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THE NOH PLAY HAGOROMO

The Story of the Play

A heavenly maiden leaves her feathered robe (hagoromo) on the branch of a pine tree, where it is found by the fisherman Hakuryo. He recognizes it as a great treasure and hastens to carry it home and preserve it. When finding her robe gone, the heavenly maiden weeps, knowing that she will be unable to return to heaven without it. She begs the fisherman to return it, and, although hesitant to part with something so beautiful, he finally consents on condition that she dance for him. She agrees but asks for the robe beforehand, since she cannot dance without it. He fears she will fly away if he gives it to her but she makes him realize that such deception is the way of human beings but not of heaven. Embarrassed to have been suspicious, he returns the robe, and the maiden performs magnificently for him, ultimately disappearing into the clouds surrounding Mt. Fuji.

Staging the Play

On the traditional Noh stage, an absolute minimum of props is used, and then only as symbols of what they represent. In some performances of Hagoromo, the robe is hung on the first of three small pines that line the hashigakari or bridgeway across which the performers enter the stage in a traditional theater. More commonly, the robe is hung on a small sized natural pine brought onto the main stage area, as it will be for the October 16th performance. The beauty of the maiden's costume, mask and headdress dominates the stage as she dances in the final segment, totally filling the viewer's vision. The maiden - and traditionally all roles are taken by men - wears a zoh-onna (mature woman's) mask, through whose tiny eye slits the performer must control all his actions. She wears an elaborate headdress, often with a bird on it. In special performances, the headdress may have a white lotus on it, as in the picture above.

The maiden, the shite or central character, performs in prescribed patterns whose very slowness and simplicity are felt to convey the purity of her person and her art. Her total bodily appearance and all her movements portray her great joy at recovering her robe, in the knowledge that this will enable her to return to the peace of heaven.

The role of the fisherman is taken by the waki or assistant performer, who is often a wandering Buddhist priest or, as in this play, a simple person of the community. He represents the audience, the observer or accidental participant caught in the more magical or legendary events enacted on the stage.

The most popular of all Noh plays, Hagoromo is also the most frequently performed, both in Japan and abroad. Considered an unparalled example of all that is pure and beautiful, the dances of the heavenly maiden are studied and performed by thousands of young women all over Japan as a preparation for adult life.

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