The masked actor walks slowly forward. Pausing, he ever so slightly tilts his head upward-- thereby utterly astonishing the audience. For with that tiniest upward tilt of his head, the facial expression of the mask is transformed and the mask now appears to be smiling.
A few weeks ago, the nikkei shimbun had a short opinion piece about the new regime in Japan in which the transformation of politician Yukio Hatoyama into the country's new Prime Minister was likened to that of a Noh actor donning a mask.
The actor playing the shite aims to suppress his ego as much as possible as he dons the noh mask for the performance. At that moment placing the mask on his face his entire personality is extinguished allowing for the possession of the actor by the god or ghost of the play. Spirit resides in the expressionless mask as the actor seeks with all his self to reflect this spirit to the audience. One night has passed since the election. And, the transformation visible on new Prime Minister Hatoyama's face is like that of the noh actor.
In a heartbeat, Hatoyama is transformed as the spirit of his new position takes hold of him. This all reminded me so much of something that Slavoj Zizek had written in a recent interview about Japan and its symbolic or formalized practices:
What I see in Japan, and maybe this is my own myth, is that behind all these notions of politeness, snobbism etc. The Japanese are well aware that something which may appear superficial and unnecessary, has a much deeper structural function. A Western approach would be: who needs this? But a totally ridiculous thing at a deeper level might play a stabilizing function we are not aware of.
That is the thing about masks, you know. Just as Zizek suggests, yes, they perhaps are not efficient but I think the formal roles we play in life are hugely important; and as with so many of our ritualized cultural practices, they serve a great purpose on a deeper level. And because of this are not things to be cast aside only because they are inefficient or seemingly unncecessary.
Zizek continues:
The usual cliché now is that Japan is the ultimate civilization of shame. What I despise in America is the studio actors’ logic, as if there is something good about self-expression: do not be oppressed, open yourself up, even if you shout and kick the others, everything in order to express and liberate yourself. This is a stupid idea — that behind the mask there is some truth. In Japan, even if something is merely an appearance, politeness is not simply insincere. […] Surfaces do matter. If you disturb the surfaces you may lose a lot more than you accounted for. You shouldn’t play with rituals. Masks are never simply mere masks. Perhaps that’s why Brecht became close to Japan. He also liked this notion that there is nothing really liberating in this typical Western gesture of removing the masks and showing the true face. What you discover is something absolutely disgusting. Let’s maintain the appearances.
Of course, with all things worth doing, it's not always easy to maintain appearances. The article in the nikkei continued that the masked actor just walking slowly across the stage was in fact expending a huge amount of energy. To the audience it appears "he's only just walking slowly" but in fact the effort required raises his pulse to 170-- and as much as up to 207 during particularly challenging scenes. Just donning the noh mask and slowly walking across a short stage raises the actor's pulse to a runner's.
It's kind of like walking across a glacier really. Macfarlane in his book Mountains of the Mind described the way he would start off going 5 miles, thinking, "Oh, I'll be on the other side in a few hours... only to be huffing and puffing still walking 12 hour later. Walking across a glacier...
And while it is inefficient for sure, still there is great simplicity is these things. Don't you think? For these tasks that we throw ourselves into, in the end, they do, I think have tremendous significance in much the way Zizek suggests. That is, because we throw ourselves into them, they are almost always inherently worth doing--or put another way, they are things we should not be too quick to walk away from.
**
Thanks to the lascivious Mr. Morrison for his enlightening opinions at NeoJaponisme (see his post on the Necessary Empty Gesture here)
And below, Hagoromo.
You know, they say the masks used in Noh have their origin in the theatrical masks used in the dramas of ancient Greece. These masked dramas made their way East along the Silk Road, it is said to China where they influenced Chinese dramatic forms. One of the earliest plays of all, Hagoromo (羽衣 or the feather mantle) has roots in almost all the cultures along the silk road. The story of a goddess come to earth; a fisherman comes across her exquisite feather robe, which was hanging from a tree nearby where she was singing. He is so entranced by the exquisite feather robe that he seeks to take it home with him. Before he can get very far, however, the beautiful goddess appears before him and tells him that without her robe, she cannot return to heaven. The fisherman is, of course, swayed by her obvious agitation and agrees to return it-- if only she will dance for him. She agrees, but then he begins to waiver. Won't she ignore her part of the bargain as soon as she gets her feather robe back...
But she tells him: “Doubt is for mortals. In heaven, there is no deceit.”
(For more on feathered robes and other Tang dreams see my post on Yang Guifei 楊貴妃)
Nice note from Beijing in which he mentioned
Regarding Zizek's quote, I guess the "Western" idea that there is an "essence" behind our "superficial" roles owes a lot to Platonic/Christian dualism that is largely absent from Buddhist and Confucian thought
This is probably accurate, I think.... Sometimes have been made to feel that I am in some kind of Danielle Steel novel-- as if I only could throw off my many masks I could get to the essence of my true self. And then I come to my senses-- and try and enjoy the view from the glacier instead.
It was brought to my attention that I neglected to link to the Zizek interview, here it is
Posted by: Peony | September 20, 2009 at 05:01 PM
Relating to this idea of a mask...was dragged to a traditional 'budo' dance (spelling?), a ritualistic performance born of pain and suffering. Its slow measured steps and silence forced the mind to feel and 'see' pain....in a still way that is almost never promoted or revealed in the west - certainly not admitted to. It was as if by the very stillness and control one was obligated to partake and witness in an emotion so profound that it needed that very calmness to take it in. We are losing rituals and perhaps more crucially losing the ability to take time to partake in them.
Posted by: Jeff | September 20, 2009 at 05:38 PM