Considering how long I've been studying noh, this is a very short page!

I saw my first noh performance (Dojoji) more than twenty years ago and read many noh plays over the years, but did not begin to study noh singing until 1992. I go to lessons with a Kanze teacher three times a month at a local temple. I passed the elementary stages in 1995 (nyuumon) and gained the jun-kuban menjo in 2000.

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Michael Watson, Meiji Gakuin Univ. [ top index ]

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on this site (and on the pmjs site)

• noh in translation: checklist
• titles in Japanese of currently performed noh plays
• photograph of me at Kuraki Noh Theatre for annual performance
• translation of the play Kogo (小督) [Watson 1997]
• a peek at my jun-kuban menjo (準九番免状). I hope this is not a breach of school tradition! The certificate is signed by the 26th head of the Kanze school, Kanze Kiyokazu, and means that I'm allowed to study all but a few dozen of the 230+ plays in the Kanze repertoire. You can see how many more I've still to learn by looking at this list.

elsewhere

Only a few links, mainly for those studying noh. To be frank, I now turn straight to google when looking for things on the web, and don't try to bookmark sites as I once did, or to consider maintaining lists of url. These are some sites I have found useful.

I would always recommend that if you do read Japanese and your computer displays Japanese, then check both English and Japanese pages of sites in Japan. They often differ, the J page being more detailed, updated more often, or with more links.

• 謡曲三百五十番集入力
  • project to input the 250 noh plays
  • electronic texts of more than 200 plays now available
• Electronic Text Initiative (Virginia Univ.)
  • Now the largest WWW collection of noh texts in Japanese and in English translation. Translators include Pound, Waley and Tyler. (E/J)
• English Noh index (Paul Atkins, Montana State University)
  • alphabetical list of titles, information about available English translations, advice about Japanese editions.)
• Theatre Museum (Waseda University)
  • 演劇博物館 = Engeki Hakubutsukan
• The Nogami Nogaku Research Institute, Hosei Univ. (English)
  • 野上記念法政大学能楽研究所 (Japanese)
  • Description of the holdings | Access rules and map
• Noh masks (iijet) (English)
  • Japanese index
  • noh/kyogen links (J)
• 国立能楽堂自主公演予定表
  • schedule of performances at National Noh Theatre
• Noh (Kanazawa) (English)
  • Japanese index.
  • includes movie, 9 photos (example)