Gakuya
It is a room behind the Noh stage where the performers prepare. In many cases, Japanese-style rooms which has a lot of tatami is often used as a gakuya, each room is assigned to each of Shite, Waki, Kyougen and hayashi musicans. In principle, there are no private rooms, and the sliding doors are left open so that you can see what each room looks like. The room is equipped with a yucha-tea, the performor(Shite, Waki, Kyougen) room is putted a shelf of costumes and props and the hayashi musicians room is made charcoal fine for roasting the leather of Otsudumi-large drum. The room closest to the Kagami-noma room is often referred to as the “costume room” and if often used by people who change their costumes as Shite performer. Also, in one corner of the Gakuya room, there is a space for making Noh props, in here, we equip a lot of materials such as bamboo skeletons. The gakuya room is extremely orderly and the seating position is naturally determined according to the age and position of the performer.
Jibyoushi
It is the law of rhythm of chanting. It is applied to the song of “Byoushi-ai” that matches the rhythm. There are three types of rhythm: hiranori, chuunori and onori. It is essential to understand the Jibyoushi in order to chant a song with a small drum , a large drum, and a drum , and the song that is chanted according to the law of the Jibyoushi is called ” Jibyoushi utai song”. The rhythm of jibyoushi-ai is basically eight beats as one unit (there are also variants of six beats, four beats and two beats) and since this is called eight beats (yattsuoshi/ yahoshi), jibyoushi is also called eight beats.
Honji
There are two types of chanting, “Byoushi- ai (congruent rhythm)” that matches the rhythm and “Byoushi- awazu (noncongruent rhythm)” that does not match the rhythm, but the chanting of the Byoushiai basically consists of eight beats as one unit. The form of 8 beats per unit is called “Honji”. To the other honji, we have the four beats per unit called “tori “, two beats per unit called “okuri “, 6 beats per unit called “Kataji” and it is played properly depending on the number of characters in the song and the presence or absence of clauses.
Yatsu-wari
It is the rhythm of the part of the song or hayashi that matches the beat is basically eight beats as one unit (there are also variants of six beats, four beats and two beats), and this is called eight beats (Yatsu-boshi or yahoshi). There are three rhythm types of byoushi-ai (8 beats as one unit), hira-nori, chuu-nori, o-nori. It is called “yatsu-wari” and it is assigned to eight beats according to the principle of each nori.
Chuu-nori
It is one of the rhythm methods of chanting. There are some songs that follow the rhythm of the hayashi musical accompaniment and some that do not. And those that make congruence on the rhythm have hira-nori, chuu-nori and o-nori. Chuu-nori basically chants 16 characters by allocating them to 8 beats such as “chant and tells all the important things to you”. For this reason, there is basically no place to pull and sing, but when the number of characters is small, use “pause” or “pull”. Because it is sung with a good and graceful feeling so it is often chanted in the final part of Shura Noh, where the spirit of the samurai describes the suffering of Shura and in the scene where the demon god shows dignity. It is also called “Shura Nori ” or “Han Nori “. Flute, small drum, large drum is played, and drum is not.
O-nori
It is one of the rhythm methods of chanting. There are some songs that follow the rhythm of the hayashi musical accompaniment and some that do not. And those that make congruence on the rhythm have hira-nori, chuu-nori and o-nori. The o-nori is basically, “So~No~To~Ki~Yo~Shi~Tsu~Ne~” as chanting is assigned an 8-character four-four tone adjusted to 8 beats. The first character often starts from the second beat, but depending on the number of characters, the presence or absence of clauses , etc., the interval between chanting (beats) may change, or “run” or “pulling” may be inserted… In many cases, it is chanted with a good feeling-floating-floating. Taiko drums may or may not be played as in.
Kakaru
It is the action that the chant and hayashi gain momentum to strengthen the power and speed up the tempo. According the style-school, the chanting may shift from the byoushi-ai to byoushi-awazu that mean shift from making congruent with rhythm to not; changing from kotoba to sashi-style or referring to the part of the chanting that is sung to the other party,etc. it is used in various ways.
Yatsu-byoshi
It is a rhythm structure with 8 beats as one unit. It is the most basic rhythm of Noh, and in principle, the song that matches the beat, is strongly conscious of which character of the song corresponds to which beat; one phrase is chanted in eight beats. In addition, the mai dances such as ” Nakano-mai “, ” Otoko-mai “, and ” Kami-mai ” are also performed with a rhythm of eight beats , and the practical skill of Noh and eight beats are closely related.
Nanori-bue
It is the flute that played at the beginning of a song when the Waki performer appears. There are three types of Shin, Groy, Kusa depending on the role of Waki and the presence or absence of Wakitsure and it is different with the “Yosei flute” when the Waki appears on the stage and stops. Except for Waki-noh, it is played only when the nanori is chanted immediately after the performer appears, and it is not played when the Waki appears in advance of other roles. It is often seen in the appearance of priests such as in “Izutsu” and “Yashima” plays.
Hariban
It is a wooden board that is used instead of large drums, small drums, and drums when practicing or making arrangements. It is often made of hardwood such as zelkova, with a rectangular parallelepiped outer shape and a square hollow inside. Sit down straight and put it in front of your knees, and stick Japanese paper with a fan which is split in two to make hariori, then we make a sound by hitting hariougi to hariban. In many cases, we use large drums to make arrangements and use small drums and drums as musical instruments. It is also called hyoushi-ban.
