Nō collection

Prince Henry of Bourbon Count of Bardi, archive photograph (Museum of Oriental Art. La collezione Bardi: da raccolta privata a museo dello Stato [Bardi collection: from private collection to State Museum], 1990)

Nō theatre at the Museum of Oriental Art in Venice

When in 1868 Japan officially opened its doors to the West, many prominent figures travelled to the Land of the Rising Sun. Among the Italians, we find artists, diplomats, and nobles driven by an interest in the “other,” as well as collectors fascinated by the East.

Among them was Prince Enrico di Borbone, to whom we owe the rich collection that today forms the Museum of Oriental Art in Venice.

The formation of the collection is linked to a journey around the world that Enrico di Borbone undertook between 1887 and 1889 together with his wife Adelgonda di Braganza, Count Alessandro Zileri dal Verme – author of a detailed diary that has allowed scholars to reconstruct with precision the various stages of the long itinerary – and a small group of experts.

Enrico di Borbone arrived in Japan in 1889, where he stayed for nine months, from February to November. Although it was a private journey, wherever he went he was received by local authorities with consideration and recognition, as if he were a diplomat. In Tokyo, the emperor himself visited the residence assigned to him, even though Enrico di Borbone had already been received at court with full honours.

The collection – unfortunately now partly dispersed – was initially composed for about two-thirds of Japanese objects: lacquerware, prints, folding screens, garments and textiles, weapons, porcelain, and furnishing items. Among these, a significant number are connected to the nō theatre. We find netsuke (small carved toggles made of wood or ivory), inrō (small multi-compartment cases), tsuba (sword guards), picnic sets, musical instruments, and ukiyo-e prints (“images of the floating world”), depicting themes and characters recurring in the nō and kyōgen repertoire, such as Okina, the Okame mask, or Takasago, alongside subjects that are rarer within the collection.

In 2022, the museum dedicated an exhibition to the costumes and musical instruments from the nō tradition preserved in the collection, titled Japanese Tales: Costumes and Stories from Nō Theatre at the Museum of Oriental Arte in Venice. The exhibition was conceived not only with the aim of “illustrate a historic episode, or enhance the works of the museum’s collection and of the collectors, but also to introduce the public to the essence of nō, demonstrate the innovative aspects that can influence contemporary theatrical experimentation while remaining faithful to its origins.” (Marta Boscolo Marchi, Director of the Museum of Oriental Art in Venice, introduction to Japanese Tales)

In this context, our intention is to further expand the public’s knowledge of the museum’s collection related to nō theatre, presenting the stories and characters of this universe through the works of art that have preserved them over time.

Why do we find these objects in European collections of Asian art?

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, nō theatre and the cultural milieu that accompanied it increasingly entered the lives of military aristocrats, monks, and wealthy merchants. This spread encouraged the production of art and craft objects that did not belong to nō theatre in the strict sense, but nevertheless reflected its influence. These were objects from everyday life, or items collected by the Japanese themselves – enthusiasts of the theatrical genre – such as netsuke, menuki (small ornaments applied to the sword hilt), inrō, dolls, sakazuki (ceremonial cups used for drinking sake) and folding screens, decorated with images of stage props (most typically masks), characters, and scenes from famous plays.

Later, at the end of the nineteenth century, Westerners who travelled to Japan purchased large quantities of artworks and craft objects, both as travel souvenirs and for artistic and cultural study. These acquisitions were often made without a clear distinction between high and low artistic quality, with a preference for items that were easily transportable to Europe.

Indeed, European collections contain a large number of notebooks, prints, kakejiku and emakimono (which, when rolled up, are small and easy to handle), as well as various tsuba, netsuke, and inrō. The subjects range from traditional iconographic themes – such as the dragon with the flaming pearl or mandarin ducks – to scenes from well-known narratives in Japan, such as The Tale of the Heike (14th century) or The Tale of Genji (11th century), as well as characters and moments drawn from nō and kabuki theatre.

A further factor that contributed to the spread of these materials was the fall of the shogunal government in 1868. With the beginning of the Meiji era (1868-1912), many families of nō actors and musicians lost their patrons. Nō, in the form perfected by Kan’ami and his son Zeami between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, had in fact been developed to meet the refined tastes of the upper classes, who for a long time had constituted its primary audience. It was customary for these elites to gift actors refined and richly decorated garments, that is, the costumes we now associate with this theatrical form. With the fall of the shogunate, however, aristocratic families no longer had the funds necessary to support the actors, who were therefore forced to sell their masks and costumes. In this way, many of these objects ended up in the hands of Western collectors.

The reception of nō theatre in Europe and Italy

In 1871, Iwakura Tomomi, an important political figure, embarked on an 18-month journey around the world at the request of the new Japanese government, with the aim of reporting back on the state of other countries in terms of technology, politics, economy, and other significant fields.

During this journey, while staying in Paris, he had the opportunity to attend the opera. This experience convinced him that Japan, in order to demonstrate that it stood on equal footing with the West, needed a form of performing art capable of representing the country internationally. It could not be a passing trend, but rather something rooted in the nation’s culture that could showcase Japan’s artistic tradition. It was in this context that Nō theatre was gradually promoted to the status of Japan’s national performing art and became one of the tools of diplomacy with the West.

From that moment on, various Nō performances were organized, especially in honour of prominent figures, including Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, Alexander Alexandrovich of Russia, and Thomas of Savoy, Duke of Genoa.

Diplomats and intellectuals residing in Japan attended these performances and wrote accounts in academic publications, offering impressions (not always positive), more technical information for enthusiasts, and the first translations of the plays performed. Among these were The Classical Poetry of the Japanese (1880) by Basil Hall Chamberlain, which includes the dramas Hagoromo, Sesshōseki, Kantan, and Nakamitsu; the first manuals describing Nō theatre, such as Plays of Old Japan: The Nō (1913) by Marie Carmichael Stopes in collaboration with Sakurai Jōji; and the works of Ernest Fenollosa and Ezra Pound.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Nō theatre became not only an object of academic study, but also a source of inspiration for Western modern theatre actors – particularly those of the avant-garde – who saw in it a means to break away from theatrical conventions and the naturalism of nineteenth-century theatre. Moreover, the idea of the actor as wholly devoted to the performing art, embodying a spiritual dedication to the “way,” was especially appealing to actors of that period.

With Jacques Copeau, for example, actors underwent very rigorous training in which they learned the value of silence, the body, and its expressive potential. This work was sometimes accompanied by the use of masks, precisely to place actors in a position where they would not rely excessively on facial expression. Bertolt Brecht, on the other hand, was more interested in Nō dramaturgy and plots, and adapted some plays into socialist moral comedies cantered on the theme of voluntary sacrifice for a higher good.

From 1912 onward, Nō theatre also began to intersect with cinema, through the production of filmed performances such as Hagoromo, Sumidagawa, Funa Benkei, and others.

The influence and transmission of Nō theatre in the West continued in the following decades, taking on new forms. Beginning in the Shōwa (1926-1989) period and leading up to the outbreak of World War II, Japanese politics became increasingly nationalist, and Nō theatre was used by the government as a means of disseminating its conservative ideology. This occurred both in Japan and abroad, especially in countries of the Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis. Nō families were asked to rewrite certain classical works and, at the same time, compose new ones in support of the war. For the Italian embassy in Tokyo in 1942, the shinsaku nō (nō plays written after the Meiji period) Chūrei was translated into Italian as Le anime fedeli by Mario Marega.

With the end of the war, Nō theatre once again faced the same challenges it had encountered at the beginning of the Meiji period: the country was in severe economic hardship, and available resources could not be allocated to artistic activities. Moreover, many theatres had been destroyed by bombing. However, Japan was aware of the need to present a new international identity to the rest of the world, and Nō theatre once again played a fundamental role.

In 1957, Nō theatre became the first traditional performing art to be designated an Important Intangible Cultural Property by the Japanese government, particularly following the evidence of its enormous success a few years earlier, in 1954, in Italy, at the International Theatre Festival of the Venice Biennale. A group of actors from the Kanze and Kita schools travelled to Venice for the 13th International Theatre Festival, at the request of the Japanologist Giuliana Stramigioli. The response was highly positive: attendance was large, and numerous newspapers reported on this theatrical form, which occupied two full evenings.

The festival brought Nō theatre closer once again to the West, and thanks to the revision and reinterpretation of Zeami’s treatises – particularly regarding the relationship between actors and audience – initiated by figures such as the actor Kanze Hisao (1925–1978) and the playwrights Mishima Yukio (1925–1970) and Kinoshita Junji (1914–2006) in the 1950s, this theatrical tradition achieved great popularity both in Japan and abroad. In 1957, for example, a company from the Kanze and Kita schools performed in France with Aoi no ue and Shakkyō. Although Jean-Louis Barrault had initially shown little interest in Nō theatre and had expressed negative comments, after studying with Copeau’s students he became fascinated by the use of the body as a means of expression in this art form. In 1962, he invited Kanze Hisao to France to initiate a cultural and theatrical exchange between Japanese and French actors.

Following this experience, Hisao became increasingly involved in a new movement of experimentation in both music and theatre, building a network of contacts, including Eugène Ionesco and Peter Brook, which enabled him, in 1976, to bring his company Zeami-za on a European tour.

Italy was also touched by this period of cultural exchange: in 1977, Eugenio Barba, in collaboration with the Teatro Tascabile, organized a series of workshops in Bergamo attended by actors from all over the world, including Kanze Hisao’s brother, Kanze Hideo.

Meanwhile, in 1968, the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs officially launched a policy of preservation and innovation for the arts, supported by economic funding. In 1972, the Japan Foundation was established with the aim of promoting Japanese culture both domestically and internationally. Along similar lines, in 1979 the Nō Theatre Research Institute at Hosei University organized a symposium titled Sekai no naka no nō 世界の中の能 (“Noh Theatre in the World”), attended by both nō students and actors from other theatrical traditions, including Eugenio Barba and Richard Schechner.

Interest in and study of this discipline continued in the following years, particularly in Europe and North America, alongside the spread of other Asian practices such as yoga, Zen, and martial arts. From the 1970s onward, interest in Nō theatre focused primarily on the actor’s body, though this interest declined during the 1980s and 1990s. However, since the early 2000s, with the growing relationship between traditional Nō theatre and contemporary theatre in Japan, interest in this performing art has gradually been revived. This is evidenced by its recognition in 2008 as an UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.