, Nō Kyōgen jiten, pp. 26-27, and entry Ochiba below.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 1:316-320; Kokumin bunko 2:171-174.
- (A) unknown.
- (Hōshō), (Kita) schools.
Dōjōji [Dojoji] 道成寺 (4)
- (E) [Aston 1899: 212-13, summary]; [Suzuki 1932, summary 113-115]; Sadler 1934; Donald Keene in Keene 1970 (reprinted in Brazell 1998 with changes, including fuller stage directions).
- (€) Arnold and Fukui 1957; Sieffert 1979 (I).
- (S) Susan Blakeley Klein. “When the Moon Strikes the Bell: Desire and Enlightenment in the Noh Play Dōjōji.” JJS 17.2 (Summer, 1991), 291-322.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3. SNKS 2:374–383; NKBZ 34:234-; SNKZ 59:285-300.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Dōmyōji [Domyoji] 道明寺 (1)
- (E) Borgen 2007 (MN 62:1, pp. 56-67), with study “A History of Dōmyōji.”
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (II).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1823-1838.
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze, (Hōshō), Kongō, (Kita) schools.
Ebira 箙 (2)
- (E) Suzuki 1932, 58-67; W.R.Wilson, MN 24: 4 (1969) [JSTOR].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Eboshi-ori 烏帽子折 (5)
- (E) Waley 1921 [e-text]; Shimazaki 1998 (4/2) (“The Eboshi Maker”).
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (II), 230ff (“Le pliage de l’éboshi”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Miyamasu.
- All schools except Komparu.
Eguchi 江口 (3)
- (E) Lombard 1928, 115-125; NGS I 1955; Shimazaki 1977 (3/2); Tyler 1978a (“Mouth-of-Sound”); Tyler 1992.
- (€) Steinilber-Oberlin 1929; Péri 1920/1944; Fulchignoni 1942 (“La donna di Eguchi”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:273-285.
- (A) Kan’ami work, revised by Zeami.
- All five schools.
Ema 絵馬 (1)
- (E) Shimazaki 1972 (1) (“The Votive Tablet”); Bethe and Emmert 1996.
- (€) [Gundert 1925]; Sieffert 1979 (I) (“L’image du cheval”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Kongō Nanigashi [i.e. someone called Kongō, personal name unknown].
- All schools except Komparu.
Enoshima 江野島（江島) (1)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925]; Sieffert 1979 (II), 10ff.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Kanze Nagatoshi 観世長俊 (1488-1541).
- Kanze school only.
Fuji 藤 (3)
- (E) Lombard 1928, 126-134 (“The Spirit of the Wisteria”); [Suzuki 1932, summary 119-121].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown. (Sometimes attributed to 南部信恩.) check
- Kanze, Hōshō, Kongō schools.
Fujidaiko (Fuji daiko) 富士太鼓 (4)
- (E)
- “Fuji’s Drum” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBZ 34:61-. SNKZ 59:105-115.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Fujisan 富士山（不二山) (1)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- Komparu, Kongō schools.
Fujito 藤戸 (4)
- (E) {Orr Ewing, Bulletin of the Japanese Society, London, 1952}; W. R. Wilson, MN 29: 4 (1974), 439-50 [JSTOR]; Bethe and Emmert 1992.
- (€) Renondeau 1927/1954. Godel/Kano 1994 (“La porte des glycines”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBZ 34:188-. SNKZ 59:236-248.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Fukkatsu 復活 (4) 土岐善麿
- (E)
- (J)
- (A) Toki Zenmaro 土岐善麿 (1885-1980)
- Kita, recently Hōshō
- Revived by Hōshō as「復活のキリスト」
Fumigara 文がら
- (E) Teele 1993 (“The Love Letters”).
- A modern nō play by Tsumura Kimiko 津村紀三子 (1902–1974).
Funa Benkei (Funabenkei) 舟弁慶・船弁慶 (5).
- (E) Sansom 1911, 133-148 (“Benkei=in=the=Ship”); NGS I 1955 (“Benkei in the Boat”); Yasuda 1989 (“Benkei of the Boat”); Tyler 1992 (“Benkei aboard Ship”).
- (€) Florenz 1909, 395-401 (“Benkei auf dem Schiff”); {Renondeau 1950 (“Benkei à la barque”)}.
- “Benkei in the Boat” (title trans. in Keene 1990 [1966]).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBZ 34:430-. SNKZ 59:486-505.
- (A) Kanze Kojirō Nobumitsu (1424-1516).
- All five schools.
Funabashi 船橋 (4)
- (E) Tyler 1978a (“The Boat Bridge”); Shimazaki 1994 (4/1) (“Bridge of Boats”); Tyler 2013.
- (€) Mario Scalise, “Il Nō di Funabashi,” Il Giappone, 7 (1967); Godel/Kano 1994 (“Le Pont Flottant”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) revised by Zeami.
- All five schools.
Furu 布留 [布留乃能]
- (E) Tyler 2013.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI)
- [bangai]. Revived in performance in Dec. 2011 (観世清和)
Fushimi 伏見
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Zeami?
- (Hōshō) school.
Futari Giō (Futari Gio) 二人祇王
- (E)
  (€) Weber-Schäfer 1961 (“Zwei Tänzerinnen”).
- Kita school name for the play known in other schools as Giō. See that entry
- (J) e-text (UTAHI) of Giō.
Futari Shizuka 二人静 (3)
- (E) Suzuki 1932, 68-75 (as “Ninin Shizuka” with title tr. as “The Two Shizukas“); Jacqueline Mueller, “The Two Shizukas: Zeami’s Futari Shizuka,” MN 36.3 (1981) [JSTOR]; Shimazaki 1987 (3/3).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:361-370.
- (A) unknown (old work?)
- Kanze, (Hōshō), Komparu, Kongō, Kita schools.
Gekkyūden 月宮殿 (1).
- Kita school name for Tsurukame 鶴亀, see that entry.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI) of Tsurukame.
Gendayū (Gentaifu) 源太夫 (1)
- (E)
- [Gundert 1925].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Kiami 喜阿弥.
- (Hōshō), Komparu, (Kita) schools.
Genji kuyō (Genji kuyo) 源氏供養 (3)
- (E) Janet Goff in Brazell 1988 (“A Memorial Service for Genji”); Goff 1991; Tyler 2013 (“To Hallow Genji).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Genjō 玄象 / Kenjō 絃上.
- (E) Fenollosa/Pound 1916b (as “Genjo”); Tyler 2013.
- (€)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 1:702- (as “Genjō”).
- (A) Kawakami kannushi 河上神主. Other authors have been suggested.
- Kanze (as Genjō 玄象), Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, Kita (as Kenjō 絃上).
Genpuku Soga 元服曽我 (4)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Miyamasu?
- (Hōshō), (Komparu), (Kita) schools.
Genzai chikata 現在千方
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI)
- [bangai]
Genzai nue 現在鵺 (5)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 1:688.
- Kongō, (Kita) schools.
- Performed as Kurokawa noh.
Genzai Sanemori 現在実盛
- (E) Mae Smethurst (in Oyler and Watson 2013)
- (J) Shin yōkyoku hyakuban
- [bangai]
Genzai shichimen 現在七面 (4)
- (E)
- (€) Renondeau 1950.
- KYS 1:678-
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze, Kongō schools.
Genzai Tadanori 現在忠度 (4).
- (E)
- (J) Tanaka, Mikan yōkyokushū (zoku) 3 (1988), 50–55.
- (A) unknown.
- Kongō school only.
Genzai Tomoe 現在巴 (4)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 1:688.
- (A) unknown.
- (Kongō) school.
Giō (Gio) 祇王 (3)
- (E) Susan Matisoff (in Oyler and Watson 2013).
- (€) Weber-Schäfer 1961 (from Kita version).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze, Hōshō, Kongō, (Kita) schools. Known as Futari Giō 二人祇王 in Kita school.
Go 碁
- (E) Goff 1991 (“A Game of Go”).
- (J) KYS 1: 718-. MYSZ 4.
- [bangai] relating to Utsusemi (Tale of Genji, chapters 2-3)
- sometimes revived [復曲能]
Goō(Gohō, Gobō) 護法 (4)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- Title read ごおう in Nishino and Hata 1999. 62.
- (A) unknown.
- (Hōshō) school.
Hachi no ki (Hachinoki) 鉢木 (4)
- (E) Waley 1921; Minagawa 1925/1934; Etsuko Terasaki, “The Representation of Reality in the Nō Theater: Hachi no Ki,” Journal of the Asssociation of Teachers of Japanese 13.2 (1978) [JSTOR] [Includes full translation. Title translated as “The Potted Trees”]
- (€) F. A. von Langegg, “Zweigbaume,” Magazin für die Literature in und Auslandes (May 1889); Fulchignoni 1942 (“La cavaliere miseria”); Sieffert 1979 (II), 433ff.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- Waley’s bibliography cites a translation in The Chrysanthemum, 1882.
- “Dwarf trees” and “Pot tree” are titles of prewar translations given in Hérail, Bibliographie, p. 86. Shimazaki 1998, Appendix, lists as “Potted Trees.”
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Hagoromo 羽衣 (3)
- (E) Chamberlain 1880 (“The Feather Mantle”), reprinted in Chamberlain’s Things Japanese (editions of 1902, 1905, 1939); {Yone Noguchi, trans. in The Summer Cloud (Tokyo: Shunyodo, 1906)}; Fenollosa/Pound 1916a; Fenollosa/Pound 1916b; Waley 1921; {Kokusai Bunka Shinkōkai 1937}; NGS III 1960 (“Feather Robe”); Kenneth Yasuda, “The Structure of Hagoromo, a Nō Play,” HJAS 33 (1973), 5-89 (incl. trans.72-89) [JSTOR]; Yasuda 1989; Tyler 1978a (“The Feather Mantle”); Tyler 1992 (“The Feather Mantle”).
- (€) {M. Revon, Anthologie de la littérature japonaise (Paris, 1910) (“La robe de plumes”)}; Steinilber-Oberlin 1929; Weber-Schäfer 1961 (“Das Federgewand”); Sieffert 1979 (I), 89ff. (“La céleste robe de plumes”).
- Chamberlain’s translation appeared first in The Classical Poetry of the Japanese (1880), and was then included in the “Theatre” entry of Things Japanese (1890), a long-seller until the sixth edition of 1939. The title has been translated as “Robe of Feathers” (by Yone Noguchi, The Spirit of Japanese Poetry, 1914–with two unacknowledged quotations from Chamberlain’s version–and by Mark King, Japan Magazine, 1920) and as “The Feather Cloak” (Keene 1990 [1966]).
- E-texts at JTI of the Pound, Waley, and Tyler (1978a) translations, with Japanese text.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:381-389.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Hajitomi 半蔀 (3)
- (E) Draft trans. by Fenollosa (Miyake, Kodama and Teele 1994)’ Janet Goff in HJAS 42.1 (1983) [JSTOR]; Shimazaki 1976 (3/1) (“The Push-Up Shutter”); Goff 1991 (“The Lattice Shutter”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:339-349.
- (A) Naitō nanigashi (“a certain person by the name of Naitō”). Identified with Naitō Zaemon 内藤左衛門.
- All five schools.
Hakozaki 箱崎 (1)
- (E) Tyler 2013.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 3:99-102.
- Poet Mibu no Tadamine 壬生忠岑 (waki), spirit of Empress Jingū 神功皇后 (nochi-jite)
Hakurakuten (Haru Rakuten) 白楽天 (1)
- (E) Waley 1921; (Sesar 1971); Susan Blakeley Klein (in Oyler and Watson 2013).
- (€) Weber-Schäfer 1961 (“Der Gott under der Dichter”); Sieffert 1979 (II).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze, (Hōshō), Komparu, Kongō, Kita schools.
Hana-ikusa(Hana ikusa) 花軍 (4)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Kanze Nagatoshi.
- (Kongō) school.
- Performed in March 2011 by Kongō school
Hanagatami (Hana-gatami) 花筐 (4)
- (E) Waley 1921 (“Hanakatami [The Flower Basket]””; summary with excerpts, 221-3).
- (€) Arnold and Fukui 1957; de Poorter 1978 (Dutch); Sieffert 1979 (II), 204ff (“La corbeille à fleurs”).
- “Flower Basket” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBZ 34:33-. SNKZ 59:63-77.
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Hanjo 斑女 (4)
- (E) Royall Tyler in Keene 1970 (“Lady Han”); Tyler 1992 (“Lady Han”).
- (€) Florenz 1905 (summary, 405-6); Gaston Renondeau, France Asie 170 (Nov/Dec. 1961); Godel/Kano 1994.
- “Lady Pan” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (A) Zeami Motokiyo.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBZ 34:48. SNKZ 59:78-90.
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Haruchika 治親・春近　 (4)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI) (春近)
- [bangai]. See Nishino/Hata p. 123.
Hase Rokudai初瀬六代.
- (E) Tom Hare in Oyler and Watson 2013.
- Song by Zeami included in Kanze hyakubanshū.
- Hare 1986 translates title as “Rokudai at Hase.”
Hashi Benkei 橋弁慶 (4)
- (E) Waley 1921 (Hashi-Benkei, “Benkei on the Bridge”).
- (€) Péri 1897 (“Benkei au pont”); Steinilber-Oberlin 1929; Karl Florenz, Nippon, 2 (1935); Kokusai Bunka Shinkōkai 1937 (“Benkei sul ponte”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Hatsuyuki 初雪 (4)
- (E) Waley 1921 (“Hatsuyuki (Early Snow)”) [e-text]; Sadler 1934 (“Hatsu-yuki or Virgin-Snow”).
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (II), 413ff.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Komparu Zenpō.
- Komparu school.
Hibariyama 雲雀山 (4)
- (E) Monika Dix (forthcoming study?).
- “Skylark Mountain” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Higaki 桧垣 (3)
- (E) Ueda 1962 (“The Woman within the Cypress Fence”); Yasuda 1989; Tyler 2013 (“The Cypress Fence”).
- (€) Godel/Kano 1994 (“La haie de cyprès”)
- Title also trans. “The Cypress Fence.” An older title Higaki no Onna (“the woman of the cypress hedge”) is mentioned in Zeami’s Nōsakusho.
- (S) Reiko Ochi. “Buddhism and poetic theory: an analysis of Zeami’s Higaki and Takasago.” Ph.D. thesis, Cornell University, 1984
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:435-446.
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Himuro 氷室 (1)
- (E) Lombard 1928, 103-114; Yasuda 1989.
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Miyamasu.
- All five schools.
Hitachi-obi 常陸帯 (4/5)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- (Hōshō) school.
- Recently revived.
Hiun 飛雲 (5)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze, Hōshō, Kongō, (Kita) schools.
Hōjōgawa (Hojogawa) 放生川 (1)
- (E) Ross Bender (unpublished trans. online/opening)
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- “The River for Setting Things Free” (trans. of title in Hare 1987).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Hōkazō (Hokazo) 放下僧 (4)
- (E) Waley 1921 (“The Hoka Priests”).
- “Hōka Priest” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown. (Sometimes attributed to Miyamasu.)
- All five schools.
Hōso 彭祖 (4).
- (E)
- (J) —
- (A) unknown.
- Chinese reading of name: 彭祖 Péng Zǔ
- Kongō school.
- Record of performance in 2011.
Hotoke no hara 仏原 (3)
- (E) [Waley 1921 (summary 248)]; Shimazaki 1987 (3/3); David Bialock (in Oyler and Watson 2013).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze, (Hōshō), Komparu, Kongō, (Kita) schools.
Hyakuman 百万 (4)
- (E) (kuse translated in O’Neill 1958); Tyler 1978b (“Million”).
  (€) Sieffert 1979 (I).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 59:19-30.
- (A) Kan’ami original, revised by Zeami.
- All five schools.
Ikari kazuki (Ikarikazuki) 碇潜 (5)
- (E) J. Philip Gabriel in Brazell 1988 (“The Anchor Draping”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari.
- (A) Attributed to Komparu Zenpō 金春禅鳳 (1454-?).
- Kanze, Komparu.
Ikenie 生贄 (池贄)
- (E) Waley 1921 [“Ikeniye (the Pool-Sacrifice)”].
- (€) [Gundert 1925]; {H. Zachert, Ostasiastische Studien Martin Rammling zum 70. Geburtstag gewidmet, Berlin, 1959}; Godel/Kano 1994 (“La Mare au Sacrifice” ou “Sacrifices vivantes”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI); KYS.
- In modern Japanese ikenie meaning “human sacrifice” is written 生贄, and that is the conventional way of writing the title of this play. I have recently come across the title written 池贄, with the character ike 池 for “pool, pond.” Nihon kokugo daijiten connects the element ike– in ikenie only with a common group of words in Japanese meaning “live/make live/alive.” Although there is no etymological connection, the play is centred around the homophony of the ike– (living) of ikenie with ike 池 “pool.” This may explain why Waley in his preface to the play comments that “Ikeniye […] means ‘Pool Sacrifice’, but also ‘Living Sacrifice’, i. e. human sacrifice.” The recent French translation by Godel/Kano also tries to have it both ways, suggesting alternative translations of the title.
- [info] Takemoto 1995, 59.
- Revived in performance in Feb. 2017.
Ikkaku sennin 一角仙人 (5)
- (E) Wadagaki 1898 (“Monoceros, the Rishi”); Waley 1921, 245-246 (“The One-Horned Rishi”) [summary and trans. of one passage]; Yone Noguchi, “The Delusion of a Human Cup,” The Yōkyokukai 5:5 (November, 1916), 6-9.
- (€) Müller 1896 (“Ikkaku sennin, eine mittelalterliche japanische Oper”); Sieffert 1979 (II), 352ff (“Le magicien Unicorne”).
- “One-Horned Wizard” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBT.
- (A) Komparu Zenpō.
- Kanze, (Hōshō), Komparu, Kongō, Kita schools.
Ikuta Atsumori 生田敦盛 (2)
- (E) Draft trans. by Fenollosa (Miyake, Kodama and Teele 1994)’ Partly translated in “Fenollosa on the Noh” [ca. 1906] in Fenollosa/Pound 1916b; Waley 1921 (“Ikuta”) [etext]; Lim Beng Choo (in Oyler and Watson 2013).
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (II), 38ff.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari.
- (A) Komparu Zenpō.
- Called Ikuta in Komparu school. All schools except Kita.
Iwafune (Iwabune) 岩船 (1)
- (E) Sadler 1934 (“Iwabune”).
- (€) [Gundert 1925]; Sieffert 1960 (“La barque de pierre”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari.
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, (Kita) schools.
Izutsu 井筒 (3)
- (E) [Waley 1921, 219-20, summary with tr. of poems]; NGS I 1955 (“Well-Curb”); {Arnold 1956}; Shimazaki 1977 (3/2); Hare 1986 (“The Well Curb”); Tyler 1978b (“The Well Cradle”); Kenneth K. Yasuda, “A Prototypical Nō Wig Play: Izutsu,” HJAS 40.2 (1980), 399-464 (study with trans. 438-464) [JSTOR] ; Yasuda 1989; Tyler 1992 (“The Well-Cradle”); Brazell in Brazell 1998.
- (€) (Renondeau 1927/1953-54); Weber-Schäfer 1961 (“Am Brunnenrand”); de Poorter 1978 (Dutch); Nakamura and de Cecatty 1982 (“La margelle du puits”).
- E-text at JTI of the Tyler 1978b translation, with Japanese text.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKS. SNKZ 58:286-297.
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Jinen koji 自然居士 (4)
- (E) Ueda 1962 (“Jinen the Preacher”); Tyler 1978a (“Layman Selfsame”); Shimazaki 1998 (4/2).
- (S) Etsuko Terasaki, “‘Wild Words and Specious Phrases’: Kyōgen Kigō in The Nō Play Jinen Koji,” HJAS 49:2. (Dec., 1989), 519-552. [JSTOR] (Some extracts tr.)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBZ 34:105-. SNKZ 59:149-165.
- (A) Kan’ami.
- All five schools.
Kagekiyo 景清 (4)
- (E) Stopes and Sakurai 1913; Fenollosa/Pound 1916a; Fenollosa/Pound 1916b; Waley 1921; NGS II 1959; Shimazaki 1998 (4/2).
- (€) Renondeau 1927/1954; Steinilber-Oberlin 1929; Barth 1933 {Jubiläumsband der deutschen Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens}; Godel/Kano 1994.
- E-texts at JTI of the Stopes, Pound, and Waley translations, with Japanese text.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBZ 34:260-. SNKZ 59:312-325.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Kagetsu 花月 (4)
- (E) Richard 2004, as “Kagetsu (Florimund)” [htm / PDF] (see note).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown (old work, kosaku).
- All five schools.
Kakitsubata 杜若 (3)
- (E) Fenollosa/Pound 1916b; [Waley 1921, 220, with tr. of excerpts]; Sadler 1934; Shimazaki 1977 (3/2) (“Iris”); Susan Blakeley Klein in Brazell 1988 (“The Iris”).
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (I), 446f. (“Les Iris”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:371-380.
- (A) Traditionally attributed to Zeami, but probably by Zenchiku.
- All five schools.
Kamiuta 神歌
- A very short piece, printed first in Kanze hyakubanshū.
Kamo 賀茂 (1) (加茂)
- (E) [Suzuki 1932, summary 99-101]; Shimazaki 1972 (1); Bethe in Brazell 1998.
- (€) [Gundert 1925]; Godel/Kano 1994.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:54-66.
- (A) Komparu Zenchiku?
- All five schools.
Kamo monogurui 賀茂物狂 (4)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- “Mad Woman at Kamo Shrine” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- Hōshō, Komparu, Kita schools.
Kamo no Chōmei 鴨長明
- (E) Sadler 1934.
- (J) KYS 1:506f.
Kanameishi 要石
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
Kanawa 鉄輪 (4)
- (E) Synopsis given in Fenollosa/Pound 1916b where title translated “The Iron Ring.” Translated by Eileen Kato in Keene 1970 (“The Iron Crown”); Shimazaki 1998 (4/2) (“The Iron Tripod”).
- “The Iron Ring” (trans. of title in plot summary in Fenollosa/Pound 1916b).
- (€) Godel/Kano 1994 (“La coronne de fer”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Kanehira 兼平 (2)
- (E) Draft trans. by Fenollosa (Miyake, Kodama and Teele 1994); Stanleigh H. Jones, MN 18 (1963) [JSTOR], also in Keene 1970; Shimazaki 1993 (2/2); Richard 2004 (online), as “Kanehira (Imai’s End)” [htm / PDF] (see note).
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (II), 497ff.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Kanemaki 鐘巻
- (E)
- Bangai nō, KYS 1:469-75. Original form of Dōjōji. In repertory of Kurokawa-nō. See Nishino and Hata 1999, 44-45.
- (J) —
- (A) Kanze Nobumitsu.
Kanezawa shōjō 金沢猩々
- (E)
- (J)
- [bangai], revived in performance in 2018 [復曲能]
Kannyōkyū 咸陽宮
- Title 咸陽宮 sometimes pronounced KannKarakaya 苅萱yōkyū. For main entry see Kan’yōkyu
- (J) e-text (UTAHI)
Kantan 邯鄲 (4)
- (E) Chamberlain 1880 (“Life is a Dream”); {Clements 1920}; Waley 1921; NGS II 1959; Tyler 1992.
- (€) Gerdorff 1926 (“Leben und Traum”); Fulchignoni 1942 (“Il sogno”); Armando Martins Janeiro, Nō (Tokyo: Maruzen, 1954)(Webcat) [Portuguese]; Arnold and Fukui 1957 (“L’oreiller de Kantan”); Sieffert 1979 (I).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBZ 34:135-. SNKZ 59:166-178.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Kan’yōkyū 咸陽宮 (Kannyokyu, Kan’yokyu) (4)
- (E)
- “Kannyō Palace” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix). (The name of Chinese palace is written Xianyang in pinyin romanization, Hsien-Yang in Wade-Giles.)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- All schools except Komparu.
Kappo 合浦 (合甫) (5)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KNBT [Kōchū Nihon bungaku taikei] vol. 20:260-261
- (A) unknown (old work).
- Kanze school only.
Karakaya 苅萱
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI)
- [bangai] see entry in Nishino/Hata, p. 46
Kasa sotoba笠卒塔婆
- (E) Paul S. Atkins (essay and translation in Oyler and Watson 2013)
- “The Covered Gravepost” (title trans. in Hare 1986).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI); KYS 1:392-397; NKBT 41:57-264 (as “Shigehira”); Mikan-zoku 5.
- Also known as Shigehira 重衡. Occasionally also as Shigehira sakura 重衡桜
- (A) Kanze Motomasa?
- [bangai] often revived [復曲能]
Kashiwazaki 柏崎 (4)
- (E) Suzuki 1932, 76-86.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBT 40:181f; SNKS 1:281f`.
- (A) Enami Saemon 榎並左衛門, revised by Zeami.
- All five schools.
- Mad woman play.
Kasuga ryūjin (Kasuga ryujin) 春日龍神 (5)
- (E) Robert E. Morrell, “Passage to India Denied: Zeami’s Kasuga Ryūjin,” MN 37: 2 (1982) [JSTOR], 179-200; Robert E. Morrell, Early Kamakura Buddhism: A Minority Report (Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press, 1987), pp. 103-122; Tyler 1992 (“The Kasuga Dragon God”).
- (€) [Gundert 1925]; Sieffert 1979 (I) (“Le dragon roi de Kasuga”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKS 1:295f.
- (A) unknown. Possibly Komparu Zenchiku.
- All five schools.
Kayoi Komachi 通小町 (4)
- (E) Fenollosa/Pound 1916b; Minagawa 1934 (“The wooing of Komachi”); Teele 1964 (The Texas Quarterly); Eileen Kato in Keene 1970 (“Komachi and the Hundred Nights”); Teele 1993 (“The Nightly Courting of Komachi”).
- (€) Weber-Schäfer 1960 (“Der Weg zu Komachi”).
- “Visiting Komachi” (title trans. in Hare 1986); “Courting Komachi” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKS 1:342f; NKBZ 34:151f; SNKZ 59:196f.
- (A) Kan’ami, revised by Zeami.
- All five schools.
Kazuraki 葛城 (3)
- (E) Shimazaki 1994 (4/1).
- (€) [Gundert 1925]; W. Drager & Helmut Erlinghagen, “Kazuraki: Nodrama von Kanze Seami Motokiyo,” MN 5:2 (1942) [JSTOR], 437-65; Sieffert 1979 (II), 529ff.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKS 1:307f; SNKZ 58:499f.
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Kazuraki tengu 葛城天狗 (5)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI); KNBT 1:267f.
- (A) Kanze Nagatoshi.
- (Kita) school.
Kenjō 絃上 / Genjō 玄象（5).
- (E) Fenollosa/Pound 1916b (as “Genjo”).
- (€) [Bohner 1955].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 1:702f (as “Genjō”)
- (A) Kawakami kannushi 河上神主. (Other authors have been suggested.)
- Kanze (as Genjō 玄象), Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, Kita (as Kenjō 絃上).
Kiku jidō (Kiku jido) 菊慈童 (4)
- Name in Kanze school for play. See entry for Makura jidō 枕慈童
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). YT 2, etc.
Kinsatsu 金札 (1)
- (E) Tyler 1978b (“The Golden Tablet”).
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Kan’ami.
- Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, (Kita) schools.
Kinuta 砧 (4)
- (E) Fenollosa 1901 [includes one passage]; Fenollosa/Pound 1916b; NGS III 1960 (“Cloth-beating Block”); Eileen Kato, “Kinuta [By Kanze Motokiyo Zeami].” MN 32: 3 (1977), 332-46 [JSTOR]; Tyler 1978a (“The Block”); Tyler 1992 (“The Fulling Block”).
- (€) Péri 1920/1944; Steinilber-Oberlin 1929; Godel/Kano 1994 (“Le battoir”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBZ 34:210-. SNKZ 59:260-273.
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Kirikane Soga 切兼曽我 (4)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- (Kongō) school.
Kiso 木曽 (4).
- (E) Ivan Grail (in Oyler and Watson 2013).
- “Lord Kiso” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 2:815f; KNBT 1:313f.
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze school.
Kiyotsune 清経 (2)
- (E) NGS I 1955; Shimazaki 1987 (2/1); Carolyn Morley (in Oyler and Watson 2013).
- (€) [Renondeau 1954]; Weber-Schäfer 1961; Sieffert 1979 (II).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBT 40:248f; SNKS 2:15f; SNKZ 58:190-201.
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Kochō 胡蝶 (3)
- (E) [Suzuki 1932, 116-18, summary]; Makoto Ueda, “A Butterfly: A Noh Play” (1959) [jstor]; Shimazaki 1976 (3/1).
- (€) Weber-Schäfer 1961 (“Ein Schmetterling”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KNBT 1:441f.
- (A) Kanze Nobumitsu.
- All except Kita school.
Kodama Ukifune木霊浮舟（木玉浮舟）
- (E) Goff 1991 (“The Wood Spirit Ukifune”).
- (J) Tanaka Makoto, Mikan yōkyokushū 1. Ref: Mikan yōkyokushū, zoku 20:481
- [bangai]
Kogō (Kogo) 小督 (4)
- ( E) Watson 1998 [PDF available]; Shimazaki 1998 (4/2) (“Lady Kogō”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Komparu Zenchiku.
- All five schools.
Koi no matsubara 恋の松原 (4).
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 1:774f.
- (A) unknown.
- (Komparu) school.
Koi no omoni 恋重荷 (4)
- (E) O’Neill, MN 10:1/2 (1954), pp. 203-226 [JSTOR].
- (€) Weber-Schäfer 1961 (“Die Last der Liebe”); Godel/Kano 1994 (“Le Fardeau de l’Amour”).
- “The Burden of Love” (trans. of title in plot summary in Fenollosa/Pound 1916b); “The Heavy Burden of Love” (trans. of title in Hare 1986).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBT 40:324f.
- (A) Zeami.
- Kanze, Komparu schools.
Kokaji 小鍛冶 (5)
- (E) Sadler 1934 (“Ko-kaji”); C. K. Parker & S. Morisawa, “Kokaji: A Nō Play in Two Acts,” MN 3:2 (1940), 619-29 [JSTOR].
- (€) [Gundert 1925]; Sieffert 1979 (I), 493ff (“Le forgeron” [Le petit forgeron]).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBT 41:365f.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Kosode Soga 小袖曽我 (4)
- (E)
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (I), 581 ff.
- “Soga’s Robes” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBZ 34:289-. SNKZ 59:342-353.
- (A) unknown. (Sometimes attributed to Miyamasu.)
- All five schools.
Kōtei (Kotei) 皇帝 (5)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKS 1:71f.
- (A) Kanze Nobumitsu.
- All schools except Komparu.
Kōu (Kou) 項羽 (5)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKS 1:61f.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Kōya monogurui (Koya monogurui) 高野物狂 (4)
- (E)
- “Title variously translated as “The Madman on Mt. Kōya” (O’Neill); “The Madman of Kōya” (Hare 1986); “Mad Man at Mt. Koya” (Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KNBT 20:231f.
- (A) Zeami (kuri, sashi, kuse sections by Kanze Motomasa).
- All schools except Komparu.
Kumasaka 熊坂 (5)
- (E) Fenollosa/Pound 1916a; Fenollosa/Pound 1916b; Waley 1921 [e-text]; Minagawa 1927/1934 (“Kumasaka the Robber”).
- (€) Godel/Kano 1994.
- E-texts at JTI of Fenollosa/Pound and Waley translations, with Japanese text.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBT 41:351f; NKBZ 34:366f. SNKZ 59:418f.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Kurama tengu 鞍馬天狗 (5)
- (E)
- (€) Renondeau 1926/54.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKS 2:27f; NKBZ 34:449f; SNKZ 59:506f.
- (A) Miyamasu.
- “The Goblin of Kurama” (O’Neill)
- All five schools.
Kureha 呉服 (1)
- (E) Tyler 1992.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKS 2:41f.; YT
- (A) Zeami?
  Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, (Kita) schools.
Kurikara otoshi 倶利伽羅落
- (E) Michael Watson (as “The Fall from Kurikara” in Oyler and Watson 2013)
- (J) KYS 2:642f.
- (A) unknown.
- [bangai]
Kurozuka 黒塚
- (E) Shimazaki & Comee 2012: 299ff. (“Adachigahara”)
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (II) (as “Adachigahara”).
- Called Adachigahara in the Kanze school.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI) NKBT 41:369f as”Adachihara” 安達原; NKBZ 34:404f (Kurozuka).
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Kurumazō (Kurumazo) 車僧 (5)
- (E) Shimazaeki & Comee 2012 (“The Carriage Priest, or the Priest on Wheels”)
- (€) Godel/Kano 1994 (“Le Moine au Char”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Tanaka Makoto, Yōkyokushū (ge) (Asahi shinbunsha), 303f.; YT.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Kusanagi 草薙 (4)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KNBT 20:342f.
- (A) unknown.
- Hōshō school only.
Kusu no tsuyu 楠露 (4).
- (E)
- “Camphor Tree in Dew” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KNBT 20:358f.
- (A) unknown (attributed to Kanze Kiyokado 観世清廉 (1867-1911). [CHECK: Sakyoku wa… to tsutaeru. Does this mean musical setting only?]
- Kanze school only.
Kuze no to 久世戸 (1)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925]. KNBT 20:347f.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Kanze Nobumitsu.
- Kanze, (Hōshō) schools.
Kuzu 国栖 (5)
- (E) Yasuda 1989; Shimazaki & Comee 2012: 47f.; Tyler 2013: 93f.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBT 41:361f; NKBZ 34:327f; SNKZ 59:379f.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Maiguruma 舞車 (4)
- (E) [Waley 1921 (Mai-guruma, “The Dance Waggons”; summary 250-251), online].
- (J) Also known as Bijin zoroi 美人揃. Printed under that name in KYS 3:189-92.
- (A) unknown.
- [bangai]
Makiginu 巻絹 (3)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925]; Renondeau 1929 / 1954 (“Les rouleaux de soie”).
- “Rolls of Silk” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 3:302f.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Makura jidō 枕慈童 (4)
- (E)
- “Jidō and the Pillow” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KNBT 2:286f; KYS 3:306f.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools. Called Kiku jidō 菊慈童 in the Kanze school (libretto: Kanzeryū yōkyoku hyakubanshū, 468f). Not the same play as one called Kikusui jidō 菊水慈童 (KYS 1:543).
Manjū 満仲 (4)
- (E) Chamberlain 1880; {Clements 1920}; Lombard 1928, 135-148; Smethurst 1998 (“Nakamitsu, also called Manjū”).
- (€) C. Valenziani 1891 (Italian translation as “Naga-mittu”; Antica rappresentazione scenica giapponese, Rendiconti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei, serie IV, vol. VII, pp. 301-308); Vicuna (Spanish trans.), 1919; Karl Florenz, “Manju oder Nakamitsu. No-Drama in zwei Akten von Seami Motokiyo,” MN 1:1 (1938) [JSTOR].
- Called Nakamitsu 仲光 in the Kanze school.
- Project Gutenberg has an electronic text [html] of an early reprint of Chamberlain’s translation.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI) (as “Nakamitsu”). Tanaka Makoto, Yōkyokushū (ge) (Asahi shinbunsha), 237f (“Manjū”).
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze, Hōshō, Kongō, Kita schools.
Mari 鞠
- (E) [Waley 1921, 248-9 (“The Football”; summary) (online)].
- (J) KYS 3, Hoi [Supplement], pp. 3-6.
- [bangai]
Matsu no o 松尾 (1)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- (Hōshō) school.
Matsukaze 松風 (3)
- (E) Draft trans. by Fenollosa (Miyake, Kodama and Teele 1994)’ [Waley 1921, 226-8, summary with quotations]; Dan N. Waugh, “Matsukaze,” TASJ, 2nd series, III (1926); NGS III 1960; Royall Tyler in Keene 1970; Shimazaki 1977 (3/2); Yasuda 1989; Bethe and Emmert 1992; Tyler 1978a (“Pining Wind”); Tyler 1992 (“Pining Wind”), reprinted with small changes in Shirane 2007: 954-968.
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (II), 63ff.; {Y. Kawamura [Italian trans.], Il Giappone 20, 1980}; Godel/Kano 1994.
- “Wind in the Pines”.
- (S) Royall Tyler, “The Nō Play Matsukaze as a Transformation of Genji monogatari,” JJS 20:2 (Summer, 1994), 377-422 [JSTOR]
- E-texts at JTI of two translations by Royall Tyler, from Keene 1970 and Tyler 1978a, with Japanese text.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:390-404.
- (A) Kan’ami, adapted by Zeami.
- All five schools.
Matsumushi 松虫 (4)
- (E) Richard 2004 (online) as “Matsumushi (Pinus Erectus)” [htm / PDF] (see note).
- “Pine Cricket” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 3:316-.
- (A) Komparu Zenchiku.
- All five schools.
Matsura Sayohime 松浦佐用姫 (4)
- (E) Tyler 2013: 105f.
- (J) cf. Matsura 松浦 e-text [UTAHI]
- (A) Zeami (surviving in autograph manuscript)
- Kanze school. Revived. Formally [bangai]
Matsuyama kagami 松山鏡 (5)
- (E) Ueda 1962 (“The Mirror of Pine Forest”).
- (€) Péri 1920/1944 (“Le Miroir de Matsuyama”); Gerdorff 1926 (“Der Spiegel kindlicher Treue”).
- “The Mirror of Matsuyama” (title trans. in Hare 1986).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 3:320-.
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze, (Hōshō), Kongō, Kita schools.
Matsuyama tengu 松山天狗 (5)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 3:324-.
- (A) unknown.
- (Kongō) school.
Mekari 和布刈 (1)
- (E)
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (II), 363ff (“La moisson des algues”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 3:424-.
- (A) Komparu Zenchiku.
- Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, (Kita) schools.
Michimori 通盛 (2)
- (E) W.R.Wilson, MN 24: 4 (1969) [JSTOR]; Shimazaki 1993 (2/2).
- (€) Renondeau, [French trans.], France Asie, 167 (May-June, 1961); Sieffert 1979 (II).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Seiami 井阿弥 original, revised by Zeami.
- All five schools.
Miidera 三井寺 (4)
- (E) NGS III 1960; Eileen Kato in Brazell 1998; Bethe and Emmert 1993.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 59:31-47.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Mimosuso 御裳濯 (also known as “Mimosuso-gawa”) (1)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925]; Sieffert 1979 (I), 508ff. (Mimosuso-gawa).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Zeami?
- Komparu, (Kita) schools.
Minase 水無瀬 (4)
- (E)
- (€) Mario Marega, “Minase: Ballata Nō-gaku della scuola Kita-ryu. Versione e note,” MN 4:2 (1941) [in Italian]. [JSTOR]
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- Kita school.
Minazukibarae (Minazukibarai) 水無月祓 (4)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- “The Lustrations of Early Fall” (trans. of title in Hare 1986); “June Purification Rite” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- Nishino reads みなづきばらい [Minazukibarai], Emmert as [Minazukibarae]
- Reading Minazuki harae sometimes seen?
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Zeami.
- Kanze school.
Minobu 身延 (3)
- (E)
- (€) Renondeau 1950; Magli 1964.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze school.
Mitsuyama 三山 (4)
- (E)
- “Three Mountains” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze, Hōshō, Kongō schools.
Miwa 三輪 (3)
- (E) Monica Bethe in Brazell 1988 (“Three Circles”).
- (€) Péri 1920/1944; [Gundert 1925]; Steinilber-Oberlin 1929.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:511-523.
- (A) unknown. [Traditionally attributed to Zeami.]
- All five schools.
Mochizuki 望月 (4)
- (E) [Translation in preparation]
- (€) Florenz 1905 (summary, 404-5).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
- [ref] NKJ 148
Momijigari 紅葉狩 (5)
- (E) NGS II 1959 (Autumn-Leaves Viewing”); Meredith Weatherby (“The Maple Viewing”) in Earle Ernst, Three Japanese Plays from the Traditional Theatre (Oxford UP, 1959).
- (€) Renondeau, [French trans.], France Asie, X (July, 1954)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBZ 34:418-. KYS 3:448-. SNKZ 59:474-485.
- (A) Kanze Nobumitsu.
- All five schools.
- [ref] NKJ 149
Morihisa 盛久 (4)
- (E) Fenollosa [undated manuscript]; (Suzuki 1932, summary 102-104); Shelley Fenno Quinn (in Oyler and Watson 2013).
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (I), 365ff.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 3:452f; NKBT 40:413f; NKBZ 34:274f; SNKZ 59:326f; SNKS 3:3130f.
- (A) Kanze Motomasa.
- All five schools.
- [ref] NKJ 149
Motomezuka (Motome-zuka) 求塚 (4)
- (E) Stopes and Sakurai 1913 (“The Maiden’s Tomb” [translating Otome-zuka]; NGS II 1959 (“Sought-for Tomb”); Barry Jackman in Keene 1970 (“The Sought-for Grave”); Yasuda 1989.
- (€) Vicuna (Spanish trans. as “La Tumba de la donzella”), 1919; Steinilber-Oberlin 1929; Godel/Kano 1994 (“La Tombe des Désirs”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBZ 34:174-. KYS 3:440-. SNKZ 59:219-235
- (A) Kan’ami?
- All five schools.
- [ref] NKJ 148
Murogimi 室君 (4)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- “Courtesans of Muro” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 3:420-.
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze, Komparu schools.
Murozumi 室住
- (E) Sadler 1934 (with incorrect macron as “Murōzumi”).
- (J) KYS 3:422-24.
- [bangai]
Mutsura 六浦 (3)
- (E)
- (€) Renondeau, [French trans.], France Asie, 169, Sept-Oct. 1961.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 3:409-.
- (A) unknown. (Komparu lineage.)
- All five schools.
Nagara 長柄
- (E)
- (J)
- [bangai] see Nishino/Hata p. 114
Nakamitsu 仲光 (4)
- See entry Manjū.
- Kanze name for play Manjū 満仲 in the Hōshō, Komparu, and Kita schools.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI) (as “Nakamitsu”).
Naniwa 難波 (1)
- (E) Tyler 2013.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Zeami.
- Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, (Kita) schools.
Nara mōde 奈良詣.
- Komparu name for Daibutsu kuyō 大仏供養 [e-text]
Natori no rōjo 名取ノ老女
- (E)
- (J) MYSZ 12
- MZ 21:301 「護法」の別名, another name for Goō.
- [bangai] revived in Oct. 2017 performance.
Nezame 寝覚 (1).
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze, (Hōshō) schools.
Nishikido 錦戸 (4)
- (E) Smethurst 1998.
- Nishikido no Tarō is the name of the waki. The play is based on an historical incident of year 1189 in the aftermath of Yoshitsune’s death.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Nishikigi 錦木 (4)
- (E) Fenollosa/Pound 1916a; Fenollosa/Pound 1916b; Calvin French in Keene 1970 (“The Brocade Tree”); Tyler 2013 (“The Painted Wands”).
- (€) Godel/Kano 1994 (“L’arbre aux brocarts”).
- “The Brocade Staff” (title trans. in Hare 1986).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 59:179-195.
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Niwatori Tatsuta 鶏竜田 (5)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- (J) e-text [UTAHI]
- (A) unknown.
- (Hōshō) school.
Nomori 野守 (5)
- (E) Tyler 1978a (“The Watchman’s Mirror”); Tyler 2013 (new translation).
- “Guardian of the Fields” (title trans. in Hare 1986).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Nonomiya 野宮 (3)
- (E) Paul Varley in Keene 1970 (“The Shrine in the Fields”); Shimazaki 1976 (3/1); Yasuda 1989 (“The Meadow Shrine”); Goff 1991 (“The Shrine in the Fields”); Tyler 1992 (“The Wildwood Shrine”); Shirane 2007:1006-1016 (“Shrine in the Fields,” trans. Jack Stoneman).
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (II), 304ff (“Le temple de la lande”).
- E-text at JTI of Varley translation, with Japanese text.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:298-310.
- (A) Komparu Zenchiku?
- All five schools.
Nue 鵺 (5)
- (E) Tyler 1978b (“Nightbird”); Yasuda 1989.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBZ 34:392-. SNKZ 59:444-458.
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Obasute 姨捨 (3)
- (E) Stanleigh H. Jones, MN 18 (1963) [JSTOR]; Jones in Keene 1970 (“The Deserted Crone”); Shimazaki 1977 (3/2); Yasuda 1989.
- (€) Godel/Kano 1994 (“La vieille abandonnée”).
- “Abandoning the Old” (title trans. in Hare 1986).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:447-459.
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Ochiba 落葉 (3)
- (E) Two plays are known by this name, sometimes distinguished as Ochiba no miya 落葉宮 and Darani Ochiba 陀羅尼落葉. Goff 1991 translates the first as “Fallen Leaves” (pp. 171-175) and the second as “The Magic Spell and the Fallen Leaves” (pp. 176-181). This is the former, beginning “Waves may take the place of grass” (tr. Goff, p. 171).
- (J) Tanaka Makoto, Mikan yōkyokushū, zoku 19 (京落葉).
- (A) unknown.
- Komparu school.
Ōeyama (Oeyama) 大江山 (5)
- (E) H. Mack Horton in Brazell 1988 (“The Demon of Oeyama”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Ohara gokō (Ohara goko) 大原御幸 (3)
- (E) Lombard 1928; (“An Imperial Visit to Ohara”), 148-160; Carol Hochstedler in Keene 1970 (“The Imperial Visit to Ohara”); Shimazaki 1987 (3/3).
- (€) Péri, BEFEO XI, 1913; Péri 1921; Péri 1944 (Ohara Go Kō, “La visite impériale à Ohara”); Steinilber-Oberlin 1929; Fulchignoni 1942 (“La visita a Ohara”).
- Also known as 小原御幸. In either case, the vowel O- in Ohara is read short.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:420-434.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Oimatsu 老松 (1)
- (E) Ueda 1962 (“The Old Pine”); Shimazaki 1972 (1) (“The ancient pine”).
- (€) Péri, BEFEO XI, 1911; Péri 1921, Péri 1944 (“Le vieu pin”); [Gundert 1925]; Gerdorf 1926 (“Die alte Kiefer”); Steinilber-Oberlin 1929.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:77-76.
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Okina 翁
- (E) Lombard 1928, 92-94.
- (€) Mario Marega, “Okina. Il vegliardo. La ballata più antica tra il Nō-gaku, la piu sacra.” MN 3:2 (1940), 611-18 [JSTOR]. (“Il vegliardo” [The old man])
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:17-26.
Ominameshi 女郎花 (4)
- (E) [Waley 1921, 224-5, summary with passage tr.]; Brown 2001 (“Damsel Flower”); Smethurst 2003 (two translations by Steven T. Brown, 17-31, and by Mae J. Smethurst, 33-46, based respectively on editions by Itō Masayoshi [SNKS] and Sanari).
- (€) Weber-Schäfer 1961 (“Mädchenblüten”).
- “Maiden Flower” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix). “Damsel Flower”.
- Note that as a botanical name (“maiden flower”), 女郎花 is usually read ominaeshi.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI); Sanari 5:246–255; SNKS 1:246–255.
- (A) unknown, old work (kosaku).
- All five schools.
Ōmu Komachi (Omu Komachi) 鸚鵡小町 (3)
- (E) Teele 1993 (“Komachi’s Parrot-Answer Poem”). Revision of a translation by Roy E. Teele (originally published in Humanities Review, vol. 7, No. 5 [Dec. 1956], 15–28) with performance notes by Rebecca Teele.
- (€) Weber-Schäfer 1960 (“Das Antwortgedict der Komachi”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 1:5-10.
- (A) unknown.
- All schools except Komparu.
Orochi 大蛇 (5)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Kanze Nobumitsu.
- Hōshō, Komparu, Kita schools.
Oshio 小塩 (3)
- (E) [Translation in preparation, as I understand]
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Komparu Zenchiku.
- All five schools.
Ōyashiro (Oyashiro) 大社.
- (E) Sadler 1934 (“Oyashiro or the Great Shrine”).
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 1:339- .
- (A) Kanze Nagatoshi.
- Kanze, (Hōshō), Komparu, Kita schools.
Raiden 来殿 (5)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Maeda Nariyasu 前田斉泰, revised by Hōshō Gorō Tomoyuki 宝生五郎友于.
- (Kongō) school.
Raiden 雷電 (5)
- Note that there are two different plays with the title Raiden.
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925]
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze, (Hōshō), Kongō, Kita schools.
Rashōmon (Rashomon) 羅生門 (5)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Kanze Nobumitsu.
- Kanze, Hōshō, Kongō, Kita schools.
Rinzō (Rinzo) 輪蔵 (1)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Kanze Nobutoshi.
- Kanze, (Hōshō), (Kita) schools.
Rōtaiko (Rotaiko; Rōdaiko, Rodaiko) 籠太鼓 (4)
- (E)
- “Prison Drum” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- Unvoiced Rōtaiko reading given in Hoshino and Hata 1999, 163; voiced Rōdaiko given in Takemoto and Hashimoto 1995, 118,
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Rō Giō (Ro Gio) 籠祇王 (3)
- (E) Michael Watson, as “Giō at the Prison (in Oyler and Watson 2013)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Kanze Motomasa?
- (Kita) school.
Ryōko (Ryoko) 龍虎 (5)
- (E)
- (€) Weber-Schäfer 1961 (as “Ryūko”) (“Drache und Tiger”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Kanze Nobumitsu.
- Kanze, Kita schools.
Sagi 鷺 (3)
- (E)
- (€) Renondeau, BEFEO, XXIX, 1929; Renondeau 1954 (“Le Héron”).
- “The White Heron” (title trans. in Keene 1990 [1966]); “Heron” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Saigyōzakura (Saigyō-zakura, Saigyozakura) 西行桜 (3)
- (E) {Mark King, “Priest Saigyō’s cherry tree,” Japan Magazine, XI:12, 1921, 639-649}; Eileen Katō in Brazell 1988 (“Saigyō and the Cherry Tree”); Yasuda 1989; Tyler 1992 (“Saigyō’s Cherry Tree”); Shimazaki 1994 (4/1).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:487-498.
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Sakahoko 逆鉾 (1)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown. (Miyamasu?).
- Kanze school.
Saikoku kudari 西国下.
- (E)
- Individual song included in Kanze hyakubanshū.
Sakuragawa 桜川 (4)
- (E) Sansom 1911 (“The Cherry=Blossom River”) (trans. with some omissions, this version was used without acknowledgement in “The Cherry-Blossom River” by Clements 1920); Robert N. Huey, “Sakuragawa. Cherry River,” MN 38:3 (1983), 295-312 [JSTOR].
- (€) Buhot, [French trans.], Bulletin de l’Associations des amis de l’Orient, Oct. 1935.
- The translation “Cherry River” is also used in Hare 1986 and Shimazaki 1998.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Sakurai 桜井, Sakurai no eki, Sakurai eki 桜井駅 (4)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI) (“Sakurai”). KYZ (“Sakurai eki”)
- (A) Nezu Morizane 根津守真. [reading?]
- Kongō school.
- Entry in Hoshino & Hata, Nō kyōgen jiten, is under Sakurai no eki (66). Notes that Kanze Kusu no tsuyu is said to be a revision (kaisaku) of this work.
Sanemori 実盛 (2)
- (E) NGS I 1955; Smethurst 1989; Mae Smethurst (revised) in Oyler and Watson 2013.
- (€) Sieffert 1960; Godel/Kano 1994.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:174f; NKBT 40:265f’
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Sanetomo 実朝 (4)
- (E)
- (J) MYSZ 5,
- (A) Toki Zenmaro 土岐善麿 (1885-1980).
- Kita school.
Sanetomo 実朝 (5)
- (E)
- (J) MYSZ 5, 21.
- (A) Takahama Kyoshi 高浜虚子 (1874-1959)
Sanshō (Sansho) 三笑 (4)
- (E) “Three Men Laugh” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (€) {Peter Weber-Schäfer, “Die drei Weisen am Tigerbach,” Oriens Extremus 26, 1979.}
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze, Hōshō, Kongō, (Kita) schools.
Saoyama 佐保山 (1)
- (E) Tyler 2013: 159f.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown
- Komparu.
Sasaki 佐々木
- (J) e-text [UTAHI]
- not in modern repertory
- source: Heike monogatari, book 9.
Seiganji 誓願寺 (3)
- (E) James H. Foard, “Seiganji: The Buddhist Orientation of a Noh Play,” MN 35: 4 (1980), 437-56 [JSTOR].
- (€) Renondeau 1950; Magli 1964.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1549f.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Seiōbo (Seiobo) 西王母 (1)
- (E) Carl Sesar in Keene 1970 (“The Queen Mother of the West”); Shimazaki 1972 (1).
- (€) {Hsi Wang Mu & Peter Weber-Schäfer, “Die Königinmutter des Westens,” Oriens Extremus 26, 1979.}
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1567f.
- (A) unknown. Sometimes attributed to Komparu Zenchiku.
- All five schools.
Sekidera Komachi 関寺小町 (3)
- (E) Karen Brazell in Keene 1970 (“Komachi at Sekidera”); Tyler 1978a (“Komachi at Gateway Temple”); Tyler 1992 (“Komachi at Seki-dera”); Teele 1993 (“Komachi at Seki Temple”; translation by Roy E. Teele revised by Nicholas J. Teele and H. Rebecca Teele).
- (€) Weber-Schäfer 1960 (“Komachi in Sekidera”).
- “Lady Komachi at Sekidera” (title trans. in Hare 1986).
- E-texts at JTI of the Brazell (Keene 1970) and Tyler (1978a) translations, with Japanese text.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1609f. SNKZ 58:460-472.
- (A) Zeami?
- All five schools.
Sekihara Yoichi 関寺与市 (4)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1625f.; KYS 2; KYZ
- (A) unknown.
- (Hōshō), Kita schools.
Semimaru 蝉丸 (4)
- (E) Draft trans. by Fenollosa (Miyake, Kodama and Teele 1994)’ [Suzuki 1932, summary 109-12]; Susan Matisoff in Keene 1970; Matisoff 1978; Tyler 1992; Shimazaki 1998 (4/2).
- (€) Arnold and Fukui 1957; Sieffert 1960.
- E-text at JTI of the Matisoff translation in Keene 1970, with Japanese text.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1671f. SNKZ 59:91-104.
- (A) Zeami?
  All five schools.
Senju 千手 (3)
- (E) Draft trans. by Fenollosa (Miyake, Kodama and Teele 1994); Shimazaki 1987 (3/3).
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (I), 204ff. (Trans. first published in 1958.)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1699f.
- (A) Komparu Zenchiku.
- All five schools. Kita school writes title 千寿.
Sesshōseki (Sesshō seki, Sesshoseki) 殺生石 (5)
- (E) Chamberlain 1880 (“The Death-Stone); {Yone Noguchi, “The perfect Jewel Maiden or the Death Stone,” Tokyo, 1915 [details unknown]; also Poet Lore, 29:3, 1917 [Webcat]}.
- (€) Steinilber-Oberlin 1929; Sieffert 1960 (“La Pierre qui tue”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1633f.
- (A) unknown. (Saami 佐阿弥?)
- All five schools.
Settai 摂待 (4)
- (E) NGS II 1959 (“Hospitality”).
- Title also tr. “Hospitality” in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1647f.
- (A) Miyamasu.
- All schools except Komparu.
Shakkyō (Shakkyo) 石橋 (5)
- (E)
- (€) Renondeau, France Asie 171 (Jan-Feb 1962)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBZ 34:522-. SNKZ 59:583-591.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Shari 舎利 (5)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Shibata 柴田
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- [bangai]
Shichiki ochi (Shichikiochi) 七騎落 (4)
- (E) Smethurst 1998.
- (€) {Abe Hidenori, “Die Flucht der sieben Ritter,” Ostasiatische Rundschau, 1928}; Weber-Schäfer 1961 (“Die Flucht der Sieben”).
- “Seven Warriors in Flight” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Shiga 志賀 (1)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925]; Weber-Schäfer 1961 (“Der Gott von Shiga”].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- All except Komparu school.
Shigehira 重衡 (2)
- See entry under alternative name Kasa sotoba 笠卒塔婆
Shigemori 重盛 (4)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- [bangai] .
Shikiji monogurui 敷地物狂 (4)
- (E)
- (A) unknown. (Possibly Kanze Motomasa or Komparu Zenchiku.)
- [bangai] . [entry: Hoshino and Hata 1999, 440] [entry: MYSZ 21:66-7]
- revived in performance at National Noh Theatre, 2014.7.5 [復曲能]
Shikimi tengu樒天狗
- (E) Goff 1991 (“Goblins among the Flowers”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI)
- See Tanaka, Mikan yōkyokushū, zoku 21:69,
Shima-meguri 島廻（嶋廻)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI]
- [Not found in Takemoto 1995. See Tanaka, Mikan yōkyokushū, zoku 21:96]
- (J) Tanaka Makoto, Mikan yōkyokushū, 1.
Shirahige 白髭 (1)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1461f.
- (A) unknown. (Kusemai by Kan’ami.)
- Kanze, (Hōshō), Komparu, (Kongō), (Kita) schools.
- Kanze school writes title 白鬚.
Shironushi 代主 (1)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1477f.
- (A) Komparu Zenchiku?
- Kanze school.
Shishido 宍戸
- (E)
- (J)
- info: MYSZ 21:74
- revived in performance in Ibaragi-ken, 2017.11.11.
Shōe no nyonin 青衣女人 (4)
- (E)
- (J) —
- (A) Toki Zenmaro 土岐善麿 (1885-1980).
- Kita school.
Shōjō 猩々 (5)
- (E) Fenollosa/Pound 1916b.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBZ 34:529-. SNKZ 59:592-596.
- “Monkey with Sake Jar.”
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
- For another shōjō play see Taihei Shōjō 大瓶猩々, trans. by Sadler.
Shōki 鍾馗 (5)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1449f.
- (A) Komparu Zenchiku.
- Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, (Kita) schools.
Shōkun 昭君 (5)
- (E) Carl Sear in Keene 1970.
- (€) Weber-Schäfer 1961 (“Die Schöne und der Barbar”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1577f. NKBZ 34:380-. SNKZ 59:432-444.
- The title of the play refers to a palace lady of the Later Han dynasty, 王昭君 Wang Zhaojun (Wang Chao-chün), Ō Shōkun in Japanese reading.
- (A) unknown. (Old work, Komparu lineage.)
- All five schools.
Shōzon 正尊 (4)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Kanze Nobutoshi.
- All five schools.
Shun’ei (see Shunnei) 春栄 (4)
- (E) Smethurst 1998.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
Shunkan 俊寛 (4)
- (E) [Waley 1921, 229-235 (Shunkwan), in “Summaries” section but a substantial extract]; C.K. Parker and S. Morikawa, “Shunkan: A Nō Play,” MN 4:1 (1941), 246-255 [JSTOR]; NGS III 1960; Eileen Kato in Brazell 1998.
- (€) Marcello Muccioli, “Il ‘nō” di Shunkwan” (Annali dell’Istituto Orientale di Napoli, n.s., 5, 1953); Arnold and Fukui 1957; Sieffert 1979 (II), 329ff.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1421f. NKBZ 34:249-. SNKZ 59:301-311.
- (A) unknown. (Komparu Zenchiku?)
- All five schools. Known in the Kita school as Kikaigashima 鬼界島 (the place of exile sometimes translated as “Devil’s Island”).
Shunnei 春栄 (しゅんねい) (4).
- (E) Smethurst 1998 (Shun’ei).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Zeami?
- All five schools.
Shunzei Tadanori 俊成忠度 (2)
- (E) Stephen D. Miller and Patrick S. Donnelly (in Oyler and Watson 2013).
- (€) Weber-Schäfer 1961 (“Fürst Shunzei und Ritter Tadanori”); Sieffert 1979 (I), 421ff.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1437f.
- (A) Naitō Zaemon 内藤左衛門.
- All schools except Komparu.
Sonoda 園田
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- (J) KYS 2:371-373.
Sōshi arai Komachi(Sōshiarai Komachi) (Soshiarai / Soshi arai) 草紙洗小町 (3)
- (E) Teele 1993 (“Komachi Clears Her Name”). Revision of a translation by Roy E. Teele (originally published in Humanities Review, V [1955], 27-64) with performance notes by Rebecca Teele.
- (€) Weber-Schäfer 1960 (“Die Manuskriptsülung”); Weber-Schäfer 1961 (“Komachi beim Dichterwettstreit”); Sieffert 1979 (I), 555 ff. (Sōshi-arai Komachi, “Le manuscrit lavé”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools. Kanze title is Sōshi Arai Komachi 草紙洗小町. Other schools call it simply Sōshi Arai 草紙洗.
Sotoba Komachi 卒都婆小町 (4)
- (E) [Fenollosa/Pound 1916b]; Waley 1921; Sam Houston Brock in Keene 1955; NGS III 1960 (“Komachi on the Stupa”); Tyler 1978b (“Komachi on the Gravepost”); Teele 1993 (“Komachi on the Stupa,” trans. by H. Rebecca Teele); Shirane 2007: 938-952 (“Stupa Komachi,” trans. Herschel Miller).
- (€) Péri 1913/1921/1944 (Sotoba-Komachi, “Komachi au stūpa”); Fulchignoni 1942 (“La vecchia poetessa”); Weber-Schäfer 1960 (“Komachi am Stūpa”); Weber-Schäfer 1961 (“Komachi am Grab”).
- E-texts of the Pound, Waley, and Tyler (1978b) translations, with Japanese text.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1715f. NKBZ 34:72-. SNKZ 59:116-127.
- (S) Etsuko Terasaki, “Images and Symbols in Sotoba Komachi: A Critical Analysis of a Nō Play,” HJAS 44:1. (Jun., 1984), 155-184. [JSTOR]
- (A) Kan’ami.
- All five schools.
Suma Genji 須磨源氏 (5)
- (E) Fenollosa/Pound 1916b; Goff 1991 (“Genji at Suma Bay”).
- (€) Weber-Schäfer 1961 (“Prinz Genji in Suma”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1491f.
- (A) Zeami.
- Kanze, Hōshō, Kongō, (Kita) schools.
Sumidagawa (Sumida-gawa) 隅田川 (4)
- (E) Stopes 1909; Stopes and Sakurai 1913; Clements 1920 (“By the Sumida River”); {Takahashi, Japan Times 8, 1, 1928}; NGS I 1955; Tyler 1992; Shirane 2007: 993-1004 (“Sumida River,” trans. Anthony H. Chambers).
- All translators apart from Clements and Chambers use the title “The Sumida River.”
- (€) {Vicuna, (Spanish trans.), 1919}; {Cossard, [French trans.], Nichifutsu Bunka, X, 1946}; Renondeau 1950; NGS I 1955; Weber-Schäfer 1961 (“Am Sumida-Strom”); Godel/Kano 1994 (“La rivière Sumida”); Sieffert 1995; de Poorter 2001 (Dutch trans.).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1515f. SNKZ 59:48-62.
- (A) Kanze Motomasa.
- All five schools. The title is written 角田川 in the Komparu school.
Sumiyoshi mōde (Sumiyoshi mode) 住吉詣 (3)
- (E) Goff 1991 (“The Pilgrimage to Sumiyoshi”).
- (€) [Gundert 1925]; Sieffert 1979 (II), 182ff (“Le pèlerinage à Sumiyoshi”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 1537f.
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze, (Hōshō), Kongō, Kita schools.
Sumizomezakura 墨染桜 (3)
- (E)
- (€) Weber-Schäfer 1961 (“Schwarze Kirschblüten”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 1505f.
- (A) unknown.
- Kongō.
Tadanobu 忠信 (4)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 1891f.
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze, Hōshō schools.
Tadanori 忠度 (2)
- (E) Sadler 1934; NGS II 1959; Hare 1986; Shimazaki 1987 (2/1); Yasuda 1989; Tyler 1992.
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (I), 309ff.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 1903f. NKBT 40:241-248. SNKZ 58:146-159.
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Tadatsu no Saemon 多度津の左衛門
- (E) Tyler 2013.
- (J) Zeami jihitsubon shū; MYSZ 8, cf. MYSZ 21:202.
- (A) Zeami (autograph manuscript).
Taema 当麻 (5)
- (E) Thomas Rimer, “Taema: A Noh Play attributed to Zeami,” MN vol. 25 no. 3/4 (1970), 431-445 [JSTOR]; Yasuda 1989.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 1839-1855.
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Taihei shōjō (Taihei shojo) 大瓶猩々 (5)
- (E) Sadler 1934 (“The Shojo and the Big Jar”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze school.
Taisanpukun 泰山府君 (4)
- (E)
- “Archdemon Taisan” (title trans. in Hare 1986).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1733f.
- (A) unknown. (Old work, possibly with Zeami’s revisions.)
- Kongō school.
Taisei Taishi (or Taise Taishi) 太施太子（泰世太子)
- (E) Beng Choo Lim 1997 [in Cornell dissertation].
- (J) Tanaka Makoto, Mikan yōkyōkushū, zoku 7 (and 21:180).
- (A) Nobumitsu.
- No longer performed.
Taiten 大典 (1)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) 藤代禎輔 (text), with music by Kanze Sakon 観世左近.
- Kanze school.
Takasago 高砂 (1)
- (E) Aston 1899 (abridged trans.); Dickins 1906; {Clements 1920 as “Growing Old Together”}; NGS I 1955; Shimazaki 1972 (1); Tyler 1978a; Hare 1986; Tyler 1992; Quinn 2005.
- A revision of the NGS I 1955 translation appears in Shirane 2007: 970-980.
- (€) Florenz 1909 (first half only, 391-4); Weber-Schäfer 1961 [“Zwei Kiefern”]; Sieffert 1979 (I), 43 ff.
- E-text of the Tyler (1978a) translation, with Japanese text.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 1857f. SNKZ 58:29-41.
- An old name for the play is “Aioi” 相老 or “grow old together” as Dickins translates it.
- (S) Richard A. Gardener. “Takasago: The Symbolism of the Pine.” MN 47: 2 (1992), 203-40. [JSTOR]
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Take no yuki 竹雪 (4)
- (E) [Waley 1921, 237-39 (“Snow on the Bamboos”), summary with tr. of first half].
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (II), 551ff (“La neige sur les bambous”); Godel/Kano 1994 (“Neige sur bambous”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 1875f.
- (A) unknown.
- Hōshō, (Komparu), Kita schools.
Tamakazura 玉葛 (4)
- (E) Goff 1991 (“The Jeweled Chaplet”).
- (€) Weber-Schäfer 1961 (“Perlengewinde im Haar”).
- “Jewel-Bright Vine” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 1957f.
- The Kanze school title is written 玉鬘, as in the chapter title in Genji monogatari.
- (A) Komparu Zenchiku.
- All five schools.
Tamanoi 玉井 (1)
- (E) NGS II 1959 (“Jewel-Well”).
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 1973f.
- (A) Kanze Nobumitsu.
- Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kita schools.
Tamura 田村 (2)
- (E) Stopes and Sakurai 1913; Fenollosa/Pound 1916b; Sadler 1934; NGS I 1955.
- (€) Péri 1920/1944; Weber-Schäfer 1961 (“General Tamura”); de Poorter 1978 (Dutch).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 1985f. SNKZ 58:115-127.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Tango monogurui 丹後物狂 (4)
- (E) [Waley 1921, 241-44 (Tango-monogurui), substantial extract] [e-text].
- “The Madman of Tango” (title trans. in Hare 1986).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI)
- (A) Iami 井阿弥 revised by Zeami.
- [bangai] .
Tanikō (Taniko) 谷行 (5)
- (E) Waley 1921 (“The Valley-Hurling”); Royall Tyler in Keene 1970 (“The Valley Rite”).
- (€) Godel/Kano 1994 (“L’Épreuve de la Vallée”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 1937f.
- (A) unknown (sometimes attributed to Komparu Zenchiku).
- Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, (Kita) schools.
Tankai 湛海 (4)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KNBT.
- (A) unknown.
- (Kongō) school.
Tatsuta 龍田 (竜田) (3)
- (E) Tyler 1992.
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 1921f.
- (A) Komparu Zenchiku.
- All five schools.
Teika 定家 (3)
- (E) Sato in Hiroaki Sato and Burton Watson, From the Country of Eight Islands (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1981), pp. 241-253.
- (€) Renondeau 1954; Godel/Kano 1994.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 2101f. SNKZ 58:325-336.
- (A) Komparu Zenchiku.
- All five schools.
Tenko 天鼓 (4)
- (E) Shimazaki 1994 (4/1) (“Heavenly Drum”); Bethe and Emmert 1994.
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (II), 88ff. (“Le tambour céleste”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Tetsumon 鉄門
- (E)
- (J)
- [shinsaku] by Takahama Kyoshi 高浜虚子
- Nishino/Hata p. 106
Tōboku (Toboku) 東北 (3)
- (E) NGS I 1955.
- “The Northeastern Hall” (title trans. in Hare 1986).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:247-258.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Tōbōsaku (Tobosaku) 東方朔 (1)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:97-107.
- (A) Komparu Zenpō 金春禅鳳.
- Kanze, (Hōshō), Komparu, (Kongō), (Kita) schools.
Tōei (Toei) 藤永 / 藤栄 (4)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown. (Old work, kosaku.)
- All schools except Kanze.
Tōgan Botō 当願暮頭 (4)
- (E) Tyler 2013 (“Tōgan and Botō”)
- (J) Tyler cites Tōgan Botō (Kokuritsu Nōgakudō jōen shiryō shū 3)

Tōgan koji (Togan koji) 東岸居士 (4)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Zeami?
- All schools except Komparu.
Tōkoku kudari (Tokoku kudari) 東国下.
- (E) Excerpts translated in O’Neill 1958.
- Individual kusemai (not a complete nō play)
- (J) included in Kanze hyakubanshū.
Tokusa 木賊 (4)
- (E)
- “The Scouring Rushes”(title trans. in Hare 1986); “Rush Cutter” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Zeami?
- All five schools.
Tomoakira 知章 (2)
- (E) Shimazaki 1993 (2/2).
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (I), 180ff.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- All schools except Hōshō.
Tomoe 巴 (2)
- (E) Sadler 1934; NGS III 1960; Shimazaki 1993 (2/2).
- (€) Marcello Muccioli, “Il Nō di Tomoe” (Tipografia del Senato, Roma, 1952; also as “Il ‘nō’ di Tomoe,” Annali dell’Istituto Orientale di Napoli, n.s., 4, 1953); Sieffert 1979 (I), 68ff.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:232-244.
- (S) Discussed in Brown 2001, Chapter 5. Original article: Steven T. Brown, “From Woman Warrior to Peripatetic Entertainer: The Multiple Histories of Tomoe,” HJAS 58: 1 (June 1998), pp. 183-199 [JSTOR].
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Tomonaga 朝長 (2)
- (E) Shimazaki 1987 (2/1)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:202-207.
- (A) unknown. (Kanze Motomasa?)
- All five schools.
Torioi-bune 鳥追舟 / Torioi 鳥追 (4)
- (E) [Waley 1921, 240 (“Tori-oi”), short summary]; Royall Tyler in Keene 1970 (“The Bird-scaring Boat”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- Tori-oi explained as “bird-scaring” (Waley 1921). “Bird-chasing Boat” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools. Hōshō title is Torioi 鳥追.
Tōru (Toru) 融 (5)
- (E) [Waley 1921, 249, short summary]; Hare 1986 [fourth dan]; Yasuda 1989; Tyler 2013.
- (€) Renondeau 1929; Renondeau 1954.
- Alternative (older) name: Shiogama 塩釜.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBZ 34:487-. SNKZ 59:549-563.
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Tōsen (Tosen) 唐船 (4)
- (E) [Aston 1899: 212, summary].
- “Chinese Ship” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 1805-1822.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Tsuchigumo 土蜘蛛 (5)
- (E) Suzuki 1932, 87-92 (“Spirit of a Spider”).
- (€) Arnold and Fukui 1957 (“L’Arraigné de Terre”); Weber-Schäfer 1961; de Poorter 1978 (Dutch); Sieffert 1979 (I), 603 ff. (“L’araignée-de-terre”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 2055f.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools. Title written 土蜘 in Hōshō and Komparu schools.
Tsuchiguruma 土車 (5)
- (E)
- “The Wheelbarrow” (title trans. in Hare 1986, also in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 2069f.
- (A) Zeami.
- Kanze, Kita schools.
Tsunemasa 経政 / 経正 (2)
- (E) Fenollosa/Pound 1916b; Waley 1921 [e-text]; Shimazaki 1987 (2/1): Tyler 2013
- (€) Arnold and Fukui 1957; Weber-Schäfer 1961 (“Die Laute des Tsunemasa”); Sieffert 1979 (II).
- E-texts of the Fenollosa/Pound and Waley translations, with Japanese text.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 2083f.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools. Title written 経正 in Kanze and Komparu schools.
Tsuru 鶴 (3)
- (E)
- (J)
- (A) Toki Zenmaro.
- Kita
- Nishino/Hata p. 104ßzg
Tsurugaoka 鶴岡
- (E) Michael Watson, “Yoritomo’s Shrine by the Sea: The Narrative Function of Place Names in the Bangai Noh Tsurugaoka,” in Landscapes Imagined and Remembered, PAJLS no. 6 (2005). [Translation available online.]
- (J)
- (A) unknown.
- [bangai]
Tsurukame (Tsuru kame) 鶴亀 (1)
- (E) {Roy E. Teele, “Tsurukame, The Crane and the Tortoise.” The Husk (Spring, 1955).}
- (€) Renondeau 1927/1954 (“Grue et tortue ou le pavillon et la lune”); de Poorter 1978 (Dutch) (“De Kraanvogel en de schildpad”).
- “Crane and Tortoise” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- Kita school calls the play Gekkyūden 月宮殿 [Moon Palace].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 2095f. SNKZ 58:108-112.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Tsuzumi no taki 鼓瀧
- (J) e-text (UTAHI); KYS 2:622-5
U no matsuri (U-no-matsuri, Umatsuri) 鵜祭 (1)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925]; Sieffert 1979 (II), 475ff (“La fête du cormoran”).
- Japanese e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown. (Late Muromachi-period).
- Komparu school. Seldom performed.
Uchito mōde (Uchito mode) 内外詣 (1)
- (E)
- “Visit to Ise Shrines” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- Japanese e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Kongō Matahyōe Nagayori [check] 金剛又兵衛長頼.
- Kongō school. Seldom performed.
Ugetsu 雨月 (4)
- (E) Noguchi 1918 (“The Shower, the Moon”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari.
- “Rain and Moon” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (S) Benito Ortolani,”Komparu Zenchiku: Ugetsu und die Metaphysik der Nō-Schauspielkunst,” Mask und Kothurn, 10 (1954)
- (A) Komparu Zenchiku.
- All five schools.
Ukai 鵜飼 (5)
- (E) {Yone Noguchi, Yokyokukai, vo. V, no. 4, (1915), 1-10}; Waley 1921 (“the Cormorant-Fisher”) [e-text].
- (€) Renondeau 1950; Weber-Schäfer 1961 (“Der Kormoranfischer”); Magli 1964 (“Il pescatore col cormorano”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKS.
- “The Cormorant Fisher” (title trans. in Hare 1986).
- (A) Enamizaemon Gorō 榎並左衛門五郎. Revised by Zeami.
- All five schools.
Ukifune 浮舟 (4)
- (E) Goff 1991 (“A Drifting Boat”).
- “A Boat upon the Waters” (title trans. in Hare 1986).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKS.
- (A) Yokoo Motohisa 横尾元久, revised by Zeami.
- Kanze, (Hōshō), Komparu, Kongō, (Kita) schools.
Ukon 右近 (1)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 1.
- (A) Original by Zeami, revised by Kanze Nobumitsu?
- Kanze, Hōshō, Kongō schools.
Umatsuri.
- See U no matsuri above
Ume 梅 (3)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 1.
- (A) Kanze Motoakira 観世元章 (1722-74)
- Kanze school.
Umegae 梅枝 (4)
- (E)
- “Plum Branch” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 1.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Uneme 釆女 (3)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:259f.
- (A) Zeami?
- All five schools.
Unoha 鵜羽
- (E) Jeanne Paik Kaufman in Brazell 1988 (“Cormorant Plumes”), Tyler 2013 (“Cormorant Feathers”).
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- “Cormorant Feathers” (title trans. in Hare 1986).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI)
- (A) Zeami.
- [bangai] – Revived in 1991. [Hoshino and Hata 1999, 437]
Unomatsuri
- see entry U no matsuri, above.
Unrin’in 雲林院 (3)
- (E) Earl Jackson, Jr., in Brazell 1988 (“The Unrin Temple”).
- “The Hall in Cloud Forest” (title trans. in Hare 1986).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:475-468.
- (A) Authorship unknown, but dating from Zeami’s time. Two versions extant, one sometimes attributed to Zeami but more likely a revision of an older play.
- All five schools.
Urashima 浦島 (1)
- (E)
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- (J) ([e-text (UTAHI)]
- (A) unknown. Sometimes attributed to Kanze Miyamasu (? – 1432).
- (Hōshō) school.
Urokogata 鱗形 (1)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 1.
- (A) unknown.
- Komparu, (Kita) schools.
Utaura 歌占 (4)
- (E)
- (€) Godel/Kano 1994 (“Le poème divinatoire”).
- Translations of the title include: “Fortune Telling by Poems” (Shimazaki 1998, Appendix); “Soothsaying by verse” (Quinn, forthcoming).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 1.
- (A) Kanze Motomasa.
- All five schools.
Utō (Uto) 善知鳥 (4)
- (E) Noguchi 1918; Weatherby & Rogers 1947 (also reprinted in Keene 1955:271-285) (“Birds of Sorrow”).
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (I), 463ff.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 1. NKBZ 34:162f. SNKS 1.146f’ SNKZ 59:207f.
- (A) unknown.
- All five schools.
Utsusemi 空蝉
- (E) Goff 1991 (“The Cicada’s Shell”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI); KYS 1:224f.
- [bangai]
- Not to be confused with play Go, also about character Utsusemi.
Watatsumi わたつみ
- (E)
- (J)
- [shinsaku?] performed Sept 2, 2018.
Yakamochi 家持
- (J) KYS 3:469-73.
- Based on legend about Man’yōshū poet Ōtomo Yakamochi.
- [bangai]
Yakan 野干
- (J) KYS 3:474-6
- Based on legend of Tamano-no-mae 玉藻前. Waki: Miura-no-suke Yoshiaki.
- [bangai]
Yamanba (Yamamba) 山姥 (5)
- (E) {Yone Noguchi, “The Mountain She Devil,” 1918}; [Waley 1921, 247, summary as “Yamauba (The Dame of the Mountains)”]; Minagawa 1926/1934 (“The Mountain Dame”); NGS II 1959 (“Mountain-Hag”); Tyler 1978b (“Granny Mountains”); Tyler 1992 (Yamamba, “The Mountain Crone”); Brazell in Brazell 1998.
- “The Mountain Hag” (title trans. in Hare 1986); “The Old Woman Of The Hills” (O’Neill 1954).
- (€){Renondeau, BEFEO XXXII/1, 1932 “Yama-uba (La Sorière des Montagnes”)”}{Fulchignoni 1942, Italian trans. as “La Dama della Montagna”)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBZ 34:502-. SNKZ 59:564-582.
- In The Spirit of Japanese Poetry (1914), Yone Noguchi gives an interpretive summary of the play, which he calls “‘Yama Uba’ or ‘Mountain Elf'” (Yoshinobu Hakutani, ed., Selected English Writings of Yone Noguchi (1992), vol. 2, p. 85).
- Study: Bethe and Brazell 1978 (analysis of the kuse scene).
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Yashima 八島 (2)
- (E) Ueda 1962 (“The Battle at Yashima”); Tyler 1978a; Tyler 1992; Shimazaki 1993 (2/2).
- (€) Renondeau 1954.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 3:477f; NKBT 41:265f; SNKS 3:328f; NKBZ 58:138f. SNKZ 58:128-145; SNKT 57:452f.
- The Kanze school writes the title as 屋島. Also known as Yoshitsune 義経.
- (A) Zeami?
- All five schools.
Yasuinu 安犬
- (J) KYS 3:482-6.
- [bangai]
Yōkihi 楊貴妃 (3)
- (E) Yone Noguchi 1917 (see note); Carl Sesar in Keene 1970; {Carl Sesar, “Nō drama and Chinese Literature,” PhD thesis, Columbia University, 1971.}
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 3:461-. SNKZ 58:350-360.
- In “The Everlasting Sorrow: A Japanese Noh Play” (Egoist 4 [1917]: 141-42; reprinted in Hakutani Yoshinobu, The Selected English Writings of Yone Noguchi, 2:106-110), Noguchi makes use of the structure and (occasionally) the language of the noh play, while also drawing heavily on its source, the poem “The Song of Everlasting Sorrow” [長恨歌] by Po Chü-i (Bo Ju-yi). The play, like the Chinese poem, describes how the Taoist priest sent by the Chinese Emperor meets the spirit of Yang Kuei-Fei (Yang Guifei).
- (A) Komparu Zenchiku.
- All five schools.
Yokoyama 横山 (4)
- (E)
- (J)
- [bangai] Nishino/Hata p. 156.
Yorimasa 頼政 (2)
- (E) Tyler 1978b, Shimazaki 1993 (2/2).
- (€) Sieffert 1979 (I), 532 ff.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). SNKZ 58:160-173.
- (A) Yorimasa.
- All five schools.
Yōrō 養老 (1)
- (E) Draft trans. by Fenollosa (Miyake, Kodama and Teele 1994); Pound’s unpublished version (Paideuma 4 (1975), 349-353, also Tsukui 1983); Shimazaki 1972
- (€) (Renondeau 1927).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). KYS 3:466-. SNKZ 58:42-53.
- “Nurturing the Aged” (title trans. in Keene 1990 [1966]); “Fostering Long Life” (title trans. in Hare 1986).
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Yoroboshi 弱法師 (4)
- (E) NGS III 1960 (“The Stumbling Boy”); Richard 2004 (online), as “Yoroboshi (The Beggar and his Saviour)” [htm / PDF] (see note).
- (€) Godel/Kano 1994 (“Le frêle moine”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBZ 34:93-. SNKZ 59:137-148.
- Trans. of title include: “Tottering Beggar” (Shimazaki 1998, Appendix). Note that the final -o- in the title is read short (-boshi, not -bōshi).
- (A) Kanze Motomasa (kuse by Zeami).
- All five schools.
Yoshino Shizuka 吉野静 (3)
- (E) Etsuko Terasaki in Brazell 1988 (“Lady Shizuka in Yoshino”); Tyler 1978b (“Shizuka at Yoshino”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Kan’ami.
- Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, (Kita) schools.
Yoshino Tennin 吉野天人 (3)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Kanze Nobumitsu.
- Kanze school.
Youchi Soga 夜討曽我 (4)
- (E) Laurence Kominz, “The Noh as Popular Theater: Miyamasu’s Youchi Soga,” MN 33: 4 (1978), 441-60 [JSTOR].
- (€) Renondeau 1954.
- “Soga Brother’s Night Attack” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Miyamasu.
- All five schools.
Yumedono 夢殿 (4)
- (E)
- (J)
- (A) Toki Zenmaro 土岐善麿 (1885-1980)
- Kita. Performed in Jan. 2017.
- Nishino/Hata p. 153
Yūgao 夕顔 (3)
- (E) Shimazaki 1976 (3/1); Janet Goff, HJAS 42.1 (1982) [JSTOR]; Goff 1991 (“Evening Faces”).
- (€) (Sieffert 1960)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown. (Sometimes attributed to Zeami.)
- Kanze, (Hōshō), Kongō, Kita schools.
Yugyō yanagi 遊行柳 (3)
- (E) Janine Beichman in Keene 1970 (“The Priest and the Willow”).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Kanze Nobumitsu.
- All five schools.
Yuki 雪 (3)
- (E) Suzuki 1932, 93-96.
- (€) Renondeau 1950.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) unknown.
- Kongō school.
Yumi Yawata (Yumi Yahata) 弓八幡 (1)
- (E) Ross Bender, “Metamorphosis of a Deity: The Image of Hachiman in Yumi Yawata,” MN 33: 2 (1978), 165-178 [JSTOR].
- (€) [Gundert 1925].
- (J) e-text (UTAHI).
- (A) Zeami.
- All five schools.
Yuya 熊野 (3)
- (E) {Noguchi, “The Sorrow of Yuya,” Poet Lore, 1917}; [Waley 1921, 240, summary]; [Suzuki 1932, summary 106-8]; P. G. O’Neill, “The Nō Plays Koi no omoni and Yuya,” MN 10.1/2 (1954), pp. 203-226 [JSTOR]; NGS II 1959; Shimazaki 1987 (3/3); Tyler 1978b.
- (€) Arnold and Fukui 1957; Romano Vulpitta (Italian translation), Il Giappone, 5, 1965; Sieffert 1979 (I), 339ff.
- Title written 湯谷 in the Kita school.
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). NKBT 41: 376f; SNKS 3: 390f; SNKZ 58:405f.
- (A) unknown. (Sometimes attributed to Komparu Zenchiku or Kanze Motomasa.)
- All five schools
Zegai 善界 / 是界 / 是我意 (5)
- (E)
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3: 1595f. NKBZ 34:463- (善界). SNKZ 59:521-532.
- (A) Takeda Hōin Sadamori 竹田法印定盛.
- All five schools. Kanze writes title 善界, Komparu 是我意, others schools as 是界. (Latter is used for entry in Hoshino 1999, 81-82.)
Zenji Soga 禅師曽我 (禅師曾我) (4)
- (E)
- “The Priest Soga” (title trans. in Shimazaki 1998, Appendix).
- (J) e-text (UTAHI). Sanari 3:1689f.
- (A) unknown.
- Kanze, Hōshō, (Kongō), Kita schools.

Notes on the entries above

Japanese titles
        Nishino and Hata 1999 (Nō kyōgen jiten) [Nishino/Hata] has been followed in deciding the main heading for plays. Alternative names are given, however, together with cross-references for substantially different names. Standard modern practice is followed in word division and hyphenization of titles. Possible variants have been offered in some cases where it was feared that those doing web searches might not hit on the form used here. (As explained below, this is true of romanized words with long vowels.) Versions with alternative kanji are given, particularly in cases when editors continue to prefer the older forms (e.g. 龍 for 竜, or 曾 for 曽).
       The system for romanization of titles has changed since the first English translations in the Meiji period. This list follows what I believe are the emerging conventions. It is perhaps useful to set out exactly what these conventions might be. Modern practice is to avoid hyphenation in titles, combining into a single “word” when the two elements form a sense unit (Ashikari, Ikarikazuki, Kinsatsu, Matsukaze, Oimatsu) or make up the names of places or temples (Arashiyama, Dōjōji, Hōjōgawa, Kashiwazaki, Kannyokyū, Sakuragawa, Miidera, Rashōmon). Two elements clearly belong together if the second is voiced (Hōkazō, Kurozuka, Momijigari,  Motomezuka, Nishikigi, Saigyōzakura, Tsuchigumo).
        Hyphenation is used when combining would result in two vowels (Eboshi-ori, Hana-ikusa, Hitachi-obi) or when the resulting word would be difficult to parse (Minazuki-barae, Torioi-bune, arguably also Saigyō-zakura and Sumizome-zakura).
        It is conventional to write titles as two words when one element is a proper name (Funa Benkei, Kosode Soga, Yoshino Shizuka, Kamo monogurui, Kasuga ryūjin, Kuruma tengu, Nara mōde, Ohara gokō). . In these cases I prefer to capitalize the second element only if it is a proper noun. Titles with the pattern “Genzai ~” or “~ monogurui” are written as two words. Note also Genzei shichimen, Genzai nue, but Genzai Tomoe: two elements, but with capitalization only when the second element is a personal name. Note also Rō Giō (proper noun) but Rōtaiko (like Fujidaiko).
        The following titles are also conventially written as two words: Ikkaku sennin,Jinen koji, Makura jidō, Shichiki ochi. The following are conventionally written as one: Tsurukame.
        Elements are written out when the particle no combines words (Aya no Tsuzumi, Aoi no ue, Hachi no ki). However, there is a tendency to write some expressions as one: Unoha,Tamanoi “Jewel-Well.” I have combined in the case where ga joins elements (Adachigahara), but have also given the form written Adachi ga hara. Problematic cases: Hana ikusa, Hakurakuten (Haku Rakuten), Taisanpukun. [Return to top.]

Format of entries
        Square brackets indicate partial translation or summary. Items bracketed thus {} were not available for me when compiling this list and need re-checking. Notes in red or in CAPITALS are likewise points to clarify.
        If a title is translated, that information is included in parentheses. Other translations of titles that appear in secondary works are being added. I’d be grateful to hear of more.
       In the translations listed under (€), the language of translations is specified only when this is not obvious. When a version of this check-list was originally put online in the early 1990s, macrons and French/German diacritical accents could not be used on a page containing kanji. On revising the page in July 2004, Unicode has been adopted, allowing for the use of European diacritics and the circumflex (ôû). From February 2009, the macron has been included too. In order to ensure that you will continue to find plays titles including a long vowel, such titles have been listed in the following manner: Aridōshi (Aridoshi).
        Note also that romanization of clusters like Genpuku and Yamanba uses the style with -n- rather than -m-. (An exception is made for the name of the Komparu school.)
        For a compact guide to dating and grounds for attribution, see Takemoto 1995, 53-120. Note that 観阿弥 has been written Kan’ami (Kannami is also correct, while Kwannami is seen in older scholarship). Some names of minor authors need to be checked. [Return to top.]

Coverage
The information about existing translations covers most collections of noh plays in English (see bibliography), and in some Western European languages. References to translations published in journals have been added, together with JSTOR links, but some may well have been missed. Suggestions and corrections are very much appreciated <watson[at]k.meijigakuin.ac.jp>.
Links to the UTAHI site of electronic texts have been added. [Details]. References are being added to printed sources for texts. As plays in the standard repertoire are relatively easy to find, it seems more useful to concentrate on [bangai] , giving volume page references to Haga and Sakaki, Kōchū Yōkyoku sōsho (1914-15), abbreviated KYS above, or a more recent edition, where it exists. For information about Japanese editions of noh plays see Japanese bibliography below or my short list (PDF). [Return to top.]

English-language bibliography (see below for: bibliography in other Western languages, and Japanese-language bibliography) *still deciding whether to divide or not…

        Standard abbreviations have been used for the following journals.
        BEFEO = Bulletin de l’École Française d’Extrême-Orient
        HJAS = Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies [at JSTOR]
        MN = Monumenta Nipponica [url][at JSTOR]
        TASJ = Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan

        Individual JSTOR links are given for those who have access through a subscribing institution.             The links are to electronic files in pdf format that can be read on screen or downloaded.

Major translations and studies
Note that this checklist does not attempt to cover early translations fully. For more references, see
(1) Roy E. Teele, “Translations of Noh Plays,” Comparative Literature Vol. 9, No. 4 (Autumn, 1957), pp. 345-368 [available online for subscribers of JSTOR];
(2) Nishino Haruo’s list of translations in Nogami Toyoichirō, ed., Nōgaku zensho (Tokyo Sōgensha, 1980), 3:328-316;
(3) Françine Hérail, Bibliographie japonaise (Paris: P.O.F., 1981), pp. 83-91.

The following information is given in square brackets following each item: the number of noh plays translated, list of titles included, given in alphabetical order and in standard modern romanization. Some references to book reviews are also given. [Return to top.]

Arnold and Fukui 1957
Paul Arnold and Yoshio Fukui. Neuf nō japonaise. [Paris:] Libraire théatrale, 1957. 165 p.
[Nine plays: Aya no tsutsumi (“Le Tambour de soie”), Dōjōji, Kantan (“L’oreiller de Kantan”),Hanagatami, Semimaru, Shunkan, Tsuchikumo (“L’Arraigné de Terre”), Tsunemasa, Yuya.]
Part 1 contains the nine plays in free “adaptations” by Arnold, while Part 2 contains fairly literal translations (‘traductions”) of the same nine plays by Arnold and Yoshio Fukui 福井芳男. See comments in Nishino 2003, 188, who refers to the free adaptations as hon’an 翻案. Here are scans of the cover and table of contents from a copy purchased through abebooks.com [PDF].

Aston 1899
W. G. Aston. A History of Japanese Literature. London: Heinemann: London, 1899. [Noh is discussed in Book the Fourth, Chapter III “Poetry–The Nō or Lyrical Drama–Kiōgen or Farce” (pp. 199-214), with an abridged translation of Takasago (206-212). Summaries are given of the plays Tōsen and Dōjōji (212-213).]

Bethe and Brazell 1978
Monica Bethe and Karen Brazell. Nō as performance: an analysis of the Kuse scene of Yamamba. Cornell University East Asia Papers, no. 16. Cornell, 1978.Bethe and Brazell 1982
Monica Bethe and Karen Brazell. Dance in the Nō theater. Volume one: dance analysis. Volume two: plays and scores. Cornell University East Asia Papers, no. 29. Cornell, 1978.
[Check no. of two vols., excerpts translated.]

Bethe and Emmert [1992-97]
Monica Bethe and Richard Emmert, trans. and ed., Noh Performance Guides. Tokyo: National Noh Theatre, 1992-1997. (1) Matsukaze with a translation and afterword by Royall Tyler, 1992; (2) Fujito with a translation and afterword by Royall Tyler, 1992; (3) Miidera, 1993; (4) Tenko, 1994; (5) Atsumori, with Karen Brazell, 1995; [6) Ema, 1996; (7) Aoinoue, 1997.
REV Asian Theatre Journal 16.1 (Frank Hoff).

Borgen 2007
Robert Borgen, “A History of Dōmyōji to 1572 (or Maybe 1575): An Attempted Reconstruction,” Monumenta Nipponica 62.1 (Spring 2007), 1-74. [Study and complete translation.] [Project MUSE]

Brazell 1988
Karen Brazell, ed. Twelve Plays of the Noh and Kyōgen Theaters. Cornell University East Asia Papers No. 50. Ithaca, 1988. [9 plays: Genji kuyō (“A Memorial Service for Genji”) tr. Janet Goff, Ikarikazuki (“The Anchor Draping”) tr. J. Philip Gabriel, Kakitsubata (“The Iris”) tr. Susan Blakeley Klein, Miwa (“Three Circles”) tr. Monica Bethe, ūeyama (“The Demon of Oeyama”) tr. H. Mack Horton, Saigyōzakura (“Saigyō and the Cherry Tree”) tr. Eileen Kato, Unoha (“Cormorant Plumes”) tr. Jeanne Paik Kaufman, Unrin’in (The Unrin Temple) tr. Earl Jackson, Yoshino Shizuka (“Lady Shizuka in Yoshino”) tr. Etsuko Terasaki.]

Brazell 1998
Karen Brazell. Traditional Japanese Theater: An Anthology of Plays. New York: Columbia UP, 1998. [7 plays: Atsumori tr. Karen Brazell, Dōjōji tr. Donald Keene, Izutsu tr. Karen Brazell, Kamo tr. Monica Bethe, Miidera tr. Eileen Kato, Shunkan tr. Eileen Kato, Yamamba tr. Monica Bethe and Karen Brazell.]

Brinkley 1901
Frank Brinkley. Japan, Its History, Arts, and Literature. Boston and Tokyo: J. B. Millet, 1901. [Ataka, translated in vol. III, 35-48. Brinkley translates the term nō as “accomplishment.” This was the source for Pound’s use of the term.]
Brown 2001
Steven T. Brown. Theatricalities of Power: The Cultural Politics of Noh. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. 209 pages. [Study including translations of three plays: Akechi uchi, Aoi no ue, Ominameshi.] REV MN 59:1 (Spring 2004), 138-140 (Noel John Pinnington).

Cionca 1982
Stanca Cionca. Teatru Nō. Bucurest: University Bucuresti, 1982. [20 plays translated into Rumanian.] Ref: Nishino 2003, 201. [Other works by Stanca Scholz-Cionca are listed on Webcat, but not this translation. [To check. Copy at Hōsei.]

Chamberlain 1880
Basil Hall Chamberlain. The Classical Poetry of the Japanese. London: Trübner & Co., 1880. Also: Boston: J. R. Osgood, 1880. [4 plays: Hagoromo (“The Robe of Feathers”), Sesshōseki (“The Death-Stone”), Kantan (“Life is a Dream”), Nakamitsu.] Translations should be compared with those in next two entries. The section on Nō (“Selections from the Nou-No-Utai”) is from pp. 137-185. Reprinted with additions and deletions in Chamberlain, Japanese Poetry (1910), see below. The original 1880 edition is not included in Collected works of Basil Hall Chamberlain (Tokyo: Ganesha, 2000), but a facsimile was published by Routledge in 2000. A Japanese translation by Kawamura Hatsue was published in 1987 (川村ハツエ訳『日本人の古典詩歌』東京 : 七月堂).
The first published translations of noh, using prose for the chanted portions, and rhymed verse for the sung portions. “The prose portions are rendered literally, the lyrical passages perforce very freely” as the translator later admitted (Chamberlain 1902: 462). Similar criticisms were made by Brinkley, Stopes (1913: 32), Waley (“rhymed paraphrases” – 1921: 256), and Florenz (the prose portions are successful, but the rhythmnical portions leave much to be desired – MN 1 [1938], 4).

Chamberlain 1902
Chamberlain, Basil Hall. Things Japanese: being notes on various subjects connected with Japan for the use of travellers and others. 4th, revised edition. London: John Murray, 1902. Also issued by Kelly & Walsh, Limited, of “Yokohama, Shanghai, Hongkong, and Singapore.” This fourth edition is cited here rather than the first edition (London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1890) as it was the first to include “The Robe of Feathers (Ha-goromo)” in the entry for “Theatre” (pp. 456-469, with the introduction and translation of play from p. 462). Chamberlain comments on how he “ventures to disinter” the translation of Hagoromo from Classical Poetry of the Japanese (1880) “long since out of print.”
I have compared the entry for “Theatre” in all six editions, which appeared in 1890, 1891, 1898, 1902, 1905, and 1939 (the last including revisions made by Chamberlain before his death in 1935). The items listed in the bibliography of translations change over the editions. The fifth edition (1905) was reprinted by Tuttle in 1971 as Japanese Things (see pp. 468-474 for “The Robe of Feathers”). It is also available with other related material (including an early French translation) in Collected works of Basil Hall Chamberlain (Tokyo: Ganesha, 2000).
Several Japanese publications are useful for the the study of Chamberlain’s guide: the Japanese translation by Takanashi Kenkichi as Nihon jibusshi 日本事物誌 (two vols., Heibonsha, 1969), and the reprint of the sixth edition of 1939 with extensive backmatter by Takanashi Kenkichi and Kusuya Shigetoshi, ed. Kanzan-ban “Nihon jibusshi” (Meicho Fukyu Kai, 1985). The latter includes a useful chart of the appearance and disappearance of entries over the course of the six editions, a reflection of the great changes in Japan.

Chamberlain 1910
Chamberlain, Basil Hall. Japanese Poetry. London: John Murray, 1910. Revised from Chamberlain 1880. [Part III “Selections for the Nō-no-utai; or ‘Lyric Drama.” Three plays are included: Sesshōseki as “The Death-Stone” (pp. 109-118), Kantan as “Life is a Dream” (119-128), Nakamitsu (pp. 129-144). The original 1880 edition also contained an abridged version of Hagoromo. This was removed from the 1910 revision, presumably because Hagoromo was included in the “Theatre” entry of Things Japanese from the fourth edition (see Chamberlain 1902).

Clements 1920
Colin Campbell Clements, “Seven plays of old Japan,” Poet Lore, XXXI, 2 (1920): 152-209.
* Not original translations. The six noh plays and one kyōgen play are “taken without acknowledgement or thanks from various earlier versions” (Teele 1957: 346, ftn. 6). For the record, the sources are as follows: “The Cherry-Blossom River” (Sakuragawa) is taken from Sansom 1911; “By the Sumida River” (Sumidagawa) from Stopes and Sakurai 1913; “Growing Old Together” (Takasago) from Aston 1899; “The Star Dust Path” (Hagoromo) from Chamberlain 1880 or its reprint (Things Japanese from fourth edition, 1902) ; “The Father” (Manjū / Nakamitsu) from Chamberlain 1880 or Chamberlain 1910; “A Man and his Wife” is a version of the kyōgen play Hanako 花子, probably from Chamberlain, Literature of the Orient (London: Colonial Press, 1902), 283-296; and “Life is a Dream” (Kantan) from Chamberlain 1880 or Chamberlain 1910.
Clements was born 1894 in Nebraska, studied in the University of Washington, and became a prolific playwright and screen-writer. Married to popular writer Florence Ryerson, he died in 1948. The same issue of Poet Lore (“A Magazine of Letters”) contains some other works written or adapted by Clements, as well as a profile (pp. 576-578). The same journal later published free versions of noh by Yone Noguchi.

Deliusina 1979
Yokyoku: klassicheskaya yaponskaya drama. Moscow: Nauka, 1979. 344 p. [17 plays translated into Russian by Tatiana Deliusina: Takasago, Hagoromo, Tamura, Atsumori, Kiyotsune, Nonomiya, Izutsu, Eguchi, Bashō, Sotoba Komachi, Aya no Tsutsumi, Sumidagawa, Utō, Aoi no ue, Motomezuka, Dōjōji, Funa Benkei.] Information from Nishino 2003, 201, where the authors are given as H. Anarina and T. Deliusina. {CHECK} [Webcat entry gives Cyrillic. According to the entry the co-author is Tatiana Petrovna Grigoreva, not N. (Nina) Anarina, who published a study of noh in 1984 and a translation of Fushi kaken in 1989.]de Poorter 1978
Erika de Poorter. De Kraanvogel en de schildpad: vijf Nō en vier Kyōgen. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1978. 178 p. [Webcat] [5 noh plays: Hanjo, Izutsu, Tamura, Tsuchigumo, Tsurukame.] Also includes four kyōgen plays and an English translation of the critical work Sarugaku dangi. The latter was recently republished in Zeami’s Talks on Sarugaku: An Annotated Translation of Sarugaku Dangi (Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2002). Ref: Nishino 2003, 200.

de Poorter 2001
Erika de Poorter. Nō: het klassieke theater van Japan Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2001. 88 p. [Webcat] [Contains translations into Dutch of noh play Sumidagawa and kyōgen Busu.]

Dickins 1906
Frederick Victor Dickins. Primitive & Mediaeval Japanese Texts. 2 vols. Oxford, 1906. [The volume of romanized texts contains: “Nō no utahi Takasago,” the full text in romanized transliteration with notes, pp. 246-255. Expressions from Takasago are included in the glossary. The translation is in the accompanying volume “The Nō, or Mime, of Takasago or Ahiohi” pp. 399-412 (introduction from p.
391). The alternative title Ahiohi (i.e. Aioi) is 相老, “grow old together” as Dickins explains. The Japanese text used by Dickins was Yōkyoku Tsūge 謡曲通解 ed. by Owada Tateki 大和田建樹 (Hakubunkan 1892). This same collection–“Medieval Dramatic Poems, with notes” (as Dickins translates the title)–was used by Aston.]

Fenollosa 1901
Ernest Fenollosa. “Notes on the Japanese Lyric Drama.” Journal of the American Oriental Society, XXIII (1901), pp. 129-137 [JSTOR link. Teele (1957: 329) points out that lines quoted from translation of Kinuta differ from version published in Fenollosa/Pound 1916b.]

Fenollosa/Pound 1916ba
Ernest Fenollosa and Ezra Pound. Certain Noble Plays of Japan: From the Manuscripts of Ernest Fenellosa, Chosen and Finished by Ezra Pound, with an Introduction by William Butler Yeats Churchtown, Dundrum [Ireland]: The Cuala Press, 1916. xix, 48 p. [4 plays: Nishikigi, Hagoromo, Kumasaka, Kagekiyo]. Only 350 copies were printed of Certain Plays. I have examined the British Library copy. There are also reprint editions (Shannon: Irish University Press, 1971; Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing, 2004). For second-hand copies of the original, see Abebooks (search)–some listings include photographs.

Important study of this text and the next: A Guide to Ezra Pound and Ernest Fenollosa’s Classic Noh Theatre of Japan, ed. Akiko Miyake, Sanehide Kodama and Nicholas Teele (Oronto, Maine: The National Poetry Foundation, University of Maine, 1994). Includes annotatations on all plays, Fenollosa’s manuscripts or Pound’s typescripts, notes by Mary Fenollosa, and the transcriptions of ten unfinished translations: Adachi ga Hara, Ashikari, Hajitomi, Ikuta Atsumori, Kanehira, Matsukaze, Semimaru, Senju, Yoro, Youchi Soga.

Fenollosa/Pound 1916b
Ernest Fenollosa and Ezra Pound. ‘NOH’ Or Accomplishment: A Study of the Classical Stage of Japan. London: Macmillan, 1916. [15 plays translated, abridged to various degrees. Titles are as follows (long vowels not marked in original): Awoi No Uye [Aoi no ue], Chorio [Chōryō], Genjō, Hagoromo, Kagekiyo, Kakitsubata, Kayoi Komachi, Kinuta, Kumasaka, Nishiki, Shōjō, Suma Genji, Tamura, Tsunemasa. In addition “Fenollosa on the Noh” Section IV quotes extensively from Ikuta Atsumori. Synopses of plots given in appendix: Shunkwan [Shunkan], Koi no Omoni (“The Burden of Love”), Kanawa (“The Iron Ring”), Matsukaze.]
* Note: ‘NOH’ OR Accomplishment… is the original title, seen in photographs of the book cover provided by rare booksellers. [abebooks search]. Originally there was no comma after NOH. In the New Directions Paperbook (1959), Dover, and perhaps other editions, the title is given as The Classic Noh Theatre of Japan, but the Pelican Publishing Company edition (1999) reverts to the original title, and uses the original frontispiece photograph of Umewaka Minoru 梅若実 (1828-1909) on the cover. The work also includes Pound’s general introduction and notes on the plays and the introduction by Yeats originally written for Fenollosa/Pound 1916ba. The term “accomplishment” as a translation of nō 能 may be based on Brinkley.

Fulchignoni 1942
Enrico Fulchignoni. Teatro giapponese. Sette Nō. Roma: Edizioni Teatro dell’Università di Roma, 1942. [7 plays translated: La Principessa Malvarosa (Aoi-No-Ue); La Dama della Montagna (Yama-uba [Yamanba]); La visita a Ohara ([Ohara gokō]); La vecchia poetessa (Sotoba Komachi); Il sogno (Kantan); Il cavaliere miseria ([Hachi no ki?]; La donna di Eguchi [Eguchi]]. To check.

Florenz 1905
Karl Florenz. Geschichte der japanischen Litteratur. Litteraturen des Ostens in Einzeldarstellungen, vol. 10. Leipzig: C.F.Amelangs Verlag, 1905. [I have checked the second edition, 1909. Pagination needs to be confirmed against first edition.] [Section on nō: 370-406. Translations: Asagao (3 lines tr. 386), Takasago (first half only, 391-4), Funa Benkei (complete, 395-401), and Ataka (summary and excerpt, 401-404). There are summaries also of Mochizuki and Hanjo.]

Gerdorff 1926
Wolgang von Gersdorff. Japanische Dramen für die deutsche Bühne. Jena: Eugen Diedrichs, 1926. [No-Spiele: 1. Die alte Kiefer = “Oimatsu”/ von Seami Motokiyo ; 2. Der Spiegel kindlicher Treue = “Matsuyama kagami”; 3. Leben und Traum = “Kantan” (from Webcat/contents). Teele 1957. Not seen, to check. Other editions: Webcat.]

Godel and Kano 1994
Armen Godel and Koichi Kano. La Lande des Mortifications: Vingt-cinq pièces de nō. Paris: Gallimard. 1994. 631 p. [25 plays translated with introductions and annotations: Aoi no ue (“La Dame Aoi”), Atsumori, Fujito (“La porte des glycines”), Funabashi (“Le Port Flottant”), Hanjo, Higaki (“La haie de cyprès”), Ikeniye (“La Mare au Sacrifice” ou “Sacrifices vivants”), Kagekiyo, Kamo, Kanawa (“La couronne de fer”), Kinuta (“Le battoir”), Koi no omoni (“Le Fardeau de l’Amour”), Kumasaka, Kurumazō (“Le Moine au Char”), Matsukaze, Motomezuka (“La Tombe des Désires”), Nishigi (“L’arbre aux brocarts”), Obasute (“La vieille abandonnée”), Sanemori, Sumidagawa (“La rivière Sumida”), Take no yuki (“Neige sur bambous”), Tanikō (“L’Épreuve de la Vallée”), Teika, Utaura (“Le poème divinatoire”), Yoroboshi(“Le frêle moine”).] Introductions are short, usually less than two pages in length, but the translations are well annotated with footnotes. The Swiss scholar Armen Godel earlier published a study of Zeami [Le maître de nô (Albin Michel, 1989), reprinted 2004, Japanese translation 1997 (能楽師).]. The co-author of the anthology is Kano Kōichi 狩野晃一. [Nishino 2003, 189-90.]

Goff 1991
Janet Goff. Noh drama and The Tale of Genji. Princeton UP, 1991. [15 plays: Aoi no ue, Darani Ochiba, Genji kuyō, Go, Hajitomi, Kodama Ukifune, Nonomiya, Ochiba, Shikimi tengu, Suma Genji, Sumiyoshi mōde, Tamakazura, Ukifune, Utsusemi, Yūgao]. See also: Janet Goff, “The Tale of Genji as a Source of The Nō: Yūgao and Hajitomi,” HJAS 42.1. (June, 1982), pp. 177-229. JSTOR.

Grosso 1931
P. Grosso. Nō e kyōghen. Drammi mistici e farse del Giappone classico. Carabba, Lanciano, 1931. [Not seen. Not on Webcat. Can anyone tell me what plays are included?].

Gundert 1925
Wilhelm Gundert. Der Schintoismus im Japanischen Nō-Drama. Mitteilungen der deutschen Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens, vol. 19. Tokyo: Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens, 1925. 275 p. [Discussion of 51 noh plays influenced by Shinto, with translated excerpts. Teele 1957:360 calculates that “[f]or practical purposes, ten may be considered as complete, though some lines have been omitted.”] Webcat. Gundert also published a translation of Bashō in the Jubiläumband der deutschen Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens, 1933.Hare 1986
Thomas Blenman Hare. Zeami’s Style. The Noh Plays of Zeami Motokiyo. Stanford UP, 1986. [Includes translations of Takasago, Izutsu, Tadanori, and of passages from several other plays.]

Jones 1963
Stanleigh H. Jones. “The Nō Plays Obasute and Kanehira.” MN 18: 1/4 (1963), 261-85. JSTOR.

JTI
Japanese Text Initiative. See below under Electronic texts.

Keene 1970
Donald Keene, ed. with the assistance of Royall Tyler, Twenty Plays of the Nō Theatre. New York: Columbia UP, 1970. [20 plays: Ashikari (The Reed Cutter) tr. James A. O’Brien, Dōjōji tr. Donald Keene, Hanjo (Lady Han) tr. Royall Tyler, Kanawa (The Iron Crown) tr. Eileen Kato, Kanehira tr. Stanleigh H. Jones, Kayoi Komachi (Komachi and the Hundred Nights) tr. Eileen Kato, Matsukaze tr. Royall Tyler, Motomezuka (“The Sought-for Grave”) tr. Barry Jackman, Nishigi (The Brocade Tree) tr. Calvin French, Nonomiya (The Shrine in the Fields) tr. H. Paul Varley, Obasute (The Deserted Crone) tr. Stanleigh H. Jones, Ohara gokō (The Imperial Visit to Ohara) tr. Carol Hochstedler, Seiōbō (The Queen Mother of the West) tr. Cesar Sesar, Sekidera Komachi (Komachi at Sekidera) tr. Karen Brazell, Semimaru tr. Susan Matisoff, Shōkun tr. Carl Sesar, Tanikō (The Valley Rite) tr. Royall Tyler, Torioi-bune (The Bird-scaring Boat) tr. Royall Tyler, Yōkihi tr. Cesar Sesar, Yūgyō Yanagi (The Priest and the Willow) tr. Janine Beichman.]
REV: Frank Hoff, MN 27 (1972).

Keene 1990
Donald Keene. Nō and Bunraku: two forms of Japanese theatre. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990. [The section on noh appeared first in Nō (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1966).] (The list of currently performed nō plays on pp. 97-102 includes information about the attributions of authorship of plays.]

Kokusai Bunka Shinkōkai 1937
Kokusai Bunka Shinkōkai (国際文化振興会), The Noh Drama. Tokyo: Kokusai Bunka Shinkōkai, 1937. [TO SEE. Includes translations of Aoi no ue and Hagoromo.] [Webcat – Japan Foundation.][According to Teele 1957, the translators responsible were Toshiro Shimanouchi and William Aker. See also Nishino 2003, 162. This is a bilingual program prepared for a performance led by Hōshō actors in August 1937 before representatives of 44 countries.

Kominz 1995
Laurence R. Kominz. Avatars of Vengeance: Japanese Drama and the Soga Literary Tradition. Ann Arbor, MI: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 1995. xuuu + 277 pp. [Monograph series: page] [Includes an appendix listing noh plays based on the story of the Soga brothers.]

Lombard 1928
F. A. Lombard. An Outline History of Japanese Drama. London: Allen and Unwin, 1928. [6 plays: Chikubushima, Eguchi, Himuro, Manjū, Ohara gokō, Okina. Earlier chapters contain translations from performance genres that influenced noh, including kagura, ennen, and dengaku. Later chapters include translations of kyōgen and works for the bunraku and kabuki stage.]

Magli 1964
Adriano Magli, ed. Lo spettacolo sacro nei testi arcaici e primitivi. Milano: Guanda, 1964. [Not seen. An anthology that contains translations of: Ukai (“Il pescatore col cormorano”), Minobu, Seiganji.] (Check whether actually translated directly from Japanese and not from French of Renondeau as choice of plays suggest.)

Minagawa 1934
Masayoshi Minagawa, Four Nō Plays. Tokyo: Sekibundo, 1934. [Four plays: Kumasaka (“Kumasaka the Robber”), Yamanba (“The Mountain Dame”), Kayoi Komachi (“The Wooing of Komachi”), Hachi no ki]. Rare: I have examined copy in Hōsei Noh Research institute.
* Minagawa Masaki 皆川正禧 was a disciple (monka) of Soseki’s who later became professor of Hōsei University. [Hoshino 2003, 161.] The translations originally appeared in journals: “Hachi no Ki,” The Young East, I (1925); “Kayoi Komachi,” Tourist, XX (1932); “Kumasaka,” The Young East, II (1927), “Yamauba” (=Yamanba), The Young East, II (1926). Details from Teele 1957 who comments that “Minagawa’s translations deserve more attention than they have received.”] The Young East: Webcat; libraries with reprint ed. include Meiji Gakuin, Webcat.

Miyake, Kodama and Teele 1994
Akiko Miyake, Sanehide Kodama and Nicholas Teele. A Guide to Ezra Pound and Ernest Fenollosa’s classic Noh theatre of Japan. Orono, Maine, and Ohtsu City, Japan: The National Poetry Foundation, University of Maine, and The Ezra Pound Society of Japan, Shiga University, 1994. [Contains transcriptions of ten unfinished translations: Adachi ga Hara, Ashikari, Hajitomi, Ikuta Atsumori, Kanehira, Matsukaze, Semimaru, Senju, Yoro, Youchi Soga. (Note that other translations by Fenollosa have since emerged, either in Fenollosa’s own hand or in Pound’s typed transcription.) See Fenollosa/Pound 1916ba for other contents.]

Müller 1896
F. W. K. Müller, “Ikkaku sennin, eine mittelalterliche japanische Oper,” in Adolf Bastian als Festgruss zu seinem 70. Geburtstage 20 Juni 1896 gewidmet von seinen Freuden und Verehrern (Berlin: Dietrich Reimer, 1896), 515-537.
Translation of Ikkaku sennin with a study of unicorn legends. The first German translation of a noh play. I have examined the British Library copy. It is also available at the Nichibunken in a privately assembled collection of early journal publications on noh, including Kenzō Wadagaki’s English translation of the same play (Hansei Zasshi 13 [Jan. 1898], 14-24), Müller’s study of noh masks (“Einiges über Nō-Masken,” T’oung Pao VIII, 1897), and an essay on the unicorn by Takakusu Junjirō (“The Story of the Rsi Ekasrnga (独角仙人),” Hansei Zasshi, vol. 13, January, 1898). See: Webcat and Nichibunken (two photographic reproductions).
Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Müller, (1863-1930) did pioneering work on Central Asian languages and cultures of Sogdia [ソグド] and Turfan 吐魯番, publishing studies on many aspects of other early Asian cultures. From 1906 to 1928, Müller was in charge of the East Asian section of the Ethnological Museum in Berlin (Museum für Völkerkunde).
Nakamura and de Cecatty 1982
Nakamura, Ryōji, and René de Cecatty, Mille ans de littérature japonaise: une anthologie du VIIIe au XVIIIe siècle. Paris: aux éditions de la différence, 1982. [Izutsu, trans. as “la magelle du puits”]

NGS INippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai. Japanese Noh Drama: Ten Plays Selected and Translated from the Japanese. [Vol. I.] Tokyo: Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai, 1955. [10 plays: Bashō, Eguchi, Funa Benkei (Benkei in the Boat), Izutsu (Well-Curb), Kiyotsune, Sanemori, Sumidagawa (The Sumida River), Takasago, Tamura, Tōboku]
*Translated by a committee formed by the Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai (日本学術振興会, “The Japan Society for the Promotion of Scientific Research”). See the preface in this volume and its two successors for more information on how draft translations were produced and then revised by committee. The Tuttle reprint is entitled: The Noh Drama: Ten Plays from the Japanese selected and translated by the special noh committee, Japanese classics translation committee, Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai. Rutland, Vermont, and Tokyo, Japan: Charles E. Tuttle, 19??. [Check: my copy is third printing, 1965, but does not give date of first printing, only information concerning original 1955 edition.]

NGS II
Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai. Japanese Noh Drama: Ten Plays Selected and Translated from the Japanese. Vol. II. Tokyo: Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai, 1959. [10 plays: Aoi-no-ue [Aoi no ue] (“Lady Aoi”), Kagekiyo, Kantan, Momoji-gari [Momijigari] (“Autumn-Leaves Viewing”), Motome-zuka [Motomezuka] (Sought-for Tomb), Settai (Hospitality), Tadanori, Tamanoi (“Jewel-Well”), Yamamba [Yamanba] (“Mountain-Hag”), Yuya.] *The translation of Aoi-no-ue appears in revised form in Shirane 2007: 927-936.NGS III
Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai. Japanese Noh Drama: Ten Plays Selected and Translated from the Japanese. Vol. III. Tokyo: Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai, 1960. [10 plays: Ama (“Woman-Diver”), Ataka, Hagoromo (“Feather Robe”), Kinuta (“Cloth-beating Block”), Matsukaze, Miidera, Shunkan, Sotoba Komachi (“Komachi on the Stupa”), Tomoe, Yoroboshi (“The Stumbling Boy”).]

Noguchi
Yone Noguchi (Noguchi Yonejiro 野口米次郎) (1875-1947) lived in the U.S. from 1893, returning to Japan in 1904, becoming a professor at Keio. His writings were acclaimed at the time, but have not aged well. Many of Noguchi’s translations and other writings are available in: Yoshinobu Hakutani, ed. Selected English Writings of Yone Noguchi: An East-West Literary Assimilation, 2 vols. (London, 1990, 1992). All English works are being reprinted in a multi-volume edition by Shunsuke Kamei (Tokyo: Edition Synapse, 2007). For discussion of Noguchi’s work and influence on Yeats, Pound, and others, see David Ewick’s “The Margins” [link].
Noguchi wrote about noh in publications in England, the United States, and Japan. His work on individual plays ranges widely: prose summaries, fairly free translations (some with additions), and works in the spirit of noh. His short essays on noh include “The Japanese Noh Play,” Egoist 5 (1918): 99 (reprinted in Hakutani, 2:100-102).
Still to see: his version of Yuya as “The Sorrow of Yuya,” Poet Lore (1917).

Noguchi 1914
The Spirit of Japanese Poetry (London: John Murray, 1914) [118 pp., Webcat] includes a work in the spirit of noh: “The Morning-Glory (A Dramatic Fragment)” that bears little relation to the noh play Asagao apart from its title. This book also includes essay, “No: The Japanese Play of Silence,” which quotes from Aston’s Takasago and Chamberlain’s Hagoromo without acknowledging either. Both pieces are reprinted in Hakutani, Selected English Writings of Yone Noguchi, 2:85-87, 79-88.

Noguchi 1916-1917
Publications in the monthly Yōkyokukai 謡曲界 in an “English column” separately paginated as “The Yōkyokukai.” These include:
        Prose summaries / retellings: Hagoromo in The Summer Cloud: Prose Poems (Tokyo: Shunyodo, 1906); Nakamitsu (or Manjū) in “Koju’s Loyalty,” 5:2 (Aug. 1916), 1-6; Semimaru as “The Blind Musician,” Yōkyokukai 5:6 (Dec. 1916), 1-6; Takasago in “The Spirits of the Pinetrees,” Yōkyokukai 6:1 (Jan. 1917), 1-3; Komachi uta arasaoi in “Literary Contest,” Yōkyokukai 6:2 (Feb. 1917), 1-7; Ataka in “The Sadness of the Warriors,” Yōkyokukai 6:3 (March 1917), 2-8, Hagoromo in “By Miho’s Pine-clad Shore,” Yōkyokukai 6:4 (April 1917), 1-4 [To check: whether identical to version in The Summer Cloud.].
       Free translation with additions: Yōhiki as “The Everlasting Sorrow,” Yōkyokukai 6:5 (May 1917), 1-8, also published as “The Everlasting Sorrow: A Japanese Noh Play,” Egoist 4 (1917), 141-42 (reprinted in Hakutani, 2:106-110). This follows the structure of the noh play, but is largely independent in wording,  drawing more on the play’s ultimate source, the poem “The Song of Everlasting Sorrow” 長恨歌 by Po Chü-i (Bo Ju-yi) 白居易, as Noguchi explains in his Japanese note (Yōkyokukai 6:5, p. 8).
        Translations: Sesshōseki as “The Perfect Jewel Maiden,” Yōkyokukai 5:3 (Sept. 1916), 1-6 [later reprinted in Poet Lore, 29:3, 1917); Ukai as “The Cormorant-fisher,” Yōkyokukai 5:4 (Oct. 1916), 1-5; Ikkaku sennin as “The Delusions of a Human Cup,” Yōkyokukai 5:5 (Nov., 1916), 6-9; Midera as “The Moon Night Bell,” Yōkyokukai 6:6 (July 1917), 1-7; Koi no omoni as “Love’s Heavy Burden,” Yōkyokukai 7:1 (Feb. 1917), 1-7; Utō as “The Tears of the Birds,” Yōkyokukai 7:2 (Aug. 1917), 1-5
        Essays on aspects of noh drama: “An Appreciation,” Yōkyokukai 5:1 (July 1916),1-8 (with Japanese, pp. 77-79, 能楽鑑賞論); “A Farther Appreciation,” Yōkyokukai 5:2 (Aug. 1916), 6-8; “Manzaburo Umewaka,” Yōkyokukai 5:5 (Nov. 1916), 1-5;

Noguchi 1918
Yone Noguchi, “Three Translated Selections from the Noh Drama,” Poet-Lore, XXIX (1918), 447-458, consisting of “The Mountain She-Devil” (Yamanba [“Yamauba”] 447ff), “The Tears of the Birds” (Utō, 451ff), and “The Shower: The Moon” (Ugetsu, pp. 455ff). [“More poetic than Mrs. Suzuki’s versions [=Suzuki 1932], Noguchi’s tend, however, to omit difficult passages and to give the general meaning without the use of concrete specific detail.” Teele 1957, 362n51.].

Ochi, Reiko. “Buddhism and poetic theory: an analysis of Zeami’s Higaki and Takasago.” Ph.D. thesis, Cornell University, 1984. [Analysis using Roman Jakobson’s theory of signs.]

O’Neill 1954
O’Neill, P. G. “The Nō Plays Koi no Omoni and Yuya.” Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 10, No. 1/2 (1954), 203–226 [JSTOR].

O’Neill 1958
P. G. O’Neill. Early Nō drama: its background, character and development 1300-1450. London: Lund Humphies, 1958. 223 p. [Includes translation of kuse from Hyakuman, and excerpts from the kusemai “Azuma kudari.”]

Péri 1897
Noël Péri. “Hashi-Benkei ou Benkei au pont.” Revue française du Japon, Troisième Série, Troisième Livraison (September, 1897). Three pieces are included: general remarks on nō and kyōgen (“Quelques Notes sur les Nō 能 et les Kyōgen 狂言,” pp. 76-81), an introduction to the play (“Notice sur le Nō intitulé Hashi-Benkei 橋弁慶,” 81-84), and a full translation (“Hashi-Benkei ou Benkei au pont (de Gojō à Kyōto,” 84-89), including a full colour reproduction of a Japanese illustration of Benkei and Yoshitsune. This work, not included in the posthumously published collection (Péri 1944), is the first of many publications on noh by Noël Péri (1865-1922), who came to Japan as a Catholic priest. The editor of the journal was Michel Revon (1867-1947), later to publish a widely-read anthology of Japanese literature. Péri 1911-13
Noël Péri. “Cinq pièces de Nô: Interprétation (Notices et traductions avec transcriptions et notes.” BEFEO [Bulletin de l’École Française d’Extrême-Orient] (Hanoi), XI, XII, XII. [Oimatsu (1911), Atsumori (1912), Sotoba-komachi (1913), Ohara go kō (1913), Aya no tsuzumi (1913).] Later published as Cinq Nô (Paris, 1921) and included in Le Nô (Tokyo, 1944). [5 plays]
An earlier publication in the BEFEO was his introductory study: “Études sur le drame lyrique japonais,” BEFEO IX/2 (1909), 251-280, BEFEO IX/4 (1909), 707–738. (Webcat)

Péri 1920
Noël Péri.“Cinq pièces de Nô: nouvelle série d’interprétation, notices et traductions avec notes, sans transcriptions.” BEFEO [Bulletin de l’École Française d’Extrême-Orient] (Hanoi), XX (1920), 1-110. [5 plays: Miwa, Tamura, Eguchi, Kinuta, Matsuyama-Kagami.]

Péri, Réimpressions
All Péri’s publications in BEFEO cited above—the introductory study and ten translations—are available in a handy reprint edition: Noël Péri, Le théâtre nō: Études sur le drame lyrique japonais. Recueil d’articles parus dans le Bulletin de L’École française d’Extrême-Orient entre 1909 et 1920. Préface de François Lachaud. Paris: École française d’Extrême-Orient, 2004. 402 p. (Réimpressions; 13). ISSN 1269-8326. ISBN: 2 855539 634-4.

Péri 1921
Noël Péri. Cinq Nô. Ed. C.E.Maitre. Paris: Edition Boosard, 1921. 260 p. [5 plays: Atsumori, Aya no tsuzumi (“Le Tambourin de damas”) Oimatsu ([“Le Vieux-Pin”]), Ohara gokō (“La visite impériale à Ohara”), Sotoba Komachi. (“Komachi au Stūpa”)]. Originally published in Hanoi in BEFEO [Bulletin de l’École Française d’Extrême-Orient] as follows: Oimatsu (1911), Atsumori (1912), Sotoba-komachi (1913), Ohara ga kō (1913), Aya no tsuzumi (1913).

Péri 1944
Noël Péri. Le Nô. Tokyo: Maison franco-japonaise, 1944. 498 p. [10 plays, consisting of the two series of five plays previously published: Oimatsu ([“Le Vieux-Pin”]), Atsumori, Sotoba Komachi. (Sotoba-Komachi; “Komachi au Stūpa”); Ohara gokō (Ohara Go Kō; “La visite impériale à Ohara”), Aya no tsuzumi (“Le Tambourin de damas”); Miwa, Tamura, Eguchi, Kinuta, Matsuyama kagami (Matsuyama-Kagami, “Le Miroir de Matsuyama”).]
A remarkable wartime publication edited by Sugiyama Naojiro. In addition to the annotated translations of nō, the volume also reprints Péri’s study “Introduction à l’étude sur le Nô” (1-73) and his translations of eleven kyōgen plays (orig. published in 1924), as well as useful introduction, biographical information, and bibliographical study by Sugiyama. See also Teele 1957 and Nishino 2003, 187.

Pound/ Fenollosa 1916
See Fenollosa/ Pound.

Quinn 2005
Shelley Fenno Quinn. Developing Zeami: The Noh Actor’s Attunement in Practice (Honolulu: Hawai’i University Press, 2005). Translation of Takasago, pp. 291-302.

Renondeau 1927-1931
Gaston Renondeau. “Choix de pièces du théâtre lyrique japonais.” Bulletin de l’École Française d’Extrême-Orient (BEFEO). [16 plays: Yorobōshi, Youchi Soga (BEFEO, XXVI, 1926); Fujito, Izutsu, Kagekiyo, Tsurukame (Gekkyūkan; “Grue et tortue ou le pavillon et la lune”), Yōrō (XXVII, 1927); Funa Benkei (“Benkei à la barque”), Sagi, Tōru, Yashima (XXIV, 1929) Makiginu (“Les rouleaux de soie”) (XXXI, 1931); Yamauba (Yamanba; XXXII, 1932). To check: ?? Kiyotsune, Teika, Kurama-Tengu. With exception of Yamanba (yes?), all later republished in Renondeau 1953-54. (Webcat)

Renondeau 1950
Gaston Renondeau. Le Bouddhisme dans les Nô. Tokyo: Maison franco-japonaise, 1950. [Includes translations of Minobu, 33-42; Genzai shichimen, pp. 43-67; Atago Kūya, 109-117, Bashō, 167-178. Also Ukai, Yuki.]

Renondeau 1953-54
Gaston Renondeau, Nō. 2 vols. Tokyo: Maison franco-japonaise, 1953-54. 206 p., 276 p. [15 plays translated. Reprint of BEFEO translations.][Library catalogues list: (1. journée) Yōrō (“Le soutien de la vieillesse”), Yashima, Izutsu, Yorobōshi, Funa-Benkei; [Deuxième Fasciculè]( (2. journée) Tsuru-Kame [Gekkyūden], Kagekiyo, Sagi, Fujito, Tōru; (3. journée) Maki-Ginu [Makiginu; “Les rouleaux de soie”], Kiyotsune, Teika, Yo-Uchi Soga, Kurama-Tengu. Yamanba not included.
Recheck edition.

Renondeau 1954, 1961-1962
Gaston Renondeau. [Translations of additional nō published in journal France Asie]: Momijigari (issue 10, 1954); Arashiyama (issue 166, March-April, 1961); Michimori (issue 167, May-June, 1961); Mutsura (issue 169, Sept-Oct. 1961); Hanjo (issue 170, November-December, 1961); Sesshōseki (issue 171, Jan-Feb 1962)

Revon 1910
Michel Revon. Anthologie de la littérature japonaise. Paris: Ch. Delagreve, 1910. [Reprinted 1910, 1913, 1923, 1928, also 1986.][One noh play translated, Hagoromo (La robe de plumes) and one kyōgen, Sannin-gatawa (Les trois estropiats).]

Richard 2004
Kenneth L. Richard. Pretty Boys in the Noh. Internet Edition, 2004. [4 plays: (1) Matsumushi (Pinus Erectus) [htm / PDF], (2) Kagetsu (Florimund) [htm / PDF], (3) Kanehira (Imai’s End) [htm / PDF], (4) Yoroboshi (The Beggar and His Saviour) [htm / PDF].] As far as I know, these translations were never published. Ken made them available on genji54.com, a site he set up while teaching at Siebold University in Nagasaki and maintained until his death in 2011. I feared the translations lost forever with the disappearance of the site. Fortunately it proved possible to recover the materials through the copy made by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. I have taken the precaution of making available backup copies in PDF format as well as links to Internet Archive.
Sadler 1934
A. L. Sadler. Japanese Plays: No-Kyogen-Kabuki. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1934. [12 noh plays translated: Dōjōji, Hatsuyuki (“Hatsu-yuki or Virgin-Snow”), Iwabune, Kakitsubata, Kamo no Chōmei, Kokaji, Murozumi, yashiro (“… or the Great Shrine”), Tadanori, Taihei Shōjō (“The Shōjo and the Big Jar”), Tamura, Tomoe.] [Macrons are used inconsistently and sometimes wrongly in this edition. The plays are appear in the following order under these titles: Tadanori, Kakitsubata, Iwabune, Tamura, Tomoe, Hatsu-yuki or Virgin-Snow, Oyashiro or the Great Shrine, Ko-kaji, Murōzumi [sic], The Shōjo [sic] and the Big Jar, Kamo no Chomei, Dōjōji. For kyōgen translations included see kyōgen page on this site.] [Available as Kindle e-book]

Sansom 1911
G. B. Sansom. “Translations from Lyrical Drama: ‘Nō.'” Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan 38.3 (1911), 126-176. [3 plays: Funa Benkei (“Benkei=in=the=Ship), Ataka (“Benkei=at=the=Barrier”), Sakura-gawa (“The Cherry=Blossom River”; “a rendering of the greater part […] There are some omissions […]”). The opening section of the article (126-32) discusses the language and style of noh, warning against “Schwärmerei”–gushing enthusiasm–for noh’s qualities, a reaction to comments by Marie Stopes prefacing her translation of Sumidagawa in Stopes 1909.]

For publications by Shimazaki Chifumi 島崎千富美 (1910-1998) I have added the type/book number system which the author continued to use in notes, even after beginning publication in the Cornell East Asia Series where the numbers do not appear in the titles.

Shimazaki 1972 (1)
Chifumi Shimazaki. God Noh. Tokyo: Hinoki Shoten, 1972. [6 plays: Ema, Kamo, Oimatsu, Seiōbo, Takasago, Yōrō] REV: Brazell, MN 28 (1973).Shimazaki 1987 (2/1)
Chifumi Shimazaki. The Noh, Volume 2: Battle Noh in Parallel Translations with an Introduction and Running Commentaries. Tokyo: Hinoki Shoten, 1987. [5 plays: Atsumori, Kiyotsune, Tadanori, Tomonaga, Tsunemasa.]

Shimazaki 1993 (2/2)
Chifumi Shimazaki. Battle Noh Book 2. Published as: Warrior Ghost Plays from the Japanese Noh Theater. Ithaca: East Asia Program, Cornell University, 1993. [6 plays: Kanehira, Michimori, Tomoakira, Tomoe, Yashima, Yorimasa.]Shimazaki 1976 (3/1)
Chifumi Shimazaki. The Noh, Volume III: Woman Noh. Book 1. Tokyo: Hinoki Shoten, 1976. [4 plays: Hajitomi, Kochō, No-no-miya, Yūgao.]

Shimazaki 1977 (3/2)
Chifumi Shimazaki. The Noh, Volume III: Woman Noh. Book 2. Tokyo: Hinoki Shoten, 1977. [5 plays: Eguchi, Izutsu, Kakitsubata, Matsukaze, Obasute.] REV: Tyler, JATJ 15.1 (1980).

Shimazaki 1987 (3/3)
Chifumi Shimazaki. The Noh, Volume III: Woman Noh. Book 3. Tokyo: Hinoki Shoten, 1987. [5 plays: Hotoke no hara, Futari Shizuka,Ohara gokō, Senju, Yuya.]

Shimazaki 1994 (4/1)
Shimazaki, Chifumi. Restless Spirits from Japanese Noh Plays of the Fourth Group. Cornell East Asia Series, 1994. [4 plays: Funabashi (“Bridge of Boats”), Kazuraki, Saigyō-Zakura, Tenko (“Heavenly Drum”)]

Shimazaki 1998 (4/2)
Shimazaki, Chifumi. Troubled Souls from Japanese Noh Plays of the Fourth Group. Cornell East Asia Series, 1998. [6 plays: Eboshiori, Jinen koji, Kagekiyo, Kanawa, Kogō, Semimaru]

Shimazaki & Comee 2012 (5)
Shimazaki Chifumi & Stephen Comee, Supernatural Beings from Japanese Noh Plays of the Fifth Group. Cornell East Asia Series, 2012. [8 plays: Kuzu, Matsuyama Tengu, Shōkun, Kumasaka, Kuruma-zō, Nue, Adachigahara]

Shirane 2007
Haruo Shirane, ed. Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. [8 plays, including four new translations: Aoi no ue (“Lady Aoi”), adapted from a translation by the Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai [= NGS II, 1959]; Sotoba Komachi (“Stupa Komachi”), trans. by Herschel Miller; Matsukaze (“Pining Wind”), trans. by Royall Tyler [=Tyler 1992]; Takasago, adapted from a translation by the Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai [= NGS I, 1955]; Atsumori, trans. by Royall Tyler [=Tyler 1992]; Sumidagawa (“Sumida River”), trans. by Anthony H. Chambers; Nonomiya (“Shrine in the Fields”), trans. by Jack Stoneman; Ataka, trans. by Anthony H. Chambers.] With introductions by Akiko Takeuchi. While there are changes to the stage directions and formatting of the Penguin Books versions by Tyler, the texts seem unaltered. In the case of the NGS translations, there have been many changes to word choice and phrasing.

Shively 1957
Donald H. Shively, “Buddhahood or the Nonsentient: A Theme in Nō Plays.” HJAS, 20: 1/2 (1957), 135-161. [JSTOR] [Contains passages tr. from Bashō, Yamamba, Saigyō-zakura, Seiōbō, Sumizome-zakura, Mutsura, etc.]

Sieffert 1960
René Sieffert. Zeami, La tradition secrète du nō, suivie de Une journée de nō. Paris: Gallimard / Unesco, 1960 [5 plays: Iwafune, Sanemori, Semimaru, Sesshōseki, Yūgao.]

Sieffert 1979 (I), Sieffert 1979 (II)
René Sieffert. Nô et Kyōgen. 2 vols. Paris: Publications Orientalistes de France, 1979. [50 plays: vol. I contains Ama (“La pêcheuse”), Aridōshi, Chikubushima, Dōjōji, Ema (“L’image du Cheval”), Hagoromo (“La céleste robe de plumes”), Hyakuman, Kakitsubata (“Les iris”), Kantan, Kasuga ryūjin (“Le dieu dragon de Kasuga), Kokaji “Le forgeron”), Kosode Soga, Mimosuso-gawa, Morihisa, Senju, Shunzei Tadanori, Sōshi-arai Komachi (“Le mauscrit lavé”), Tadanori, Takasago, Tomoakira, Tomoe, Tsuchigumo (L’araignée-de-terre”), Utō, Yorimasa, Yuya; vol. II: Adachigahara (Adachi-ga-hara), Aoi-no-ue, Daie (Dai-e, “La grande assemblée”), Dōmyōji (Dômyô-ji), Eboshi ori (“Le pliage de l’éboshi”), Enoshima, Hachinoki (“Les arbres en pot”), Haku Rakuten, Hana-gatami (“La corbeille à fleurs”), Hatsuyuki, Ikkaku sennin (“Le magicien Unicorne”), Ikuta Atsumori, Kanehira, Kazuraki, Kiyotsune, Matsukaze, Mekari (“La moisson des algues”), Michimori, Nonomiya (“Le temple de la lande”), Shunkan, Sumiyoshi mōde (“Le pèlerinage à Sumiyoshi”), Take no yuki (“La neige sur les bambous”), Tenko (“Le tambour céleste”), Tsunemasa, U-no-matsuri (“La fête du cormoran”).]

Sieffert 1995
René Sieffert. L’Ile d’Or. Suivi de Sumidagawa. 96 p. Paris: Publications Orientalistes de France, 1995. [1 play: Sumidagawa. Volume also contains translations of Zeami’s later writings: Kintōsho, Musseki isshi, Kyoraika, etc.]

Smethurst 1989
Mae J. Smethurst. The Artistry of Aeschylus and Zeami: A Comparative Study of Greek Tragedy and Nō. Princeton University Press, 1998. [One complete translation included: Sanemori]

Smethurst 1998
Mae J. Smethurst. Dramatic Representations of Filial Piety: Five Noh in Translation. Cornell, 1998. [5 plays: Dampū, Nakamitsu (“also named Manjū”), Nishikido, Shichikiochi, Shun’ei]

Smethurst 2003
Mae J. Smethurst, ed., with Christina Laffin, co-ed. The Noh Ominameshi: A Flower Viewed from Many Directions. Ithaca, NY: East Asia Program, Cornell University, 2003. 362 pages. [Contains two complete translations of Ominameshi, by Steven Brown and by Mae J. Smethurst, as well as translations of passages by other hands.]

Steinilber-Oberlin and Matsuo 1929
Émile Steinilber-Oberlin and Kuni Matsuo. Le Livre des Nō: drames légendaires du vieux Japon. Paris: L’edition d’art H. Piazza, 1929. 170 p. [15 plays translated, including: Aoi no ue, Eguchi, Hachi no ki, Hagoromo, Hashi-Benkei, Kagekiyo, Kantan, Kinuta, Miwa, Motomezuka, Ohara gokō, Oimatsu, Sesshōseki.] To see: Webcat: Japan Foundation, Nichibunken, Hōsei. Discussed in Teele 1957 and Nishino 2003, 185. Latter identifies Matsuo as 松尾邦乃助 (1899-1975) and gives particulars.

Stopes 1909
Marie C. Stopes. “A Japanese Mediaeval Drama.” Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature, vol. xxix, part 3 (1909), 153-178. [Includes translation of Sumidagawa as “The Sumida River.”]
Based on paper read in the same year before the Royal Society of Literature, London. According to Stopes and Sakurai 1913, 5n, the “major part of the verse” was republished in Stopes and Sakurai 1913, 78-95. On comparison, I found the version of Sumidagawa in the book essentially as that early version here, apart from the addition of stage directions. The introduction is an early draft for the longer discussion in the book, but is worth reading in its own right, as some arguments–about translation, or about the distinction between “prose” and “verse” portions of plays–are expressed differently. (Journal obtained at British Library.)

Stopes and Sakurai 1913
Marie C. Stopes and Jōji Sakurai. Plays of Old Japan: The Nō. London: Heinemann, 1913. [New York: E. P. Dutton, 1913.] 102 pages. [4 plays: Motomezuka (“The Maiden’s Tomb”), Kagekiyo, Tamura, Sumidagawa (“The Sumida River”).]. *See Stopes 1909 for information about the first publication of “The Sumida River.” The title “The Maiden’s Tomb” translates alternative title Otome-zuka. See note, p. 97, for Stopes’ explanation for preferring the “older title.”

Suzuki 1932
Beatrice Lane Suzuki. Nōgaku: Japanese Nō Plays. With a forward by Iwao Kongo. Wisdom of the East Series. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1932 / London: John Murray, 1932. [7 plays: Aridōshi, Ebira, Futari Shizuka (as “Ninin Shizuka”; “The Two Shizukas”), Kashiwazaki, Tsuchigumo, Yuki. Summaries also of: Dōjōji, Fuji, Kamo, Kochō, Morihisa, Semimaru, Yuya.]

Teele 1957
Teele, Roy E. “Translations of Noh Plays.” Comparative Literature 9: 4. (Autumn, 1957), 345-368. JSTOR [A very useful survey of early translations]

Teele 1993
Teele, Roy E., Nicholas J. Teele, and H. Rebecca Teele. Ono no Komachi: Poems, Stories, Nō Plays. New York & London: Garland Publishing, 1993. [6 plays: Fumigara (“The Love Letters”), Kayoi Komachi (“The Nightly Courting of Komachi”), mu Komachi (“Komachi’s Parrot-Answer Poem”), Sekidera Komachi (“Komachi at Seki Temple”), Sōshi Arai Komachi (“Komachi Clears Her Name”), Sotoba Komachi (“Komachi on the Stupa“).]
The collection also include the Kokinshū poems of Ono no Komachi and two medieval stories about her, Komachi Sōshi (“The Story of Komachi”) and Komachi Uta Arasoi (“”The Arguments of Komachi”). Some of Roy Teele’s translations appeared earlier in journal form.

Tsukui 1983
Nobuko Tsukui. Ezra Pound and Japanese Noh Plays. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1983. [Reprints Pound’s draft of Fenollosa translation of Yoro, not used in Fenollosa/Pound 1916b.]

Tyler 1978a
Tyler, Royall. Pining Wind:A Cycle of Nō Plays. Cornell East Asia Series no. 17. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University East Asia Program, 1978. [10 plays: Eguchi (“Mouth-of-Sound”), Funabashi (“The Boat Bridge”), Hagoromo (“The Feather Mantle”), Jinen koji (“Layman Selfsame”), Kinuta (“The Block”), Matsukaze (“Pining Wind”), Nomori (“The Watchman’s Mirror”), Sekidera Komachi (“Komachi at the Gateway Temple”), Takasago, Yashima.]
Different versions of Eguchi, Hagoromo, Kinuta, Matsukaze, Sekidera Komachi, Takasago, and Yashima appear in Tyler 1992. The versions here are more experimental in translation technique. The translations of Hagoromo and Matsukaze are available through Japanese Text Initiative. This collection also contains translations of five kyōgen pieces: Kaminari, Kani yamabushi, Matsuyani, Onigawara.

Tyler 1978b
Tyler, Royall. Granny Mountains: A Second Cycle of Nō Plays. Cornell East Asia Series no. 18. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University East Asia Program, 1978. [9 plays: Hyakuman (“Million”), Izutsu (“The Well Cradle”), Kinsatsu (“The Golden Tablet”), Nue (“Nightbird”), Sotoba Komachi (“Komachi on the Gravepost”), Yamamba (“Granny Mountains”), Yorimasa, Yoshino Shizuka (“Shizuka at Yoshino”), Yuya.]
The translations of Izutsu and Sekidera Komachi are available through Japanese Text Initiative. Different versions of Izutsu and Yamamba appear in Tyler 1992. The versions here are more experimental in translation technique. The collection also contains translations of five kyōgen pieces: Hanago, Asaina, Shibiri, Tsūen, and Jizō-mai.

Tyler 1992
Tyler, Royall. Japanese Nō Dramas. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin, 1992. [24 plays: Ama (“The Diver”), Atsumori, Aya no Tsuzumi (“The Damask Drum”), Chikubu-shima, Eguchi, Funa Benkei (“Benkei aboard Ship”), Hagoromo (“The Feather Mantle”), Hanjo (“Lady Han”), Izutsu (“The Well-Cradle”), Kantan, Kasuga ryūjin (“The Kasuga Dragon God”), Kinuta (“The Fulling Block”), Kureha, Matsukaze (“Pining Wind”), Nonomiya (“The Wildwood Shrine”), Saigyō-zakura (“Saigyō’s Cherry Tree”); Seki-dera Komachi (“Komachi at Seki-dera”), Semimaru, Sumida-gawa (“The Sumida River”), Tadanori, Takasago, Tatsuta, Yamamba (“The Mountain Crone”), Yashima.]
Different versions by Tyler of the following plays were published in earlier collections: Hanjo and Matsukaze (Keene 1970), Eguchi, Hagoromo, Kinuta, Matsukaze, Sekidera Komachi, Takasago, and Yashima (Tyler 1978a), Izutsu and Yamamba (Tyler 1978b). See also Keene 1970 for Tyler’s translations of Tanikō, and Torioi-bune.

Tyler 2013
Tyler Royall. To Hallow Genji: A Tribute to Noh. An Arthur Nettleton Book, 2013. ISBN 979-1484948767. Contains translations, essays, and notes. [Genji kuyō (To Hallow Genji), Akoya no matsu (The Akoya Pine), Funabashi (The Boat Bridge), Furu, Genjō, Hakozaki, Higaki (The Cypress Fence) Kuzu, Matsura Sayohime, Naniwa, Nishiki (The Painted Wands), Nomori (The Watchman’s Mirror), Saoyama, Tadatsu no Saemon, Tōgan Botō (Tōgan and Botō), Tōru, Tsunemasa, Unoha (Cormorant Feathers)] A total of 18 plays, of which 11 are in the repertoire, and 7 not. This collection is also available as a Kindle e-book.

Royall Tyler: articles on noh include:
“Buddhism in Noh.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 14/1 (1987), 19-52. [Online]

Ueda 1962
Ueda, Makoto. The Old Pine Tree and Other Noh Plays. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1962. [5 plays: Higaki (“The Woman within the Cypress Fence”), Jinen koji (“Jinen the Preacher”), Matsuyama kagami (“The Mirror of Pine Forest”); Oimatsu (“The Old Pine Tree”); Yashima (“The Battle of Yashima”).]

Rivas Vicuna 1919
Francisco Rivas Vicuna. El drama lirico japonés, Las danzas No, Nogaku. Tokyo: 1919. [Five plays translated, including Motomezuka (“La tomba de la doncella”), and Kagekiyo (as “Kanekiyo”).]
Free and inaccurate versions in Spanish by a translator who was “an amateur both in language and the ideas of the Japanese” (Teele 1957: 353).

Wadagaki 1898
K. Wadagaki, “Monoceros, the Rishi,” Hansei Zasshi [反省雜誌] no. 13 (Jan. 1898), 14-24.
        NOT YET SEEN (microfilm of journal available in some Japanese libraries. Webcat).
The translation is “surprisingly good” according to Teele 1957: 363.
        Kenzō Wadagaki 和田垣謙三 (1860-1919) was professor of law and author of Gleanings from Japanese Literature (1919) and a translation of the Chushingura scene of Kampei’s death.

Waley 1921
Waley, Arthur. The Nō Plays of Japan. London: Allen and Unwin, 1921. Reprints include Charles Tuttle, 1976, and Dover Publications, 1998. [19 plays translated, with summaries for an additional 17 plays In the entries above and in the following alphabetical list, (S) indicates summary only, (S/t) summary with one or more passages translated, (S/T) summary with longer passage(s) translated. No mark indicates a “complete” translation. Waley’s romanized title appears in parentheses when it differs from that used in this checklist: Ama (“The Fisher-girl”) (S/t), Aoi no ue (Aoi no Uye, “Princess Hollyhock”), Atsumori, Aya no Tsuzumi (“The Damask Drum”), Eboshi-ori, Hachi no ki, Hagoromo, Haku Rakuten, Hanagatami (Hanakatami “The Flower Basket”) (S/T), Hashi Benkei (Hashi-Benkei, “Benkei on the Bridge”), Hatsuyuki (“Early Snow”), Hōkazō (“The Hoka Priests”), Hotoke no hara (S), Ikenie (Ikeniye, “The Pool-sacrifice”), Ikkaku sennin (“The One-horned Rishi”) (S/T), Ikuta Atsumori (Ikuta), Izutsu (S/T, p. 219-20), Kagekiyo, Kakitsubata (S/T, p. 220), Kantan, Kumasaka, Maiguruma (Mai-guruma, “The Dance Waggons”) (S/t), Mari (“The Football”) (S), Matsukaze (S/t), Ominameshi (S/T), Shunkan (Shunkwan) (S/T), Sotoba Komachi, Take no yuki (“Snow on the Bamboos”) (S/T), Tango monogurui (Tango-monogurui) (S/T), Tanikō (“The Valley-hurling”), Torioi (Tori-oi) (S), Tōru (S), Tsunemasa, Ukai (“The Cormorant-fisher”), Yamanba (“Yamauba”; “The Dame of the Mountains”) (S/t), Yūya (S). Note that the summaries for Izutsu and Kakitsubata do not appear in the table of contents.]. There is an online version at “sacred-texts.com.” The electronic text appears to be carefully prepared. Several plays are also available online through Japanese Text Initiative.Weber-Schäfer 1960
Weber-Schäfer, Peter. Ono no Komachi: Gestalt und Legende im Nō-Spiel. Studien zur Japanologie, Band 2. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1960. [5 plays: Kayoi Komachi (“Der Weg zu Komachi”), mu Komachi (“Das Antwortgedict der Komachi”),  Sekidera Komachi (“Komachi in Sekidera”), Sōshi arai (“Die Manuskriptsülung”), Sotoba Komachi (“Komachi am Stūpa”). With translation in appendices of “Tamatsukuri Komachi-ko sōsui sho” (Das Buch von Grösse und Niedergang der Tamatsukuri Komachi”), poems of Ono no Komachi (Komachi shū). Noh plays translated from text of Nihon koten zenshū.]

Weber-Schäfer 1961
Weber-Schäfer, Peter. Vierundzwanzig Nō-Spiele. Frankfurt am Main: Insel, 1961. [24 plays: Atsumori, Futari Giō, Hagoromo, Haku Rakuten, Izutsu, Kiyotsune, Kochō, Koi no omoni, Ominameshi, Ryōko (title given as “Ryūko”), Shichiki ochi, Shiga, Shōkun, Shōshi arai Komachi, Shunzei Tadanori, Sotoba Komachi, Suma Genji, Sumidagawa, Sumizomezakura, Takasago, Tamakazura, Tamura, Tsunemasa, Ukai.]

Weatherby and Rogers 1947
Meredith Weatherby and Bruce Rogers, Birds of sorrow: A Nō play. Tokyo: Obunsha, 1947. [Translation of Utō. The translation was reprinted in Keene 1955:271-285. Includes thirty woodblock illustrations by Munakata Shikō 宗方志功 (1903-1975). Two are reproduced in Nishino 2003, 164.]
A translation by Weatherby of Momijigari was included in Earle Ernst, Three Japanese Plays from the Traditional Theatre (Oxford UP, 1959).
Wilson 1969
Wilson, William Ritchie. “Two Shuramono: Ebira and Michimori.” MN 24: 4 (1969), 415-66. [JSTOR]Yasuda 1989
Yasuda, Kenneth. Masterworks of the Nō Theater. Indiana UP, 1989. [17 plays: Ataka, Atsumori, Funabenkei, Hagoromo, Higaki, Himuro, Izutsu, Kuzu, Matsukaze, Motomezuka, Nonomiya, Nue, Obasute, Saigyōzakura, Tadanori, Taema, Tōru. The collection also includes an original play: Martin Luther King, Jr.] Many translations were first published earlier. At least four plays were published in pamphlets by Kōfūsha 光風社, Tokyo, in the 1960s. Three easily accessible journal publications are: Kenneth Yasuda, “The Structure of Hagoromo, a Nō Play,” HJAS 33 (1973), 5-89 [JSTOR]; “The Dramatic Structure of Ataka, a Noh Play,” MN 27:4 (Winter 1972), 359-398. [JSTOR]; “A Prototypical Nō Wig Play: Izutsu,” HJAS 40.2 (1980), 399-464. [JSTOR]. Yasuda prints both the romanized Japanese and translation on the same page, an unusual format, with extensive endnotes. As far as I know, there are no other complete modern English translations of Himuro, Kuzu, and Tōru.

Yokota-Murakami 1997
Gerry Yokota-Murakami. The Formation of the Canon of Nō: the Literary Tradition of Divine Authority. Osaka: Osaka University, 1997. [A very useful resource for the study of the “god noh” (waki-nō) category, as well as some plays of other categories. Discussions of many plays. Short translations included are mainly of source texts, such as waka poems.][Return to top.]

Bibliography (Japanese language)
This covers only (a) text editions and (b) secondary literature (link) which are cited in the checklist or notes. Web links are to the Webcat page which provides further bibliographical information in Japanese.

(a) original text editions, in order of abbreviations used in entries.
Abbreviations follow those used in Takemoto 1999 (see p. 55) except in cases of series like NKBT or NKBZ where Western scholarship has standard abbreviations.

Kokumin = Furuya Chishin, ed. Yōkyoku zenshū. 2 vols. Kokumin bunko kankōkai, 1911.
古谷知新編　『謡曲全集』上下　（国民文庫刊行会）
[Unannotated edition. Most, perhaps all, of the texts in volume 1 are still in the repertory and available in more recent additions, but volume 2 is a useful edition as a supplement to KYS above, as it prints a large number of bangai nō from two Edo collections, the three-hundred play collection of Jōkyō 3 (1686) and the four-hundred play play collection of Genroku 2 (1689). When reading texts in the larger, annoted KYS collection (see above), it is worth comparing the text given here, as there are textual differences. See comments on edition in Nogami, Nōgaku zensho, 3:236-7.)
* Takemoto 1995 abbreviates 『国民』.

KYS = Haga Yaichi and Sakaki Nobutsuna. Kōchū Yōkyoku sōsho. Three vols. Hakubunkan: 1913-15; reprint Rinsen shoten: 1987.
芳賀矢一・佐佐木信綱校註　『校註謡曲叢書』　（博文館、複製：臨川書店）
Annotated edition of a total of 548 noh texts, including several hundred bangai plays. Convenient for reference also in that plays are given in gojūon order of title (as written in historic kana). Vol. 1: あーこ, Vol. 2: さーと, Vol. 3: なーを. A few plays are given out of order at the end of vol. 3 (補遺).
* Takemoto 1995 abbreviates 『叢書』.

Meichō = Nonomura Kaizō, ed., Yōkyoku sanbyakugojūshū. Nihon meicho zenshū kankōkai, 1928.
野々村戒三校訂『謠曲三百五十番集』日本名著全集刊行会 . Base text for the UTAHI electronic text. References to this edition have been omitted when a link is given to the UTAHI site.
* Takemoto 1995:55 abbreviates 『三五』.

Mikan = publications by Tanaka Makoto 田中允編 in Koten bunko 古典文庫.

Tanaka Makoto, ed. Bangai yōkyoku 番外謡曲. Koten bunko vol. 33, 1950.
Abbreviated here as Tanaka, Bangai, 『番外』 in Takemoto 1995.
Tanaka Makoto, ed. Zoku bangai yōkyoku 続番外謡曲. Koten bunko vol. 57, 1950.
Abbreviated here as Tanaka, Zokugai, 『続外』 in Takemoto 1995.
Tanaka Makoto, ed. Mikan yōkyōshū 未刊謡曲集. 31 vols. Koten bunko, 1963–1978.
Abbreviated here as Mikan, with vol. number, 『未刊１〜３１』in Takemoto 1995.
Tanaka Makoto, ed. Mikan yōkyōshū zokuhen 未刊謡曲集続編. 22 vols. Koten bunko, 1963–1978.
Abbreviated here as Mikan-zoku, with vol. number, 『続１〜１４』in Takemoto 1995.

Note that no. 1 and 2 above are sometimes catalogued together as 続番外謡曲 (正), 番外謡曲(続) and referred to in the literature as sei and zoku. Volumes of the series, nos. 3 and 4, must be located among other Koten bunko editions. See Webcat links or local library catalogue for vol. numbers. [Webcat][Webcat-3][Webcat-4]
* The collection includes [bangai] from early manuscripts and printed texts as well as plays written in the twentieth-century. Some volumes arrange plays in gojūon order, others follow the base text. Multiple editions of the same play are included. There are no headnotes and no list of roles, but each volume begins with brief notes on plays, mainly textual. See the final three vols. of series for indices to all plays in series.

NKBT 40, NKBT 41 = Yokomichi Mario and Omote Akira, eds. Yōkyōkushū. 2 vols. Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 40-41. Iwanami shoten, 1960, 1963. 横道萬里雄・表章　『謡曲集』上下　日本古典文学大系　岩波書店. Plays arranged by author (attributed), or period. An electronic text for scholarly use has been produced by NIJL (国文学研究資料館).
* Takemoto 1995:55 abbreviates 『大系』.

NKBZ 33, NKBZ 34 = Koyama Hiroshi, Satō Kikuo, Satō Ken’ichirō, eds. and trans. Yōkyokushū. 2 vols. NKBZ (Shōgakukan, 1973-75). 小山弘志・佐藤喜久雄。佐藤健一郎校注・訳『謡曲集』上下　日本古典文学全集　小学館 Arrangement by play: by play category (type). Note that this volume is superseded by SNBZ 58, SNBZ 59, which adds four new plays. Vol. 1. includes 40 plays: [type 1] Takasago, Yōrō, Kamo, Chikubushima, Oimatsu, Arashiyama, Tōbōsaku, Tsurukame; [type 2] Tamura, Yashima, Tadanori, Yorimasa, Sanemori, Kiyotsune, Tomonaga, Atsumori; [type 3] Tōboku, Hanjo, Eguchi, Izutsu, Nonomiya, Bashō, Teika, Futari Shizuka, Kakitsubata, Kazuraki, Hagoromo, Matsukaze, Yuya, Ohara gokō, Higaki, Obasute, Sekidera Komachi; [type 4] Unrin’in, Saigyō-zakura, Miwa, Hyakuman, Miidera, Sumidagawa, Vol. 2 includes 37 plays: [type 4, cont’d] Hanagatami, Hanjo, Fuji daiko, Sotoba Komachi, Aridōshi, Yoroboshi, Jinen koji, Kantan, Nishikigi, Kayoi Komachi, Utō, Motomezuka, Fujito, Aya no tsuzumi, Kinuta, Aoi no ue, Dōjōji, Shunkan, Kagekiyo, Morihisa, Kosode Soga, Ataka; [type 5] Kuzu, Danpū, Kumazaka, Shōkun, Nue, Kurozuka (Adachigahara), Momijigari, Funa Benkai, Kurama tengu, Zegai, Ama, Tōru, Yamanba, Shakkyō, Shōjō. (NKBZ 33: 脇能 [type 1]　高砂　養老　賀茂竹生島　老松　嵐山　東方朔　鶴亀　修羅物[type 2]　田村　八島　忠度　頼政　実盛　清経　朝長　敦盛　
鬘物 [type 3 ]　東北　斑女　江口　井筒　野宮　芭蕉　定家二人静　半蔀　杜若　葛城　羽衣松風　熊野　大原御幸　檜垣　姨捨　関寺小町　 四番目物 [type 4] 雲林院　西行桜　三輪　百万　三井寺　隅田川. NKBZ 34: 花筐　■女(班女)　富士太鼓　卒塔婆小町　蟻通　弱法師　自然居士　邯鄲　錦木　通小町善知鳥　求塚　藤戸　綾鼓　砧　葵上　道成寺　俊寛景清　盛久　小袖曾我　安宅　切能 [type 5]　国栖　檀風　熊坂　昭君　鵺　黒塚　紅葉狩　舟弁慶　鞍馬天狗　善界　海人　融　山姥　石橋　猩々)
Kazuraki is categorized as type 3 in NKBZ 33 but as type 4 in SNBZ 58. Four plays not found in NKBZ 33–34 are added in SNBZ 58–59: Okina; [type 2] Tomoe; [type 3] Yōkihi; [type 4] Semimaru.
* Takemoto 1995:55 abbreviates 『全集』.

Shinhyaku = Sasaki Nobutsuna, ed. Shin’yōkyoku hyakuban. Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1912, reprint Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1987. 38+440 pp. 佐佐木信綱著『新謡曲百番』博文館（臨川書店）
[Webcat (1912 ed.)(reprint). The text is relatively rare, but a scanned version of the entire text is available on the Diet Library website as part of the “Digital Library from the Meiji Era” (Kindai dejitaru raiburarī 近代デジタルライブラリー.
* Takemoto 1995:55 abbreviates 『新百』.

SNKZ 58, SNKZ 59 = Koyama Hiroshi and Satō Ken’ichirō, ed. and trans. Yōkyōkushū. 2 vols. Shinpen Nihon Koten Bungaku Zenshū. Shōgakukan, 1997–1998. 小山弘志・佐藤喜久雄校注・訳『謡曲集』上下　日本古典文学全集　小学館.
These revised editions supersede NKBZ 33–34, adding four plays (Okina, Tomoe, Yōkihi,Semimaru) as noted above. Vol. 1 includes 40 plays: Okina, [type 1] Takasago, Yōrō, Kamo, Chikubushima, Oimatsu, Arashiyama, Tōbōsaku, Tsurukame; [type 2] Tamura, Yashima, Tadanori, Yorimasa, Sanemori, Kiyotsune, Tomonaga, Atsumori, Tomoe; [type 3] Tōboku, Uneme, Eguchi, Izutsu, Nonomiya, Bashō, Teika, Hajitomi, Yōkihi, Futari Shizuka, Kakitsubata, Hagoromo, Matsukaze, Yuya, Ohara gokō, Higaki, Obasute, Sekidera Komachi; [type 4] Unrin’in, Saigyō-zakura, Kazuraki, Miwa. Vol. 2 includes 41 plays: [type 4, cont’d] Hyakuman, Miidera, Sumidagawa, Hanagatami, Hanjo, Semimaru, Fuji daiko, Sotoba Komachi, Aridōshi, Yoroboshi, Jinen koji, Kantan, Nishikigi, Kayoi Komachi, Utō, Motomezuka, Fujito, Aya no tsuzumi, Kinuta, Aoi no ue, Dōjōji, Shunkan, Kagekiyo, Morihisa, Kosode Soga, Ataka; [type 5] Kuzu, Danpū, Kumazaka, Shōkun, Nue, Kurozuka (Adachigahara), Momijigari, Funa Benkai, Kurama tengu, Zegai, Ama, Tōru, Yamanba, Shakkyō, Shōjō. [SNKZ 58; 翁　脇能 [type 1]　高砂　養老　賀茂　竹生島　老松　嵐山　東方朔　鶴亀修羅物[type 2]　田村　八島忠度　頼政　実盛　清経　朝長　敦盛　巴　鬘物 [type 3 ]　東北　■女(班女)　江口　井筒　野宮　芭蕉　定家　半蔀　楊貴妃　二人静　杜若　羽衣　松風　熊野　大原御幸　檜垣姨捨　関寺小町　四番目物 [type 4]　雲林院　西行桜　葛城三輪. SNKZ 59: 百万　三井寺　隅田川　花筐　班女　蝉丸　富士太鼓　卒塔婆小町蟻通　弱法師　自然居士　邯鄲　錦木通小町　善知鳥　求塚　藤戸　綾鼓　砧　葵上　道成寺　俊寛　景清　盛久　小袖曾我　安宅　切能 [type 5]　国栖　檀風　熊坂　昭君　鵺　黒塚（安達原）　紅葉狩　船弁慶　鞍馬天狗　善界　海人　融　山姥　石橋　猩々　
Base text is Kan’ei 6 (1629) Kanze school text (寛永卯月本). Volume and page numbers for plays in this edition have been entered above.]

SNKT57 = Nishino Haruo, ed. Yōkyoku hyakuban. SNKT (Iwanami, 1998)
西野春雄校注　『謡曲百番』　新日本古典文学大系57
[Arrangement of plays is traditional, beginning with Takasago. Edition of Kan’ei 7 (1630) woodblock edition.]

SNKS = Itō Masayoshi, ed. Yōkyōkushū. 3 vols. Shinchō Nihon Koten Shūsei. Shinchōsha, 1983-88. 伊藤正義校注『謡曲集』新潮古典集成（新潮）
[Arrangement of plays: gojūon order. Text based on Kōetsu utaibon. Detailed annotation, supplementary notes. For convenience, we refer to Yōkyokushū (jō) as SNKS [1], Yōkyokushū (chū) as SNKS [2], and Yōkyokushū (ge) as SNKS [3].]
* Takemoto 1995:55 abbreviates 『集成』.

Taikan = Sanari Kentarō, ed. Yōkyoku taikan. 6 vols. (Meiji Shoin, 1930-31).
佐成謙太郎著『謡曲大観』（明治書院).
[Arrangement of plays: gojūon order of titles (as written in historic kana). All plays accompanied by introductory matter, headnote annotation, and modern Japanese translation (paraphrasing somewhat freely, but helpful).]
* Takemoto 1995:55 abbreviates 『大観』.

Tanaka, Bangai; Tanaka, Zokugai (see entry Mikan above).

Yōkyoku 250banshū = Tani Tokuzō, ed. Yōkyoku nihyakubanshū sakuin. 2 vols. [text and concordance]. Kaidai sakuin sōkan 6. (Akaoshōbundō, 1988).
大谷篤蔵編　『謡曲二百五十番集索引』　（赤尾照文堂）
Arrangement of text: by play type. Concordance in one volume, with play/page/dan reference to the unannotated text of 253 plays in the second volume. The text also contains small black-and-white photographs of performances. For reference rather than reading (the text of the plays is also somewhat muddy), but extremely useful. The concordance is well arranged and clearly laid out.

Zensho = Nogami Toyoichirō and Tanaka Makoto, eds. Yōkyokushū. 3 vols. Nihon koten zensho. Asahi Shinbusha, 1949-1957. 野上豊一郎解説・田中允校注　『謡曲集』上中、田中允校注　『謡曲集』下. 日本古典全書（朝日新聞社). Annotated text of 133 plays edited from manuscripts and moveable-type (kokatsuji) edition. Arrangement: play category. For further details see short-list (PDF).
* Takemoto 1995:55 abbreviates 『全書』.

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(b) secondary-literature in Japanese (mainly encyclopedic sources)
See above for text editions.

Maruoka Kei, ed. Nishino Haruo. Kokin yōkyoku kaidai. Kokin yōkyoku kaidai kankōkai, 1984. Revised edition with additional notes by Nishino Haruo.
丸岡桂著　西野春雄編　『古今謡曲解題』（古今謡曲解題刊行会 1984)
[Short plot summaries. Handy when searching for plays on a specific topic. Unusual in that it includes many non-canonical (bangai) plays. Topics include plays based around poets, warriors, revenge stories (ada-uchi), secular topics (master/retainer, parent/child, husband/wife, filial piety, love), beauties, shrines and temples, divinities and deamons, plant and animal spirits.]

Nishino Haruo and Hata Hisashi, ed. Nō kyōgen jiten. Heibonsha, 1999 (revised ed.).
西野春雄・羽田昶編　『能・狂言事典』　新訂増補（平凡社)
[Reliable guide to a wide range of topics. For entries on individual plays see Nishino 1999 below.]

Nishino 1999 = “Nōkyokumei” 能曲名 (pp. 10-163, with additions 438-443) in above work. Entries for plays in gojūon order compiled by Nishino Haruo. A basic, up-to-date source. Canonical plays only.]Nishino 2003 = Nishino Haruo et al., ed., “Nōgaku kankei gaikokugo bunken mokuroku” 能楽関係外国語文献目録 in Nogami kinen Hōsei daigaku nōgaku kenkyūsho 野上記念法政大学能楽研修所, ed. Gaikokujin no nōgaku kenkyū 外国人の能楽研究 (Hōsei daigaku kokusai Nihongaku kenkyū center, 2003).

Nogami Toyoichirō, ed. Nōgaku zensho. 7 vols. Tokyo Sōgensha, 1979-81 (revised ed., orig. published 1942). 野上豊一郎編　『能楽全書』（創元社) [Volume 3 has several useful lists: “Yōkyoku kyokume sōran” (pp. 235-279) identifies editions of plays, while “Honyakukyōku ichiran” by Nishino Haruo (pp. 328-316) lists translations. It includes more prewar journal publications than does the present database.]

Takemoto Mikio and Hashimoto Asao. Nō kyōgen hikkei. Gakutōsha, 1995.
竹本幹夫・橋本朝生編『能・狂言必携』別冊國文学 NO. 48 （學燈社)
[See Takemoto 1995 below for handy guide to plays.]Takemoto 1995 = Nōsakuhin zenran” (pp. 53-120) edited by Takemoto Mikio in above work. This is a compact guide to plays in gojūon order, including information not given in the corresponding list in Nishino 1999, such as the date when a play is first mentioned in documentary sources. Short note of standard modern edition, also references to some secondary literature. Many more bangai plays are included than in Nishino 1999.]
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play types (nōgara 能柄):
(1) waki-nō mono 脇能物 or uimemono 初目物, usually translated as “god plays”;
(2) nibanme-mono 二番目物, second-category plays, or shura-mono 修羅物, “warrior plays”;
(3) sanbanme-mono 三番目物, third-category plays, or kazura-mono 鬘物, “wig pieces” or “woman plays” (although the protagonist is not necessarily a woman);
(4) yobanme-mono 四番目物 “fourth-category plays” (a large and varied group), many of these are genzaimono 現在物 “plays of a miscellaneous or contemporary character”; and
(5) gobanme-mono 五番目物, fifth-category plays, or kiri-nō 切能 “concluding plays.”
(Translation of some terms follows Keene 1990 [1966], 21, and Tyler 1992, 13).

Distribution of plays by type is very uneven. One standard collection of 253 plays in the repertoire lists Okina first, then 42 waki-nō, 16 shura-mono, 47 sanbanme-mono, 97 yobanme-mono, and 50 gobanme-mono (Nonomiya Keizō, Yōkyōku nihyaku gojū banshū [Akao Shōbundō, 1978]).
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Electronic texts
Texts and translations of thirteen plays have been made available through the Japanese Text Initiative sponsored by the University of Virginia Library Electronic Text Center and the University of Pittsburgh East Asian Library. In many cases, several translations are available for one play. Translators: Susan Matisoff, Fenollosa/Pound, Marie Stopes, Royall Tyler, Paul Varley, and Arthur Waley. For copyright reasons the Japanese text is based on Yōkyoku Hyōshaku, ed. Ōwada Tateki (Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1907) [Webcat: 謡曲評釋 / 大和田建樹著 (博文館, 1907-1908), 9 vols.], an edition used by Waley and other early translators. For details see: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/noh/index.html
[Aoi no ue, Aya no tsuzumi, Hagoromo, Izutsu, Kagekiyo, Kumasaka, Matsukaze, Nonomiya, Sekidera Komachi, Semimaru, Sotoba Komachi, Takasago, Tsunemasa.]
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The UTAHI Hangyō bunko (半魚文庫) site has sponsored a long-term project to digitize the text of an edition of the 253 plays. All are now online, and 51 non-canonical plays (bangai yōkyoku) have been added. As of February 2009, only “Akoya no matsu” remains to edit. This page does not include entries for all the non-canonical plays. For titles and links, see nos. yob01 to yob51 here.
The base texts are:
(1) Nonomura Kaizō , ed., Yōkyoku sanbyakugojūshū (Nihon meicho zenshū kankōkai, 1928)
野々村戒三校訂『謠曲三百五十番集』日本名著全集刊行会
(2) Nonomiya Keizō , ed., Yōkyoku nihyaku gojū banshū (Akao Shōbundō, 1978) 2 vols. This edition was revised by Ōtani Tokuzō 大谷篤蔵 and contains a concordance in the second volume.
野々村戒三校訂『謠曲二百五十番集』赤尾照文堂 Webcat.

Details of the project and information about the texts and how they should and should not be used are given on the hanrei page. In a nutshell: free to use but not to sell, best used for SEARCHING rather than reading. The individual plays can be accessed on a page that also indicates the stage of editing reached. The entire corpus can be searched using a single page–with patience you can copy it all to a single word processor file. (It comes to over 2000 pages in Microsoft Word.)
http://www.kanazawa-bidai.ac.jp/~hangyo/utahi/yo.txt
If you have mojibake problems with UTAHI texts, switch to “Japanese (EUC)” encoding. There was problem with display with older versions of Mac OSX “Safari,” but it now works well. If UTAHI pages appears with “strike-through” text, the quickest work around is to copy and paste the text into a word-processing application.
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Acknowledgements:
An earlier version of this checklist benefitted from Paul Atkins’ “An Index of Noh Play Translation” now at glopac.org. For information about hard-to-obtain items, I am endebted to “Nōgaku kankei gaikokugo bunken mokuroku,” Gaikokujin no nōgaku kenkyū, ed. Nogami kiken Hōsei daigaku nōgaku kenkyūsho (Hōsei daigaku kokusai Nihongaku kenkyū sentā, 2005), 155-209.

Compiled by Michael Watson (Meiji Gakuin University) <watson[at]k.meijigakuin.ac.jp>

Partial revision history:
2004.07 changed to Unicode. Addition of diacritical marks. Circumflex used for macron.
2009.02 Macron introduced. Addition of many UTAHI links. Corrections.
2008.06 Corrections and addition. Added vol/page info. for SNKT (新編日本古典文学全集). Page nos. for Sanari vol. 3.
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Noh 能

Videos and Live Streaming

An increasing number of nō performances are available on YouTube and some performer groups, like the Hōshō school in Tokyo, have begun to livestream their monthly performances. The websites listed below offer videos of nō “on demand” or as “live streaming” services. A limited number of videos feature foreign language subtitles.

能LIFE Online (Hōshō school) (Japanese)

YouTube Channels

Noh 能

Event information

A nō performance is a one-time event, not a program repeated over a span of time. Most of the theaters listed on JPARC hold regular performances. Generally, these are scheduled on the weekends and national holidays, though some also hold evening performances during the week.

The-noh.com (English, Japanese)
Nōgaku kōen jōhō 能楽公演情報 (Japanese)
Nōgoyomi (Japanese)

Noh 能

Lessons

Most of the nō performers teach nō practice in addition to performing on stage. If you are in Japan and speak some Japanese, you may find information about lessons online or in the lobby of all major nō theatres.

If you do not speak Japanese, the following institutions offer lessons and/or workshops in English.

TTT – Traditional Theatre Training (Kyoto)

The International Noh Institute 国際能楽研究会 (Kyoto)

Theatre Nohgaku (Tokyo, London, US)

Noh 能

List of nō theatres

Theatres devoted to nō performances are built around traditional stages. While the National Nō Theatre in Tokyo hosts performances from all schools, the majority of theaters that hold regular performances are connected with one of the nō schools or actor families. This page lists the main theaters by geographic area. For a comprehensive list, see the Noh Performers’ Association website (Japanese only).

Kanto area

Tokyo

Kansai area

Kyoto

Osaka

Kobe

Ueda Nōgakudō上田能楽堂

Contributor: Monica Bethe

Noh 能

Nō Performance and theatre list

Performance list

Now preparing

Theatre list

Now preparing

Noh 能

Nōgaku

Nōgaku is a traditional Japanese stage art combining poetic and dramatic texts, chant, music, dance and visual arts expressed by masks, costumes and stage design. “Masked dance-drama”, “total theatre”, “dramatized ritual” – defining what nōgaku is can be difficult, especially when one tries to do so using words such as theatre, dance, or play, which developed in a different cultural context. Today, the word nōgaku 能楽 refers to two “twin arts”: nō 能, based on chant and dance, and kyōgen 狂言, its comedic counterpart, based on dialogue. Despite its many writing and performance rules and restrictions, which have been transmitted since the 14th century, the diversity of the plays in the current repertoire (around 240 plays) makes it difficult to conceive of a single all-encompassing definition. Nō is minimal and at the same time impressionistic. In a nō play, time and space are fluid: memory emerges as reality, and the past slips into the present.

Nōgaku has been transmitted uninterruptedly for over 650 years. It emerged in the 14th century as the combination of various pre-existing arts. Playwright and performer Zeami Motokiyo (1363-1443) perfected the art, combining chanted poetry, dance, and mimetic acting techniques. The patronage of nōgaku by aristocrats began in Zeami’s time. From the early 17th century, nōgaku became the official art of the military government, undergoing a phase of canonization of the repertory and of performance techniques that have lasted up to 250 years. With the modernization of Japan in the late 19th century, nōgaku lost its aristocratic patronage and gained new sponsors from the new bourgeoisie. After the Second World War, nō troupes started performing abroad and interacting with performers of other arts.

Nō challenges genre categorization. Nō can be defined as “theatre” as its plays develop out of texts and feature characters who act within a defined narrative. However, many nō plays do not portray actions structured in logical cause-consequence order. Rather than staging a story, they depict a feeling. Rather than portraying chains of subordinated events, they appear as coordinations or associations of images. While these plays center on a single happening, others may portray various events happening in the span of several years. Moreover, large portions of nō plays are dedicated to re-telling a past story, often fusing narration of events with descriptions of a location, a character, or a state of mind.

Text is either recited or sung, never spoken. Performers interpret the small number of characters, exchanging lines or singing solo. In addition, a chorus sings lines that could be attributed to a character or could complement the narration, or comment on it. A small ensemble of instruments plays live on stage during most of the staging, sometimes becoming the main element of the performance. All that happens onstage is minutely choreographed. Performers embody characters that are enacted through extremely precise choreographies. Their gestures are timed to the lyrics, enhancing the images evoked by text and chant with kinetic depiction ranging from abstract to mimetic. A performer not only interprets a single character interacting with others, but can physically express anything that is described through song or recitation; for example, the performer may gesture to indicate a flock of birds crossing the evening sky, the battle cries of a ghost army, the delicate fragrance of plum blossoms, or the dark depth of the sea. Gestures also depict abstract ideas or feelings, such as the realization that past happiness will not return, resentment toward an unfaithful lover, or joy in reaching enlightenment. However, at the peak of emotion, gestures are released from words and become pure dance and music.

The stage is a raised square wooden platform with pillars at the corners holding up a heavy roof. It is connected to the backstage area with a passageway lined with three small pine trees. At the rear of the main stage is a large permanent painting of a pine tree, the only backdrop for the performance. Finally, one of the most striking features of nō is the richness of nō costumes and masks set against the minimal background. A typical nō play features only a few actors draped in lavish costumes. Some of them wear refined masks capable of producing a wide range of subtle expressions. Masks and costumes express the identity of a character.

Noh 能

Kan’ami’s plays

Plays by/attributed to Kan’ami

Kinsatsu
Awaji
Furu
Eguchi
Matsukaze
Yoshino Shizuka
Sotoba Komachi
Motomezuka
Kayoi Komachi
Hyakuman
Jinen koji
Ashikari

Based on Zeami’s writings Fushikaden, Sandō, Go-on, Sarugaku dangi. Some of these plays were later revised by Zeami.

Contributor: Diego Pellecchia (translation and editing from Nishino Haruo, “Old nō plays and authors” in Iwanami Kōza Nō Kyōgen III Nō no sakusha to sakuhin. Iwanami Shoten 1987

Noh 能

Kyōgen

Coming soon

Noh 能

Making properties

Sketch of a stage property representing a cart. (Courtesy of The Nogami Memorial Noh Theatre Research Institute of Hōsei University)

Traditionally most of the property structures were made just prior to the performance. Today, the larger frameworks might be stored as is. During the Edo period, professionals attached to the school specialized in preparing the properties, but today making properties is generally one of many preparatory jobs done by the Shite actors in anticipation of the stage event. It often begins with going outdoors to collect the vines, cherry branches, willows or reeds. When out of season, artificial plants can substitute. Over-size flowers are created for fantasy scenes, like the peonies growing on the bridge leading to Monjū Bosatsu’s paradise in Shakkyō (The Stone Bridge), or the chrysanthemums around the eight-hundred-year-old Chrysanthemum Boy’s hut in Kiku jidō (Chrysanthemum Boy). Young actors learn the backstage jobs, as well as the kōken attendant’s duties of carrying the properties onto the stage and removing the enveloping cloths. After the performance, the properties are disassembled into component units for storage. A few are stored complete.

Each school has its own notebooks on property construction compiled by former specialists. These painted sketches illustrate the types of properties noting the names of plays where they are used. Quite a number of property manuals from the Edo period have been preserved, such as the Nō tsukurimono zu (Nō Stage Properties Illustrations) and the Okura ryū tsukurimono hiroku (Secret Record of the Okura school properties) from the Konparu school, which notes the size, materials, and methods of making properties as well as how to vary them for different plays. A similar Kanze-school property book is the Kanze ryū tsukurimono zu (Kanze School Prop Illustrations). A Hōshō-school book with clearly delineated paintings is the Hōshō ryū nōgaku tsukurimono (Hōshō School Stage Properties).

Probably the oldest sketches of properties are those in Shimotsuma Shoshin’s (1551-1616) Butai no zu (Stage Illustrations), where he places the properties on schematic drawings of the stage. Interestingly these sixteenth or early seventeenth century properties are remarkably similar to what is used today. Reference to properties by Zeami testifies to their use, though not their forms.

Contributor: Monica Bethe

Noh 能

Properties and staging

The placement of the property on the stage determines some of its impact and use. Large properties in the upstage area serve as scenery, double as entrance or exit spots, and focus attention at least temporarily towards the back. Smaller properties placed in the downstage area draw attention forward. Vehicles are often placed either along the bridge, or at center right (wakishō). Because the properties take up stage space, they also affect the choreography by reducing the amount of space for dance movements. Perhaps the most dominating property is the large prayer wheel or revolving stand filled with sutras (rinzō) placed in center stage during the nō Rinzō. At the height of the performance, the actors circle around the property, each revolution signifying a prayer recitation. The chart below summarizes the typical placement and impact of several types of properties. Examples are illustrated and discussed in greater detail under the Role of Stage Properties and property submenus on the site.

Property type	Typical placement	Impact and use
Tomb	Upstage in front of the hand drums: daishōmae	Scenery, exit/ entrance, covered at first, often for the shite to exit into it for a costume change and uncovered during the second act to allow the ghost out.
Hut	Upstage in front of the hand drums: daishōmae. Sometimes at stage right center: wakishō	Scenery, exit/ entrance, often has a door. Uncovering a cloth or opening the door for the shite to exit can shift the scene from outdoors to indoors.
Palace	Upstage in front of the hand drums: daishōmae. Center left in front of chorus (jimae). Often on a platform.	Use is similar to a hut.
Cave, tree-spirit’s abode, bolder, etc	Upstage in front of the hand drums: daishōmae.	Scenery, exit/ entrance,
Small prop supporting a symbolic object like an arrow, tree, hei, grasses	Downstage center: shōsaki	Focuses action towards the front. Often acrues imagery. Possible physical interaction with the prop.
Gates: torii and fenses	Downstage center: shōsaki or at the stage right center: wakishō	Focuses action towards the front. Often acrues imagery. Possible physical interaction with the prop.
Carts	Bridge or center right stage: wakishō.	Usually on stage for one scene. Define the scene and activity. Stand inside when “moving.”
Boats	Bridge or center right stage: wakishō, or in front of the chorus: jimae.	Placement defines the area of water versus land. Rower and passengers inside the frame.
Small bell, drums, instruments	Downstage, often center, sometimes to stage right: shōsaki, sumi.	Generally on a stand. Ringing the bell or striking the drum forms a highlight moment in a central scene.
Dōjōji bell	Hung above Downstage center : daishōmae	Lowered and raised during the performance. Jumps into the bell as the exit for part one; bell raised for entrance to part two, with costume change inside the bell.

Contributor:

Monica Bethe