Kyogen

Our Kyogen scene:

**Kyogen Performances**
 Unlike highly symbolic and spiritual Noh, kyogen draws its inspiration from the real world and features actors who speak in colloquial Japanese. Many plays are satires of weak samurai, dishonest priests or unfulfilled women. Taro Kaha, a servant, is a stock player who appears in many kyogen plays. Sometimes clever, sometimes foolish, he has a knack for getting in trouble.

 Kyogen focuses on the script with asides to the audience and bantering dialogue and comedic repetition. The language is much less elevated than that of Noh and is easier for ordinary Japanese to understand, The action is more energetic and realistic as opposed to the slow, stylized movements of Noh.

 Kyogen has experienced a revival partly through the energy of Nomura Mansai, a young fresh-faced performer who has livened up the show with light effects and electronic displays that explain what is going on on stage. Normura is the eldest son of Mansaku Monura who credited with introducing kyogen to overseas audiences.

 Kyogen has also been given a boost by the handsome kyogen actor Motoya Izumi, who had the lead roll in one of the most popular television dramas of 2001.

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