Noh Shozoku (Costume) Workshop

june 9-16, 2025. kyoto & fukuyama, Japan

Limited to 6 participants

Hosted by Monica Bethe (Kyoto)

and members of the oshima family (Fukuyama)

See how noh costumes are made, learn what they mean, and experience how they are worn. Japanese textile expert and noh scholar Monica Bethe serves as guide and Kita School professionals provide costuming lessons in a workshop that features visits to fabric dyers, weavers, and embroiderers, as well as attendance at a professional noh rehearsal and subsequent full performance. TN has been organizing this workshop with Monica off and on since 2012 and we are honored that she continues to work with us sharing her wealth of knowledge to offer insight into the incredibly profound work of textiles and their use in noh. This workshop starts in Kyoto with 4 days of lectures and onsite visits to artisan craftsman’s workshops. Then we bid farewell to Monica in Kyoto, and travel to Fukuyama where we have the opportunity to observe a “moshi-awase” (final rehearsal) of the following day’s noh performance and be get an introduction to the costumes and masks that will be used. The next day a full noh program including 2 noh and a kyogen will be seen. On the the last day of the workshop, we get the opportunity to try on and get hands on experience dressing each other. This is an extremely rare opportunity for a peek inside the inner workings of tradition.

Workshop is conducted in English (except for Noh Performance Viewing.) No prior experience in reading or speaking Japanese is required.

About monica bethe:

Monica Bethe is Director of the Medieval Japanese Studies Institute in Kyoto, dedicated in part to the conservation of treasures in Japanese Imperial Convents. For over 50 years Monica has been performing, researching and educating the world about Japanese culture with her concentration in noh and textiles.

Selected publications:

Nō as Performance: An Analysis of the Kuse Scene of Yamamba. Coauthored with Karen Brazell. East Asia Papers No. 16. Cornell University China Japan Program, Ithaca, N.Y., l978.

Dance in the Nō Theater: Vol. 1 Dance Analysis; Vol. 2 Plays and Scores; Vol 3 Dance Patterns. Coauthored with Karen Brazell. East Asia Papers No. 29, Cornell University China Japan Program, Ithaca, N.Y., 1982, '83.

Noh Performance Guides: Matsukaze (1992). Fujito (1992), Miidera (1993), Atsumori (1994), Tenko (1995), Ema (1996), Aoinoue (1997). Coauthored with Richard Emmert. National Noh Theater, Tokyo.

Patterns and Poetry: Nō Robes from the Lucy Truman Aldrich Collection at the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design. Coauthered with Iwao Nagasaki and others. Rhode Island School of Design. Providence, RI., 1992.

Miracles and Mischief: Noh and Kyōgen Theater in Japan. Co-edited with Sharon Sadako Takeda. Authored: “The Staging of Noh: Costumes and Masks in a Performance Context” , Definitions of Costume Types, catalogue entries. Translated: “The Birth and Evolution of Noh Masks” by Tanabe Saburōsuke. Los Angeles County Museum. 2002.

Forthcoming: Companion to Nō and Kyōgen Theatre, Cooedited with Yamanaka Reiko, Eike Grossman, Tom Hare, Diego Pellecchia, and Michael Watson. Brill, 2024