[D7 MA Theatricals] The Stage (participants only)

[Doji Shinnosuke]

The cast and crew begins backstage. A curtained door separates the backstage area from the passageway to the stage, but, as is traditional for this play style, there is no curtain dividing the stage itself from the audience. The only scenery is the image of the sacred pine tree at the back of the stage.

1. The Blessing
2. First Act: Hagoromo
3. Interlude (Kyogen)
4. Second Act: Momijigari

((Your host is trapped in meetings for at least another several hours IRL and will get this rolling properly Friday evening. However, here is a thread where the performance will happen.))

Link to the Audience

[Doji Shinnosuke]

Preamble: The Invocation of Blessings

Noh theater is a sacred art, descended from temple music and dance. While a priestly blessing isn't a requirement, it's common, especially in exalted settings like this one.

Once the audience are seated, the musicians will enter by the stage passageway and take their place at the back of the stage while the actors remain off-stage.

Before the performance proper begins, the shugenja participants in the show, Asahina Hoshiko, Yasuki Masaki, and Kuni Shiori, will ritually purify the stage and bless the performers and audience as they see fit.

[Asahina Hoshiko]

Hoshiko has set aside the white of mourning as incompatible with this role. Let the audience hold to grief or not, as they chose, for now, her role is to bring them into a different space, if they chose to follow.

Hoshiko looks to her fellows, spaced out to manage the space, and coordinated beforehand to find the unity in their practices, as well as the differences such that the purification becomes the equivalent of a round in singing. One beginning, then the next, then the next, coordinated to allow the chants to bounce between them back and forth across the stage. Hoshiko calls to the air spirits to sweep the place clear, to carry their voices clear and true, and water to guide their steps through the play to come.

Her actions are similar to the others, most closely resembling Masaki's of course. So much so that they converge to the blessing of the actors almost in unison.

[Yasuki Masaki]

Masaki steps onto the stage along with the other shugenja in the full robes fit for a purification ritual, chanting a prayer in a low, murmuring voice along with the others. The smell of agarwood fills the air as a rising line of smoke rises from the incense burner on her hand, and she meanders through the stage along with the others, as if trying to make sure the purifying smoke reaches all parts of it.

When that step is done, the incense burners are placed aside - left close by so that the purifying smell can keep blessing the stage. She then helps in the stage's ritual washing - including the use of an ōnusa, a wooden wand covered in paper streamers, to 'brush away' any evil or undesired influences from the area. Finally, she produces from the left sleeve of the robe a small, red and white bag - cleansing salts, which are sprinkled around the stage to cleanse it further, and protect it from any uncleanliness or undue influences that might interfere with the play.

As a final step, she will stop by some of the actors, chant prayers to each of them, touching them for a short moment, then shake the ōnusa above them.

The actions, as described, are coordinated with the others almost as a performance in itself - Masaki and Hoshiko following the rituals as similarly to each other as would two students who learnt under the same sensei would when doing their kata.

--------------------------
OOC:
Some blessings on actors

#1
D7 MA - Blessing the Actors before the play. ML 2 Air spell (Benten's Touch). Casting #1 | 7k4 ⇒ 21 (TN: 15)

#2
D7 MA - Blessing the Actors before the play. ML 2 Air spell (Benten's Touch). Casting #2 | 7k4 ⇒ 28 (TN: 15)

#3
D7 MA - Blessing the Actors before the play. ML 2 Air spell (Benten's Touch). Casting #2 | 7k4 ⇒ 28 (TN: 15) (incorrectly labelled as #2, but it's a different roll)

#4
D7 MA - Blessing the Actors before the play. ML 2 Air spell (Benten's Touch). Casting #4 | 7k4 ⇒ 54 (TN: 15)

[Kuni Shiori]

Shiori joined the other two women on stage in preparation and cleansing the stage. Admittedly, this custom was a bit more ceremonial to the Kuni's curriculum laid out by her sensei, considering it the ritual that was more routine than dire. That said, she supposed it should be considered a privilege that she was taking part in something more joyous than life-risking. She hadn't risked her life in purifying or blessing something before, thankfully, Kuni who took part in something like that typically didn't get to do so twice.

Perhaps own bit of familiarity aside, she would join with Hoshiko's and Masaki's lead. She also added her voice to the prayers and inadvertently lent a sort of contralto voice to the proceedings.

[Doji Shinnosuke]

After the three priestesses depart in a waft of incense and sacredness, a pause ensues, just long enough to let quiet settle over the stage. Then a high flute sounds, followed by a drum and other instruments.

A figure holding a fishing rod appears on the passage to the stage...

The First Noh Play
Hagoromo: The Heavenly Feathered Robe
An auspicious dance play that tells the story of an encounter between a virtuous fisherman and a divine maiden from Tengoku.

Early one morning, a fisherman and his companions arrive on the shore to go fishing. The fisherman finds a mysterious feathered robe (represented by a gorgeously embroidered theater kimono) hung on the branch of a seaside pine tree. He picks up the robe and prepares to take it home as a family treasure, but before he can leave, a celestial maiden appears and asks for the robe. It belongs to her, and she can't fly back to her home in heaven without it.

At first, the fisherman is not convinced, but the celestial maiden's pleading, and the appearance of her sisters in their feathered garments, persuades him that she is telling the truth. They reach an agreement: the fisherman will return the robe in exchange for seeing a dance from the Heavens. The maiden dons her feather robe and, with her sisters, performs a song and slow dance describing the heavenly palaces of Tengoku and the earthly beauties of Rokugan's landscape in spring before disappearing into the mists, never to be seen again.

Cast:
Fisherman (Waki): Doji Hikaru
Maiden of the Robe (Shite): Ikoma Honoka
Celestial Sisters (Tsure): Asahina Hoshiko, Asahina Minase
Fisherman's companion (Waki-tsure): Shiba Ryushi
Musicians: Agasha Yuna on shamisen, Toichi on drum, NPC Crane delegates on drums and flute
Whispering lines from offstage in case someone forgot: Doji Shinnosuke

Costuming, set and props:
A simple fake pine tree is placed at the front of the stage by a stage hand (Shiba Ryusei). A gorgeous stage kimono hangs from one branch.
The celestial maiden characters perform wearing masks from Doji Shinnosuke's collection, all representing young women.
The fisherman and his companion are not masked, and are dressed more simply. They carry prop fishing rods.

((Each participant in this act can add one post fleshing out how your character's performance goes!))

[Shiba Ryusei]

Ryusei had spent the brief rehearsal time whipping the backstage crew into, well... a crew.

In some ways it was a lot like command of a ship, and if deferred on the artistic front to the "Captain," he was very much the bosun of this particular kobune.

But for this play, not much needed to be done once the performance began.

Which meant Ryusei actually got to watch, albeit from the sidelines.

[Agasha Yuna]

The musicians had prepared upbeat tunes to support dancing.

The music began with drum, and then Yuna joined on the shamisen, smiling as she played.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xIzoRVue5Ec

The flute joined as the celestial maiden made her appearance, flute and shamisen together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN9lQGRsqBc


Yuna played beautifully, from Benten's touch in the theater team's preparations, and from her radiant expression - all day long! - at having her marriage approved.

TN15, 1 raise called) 42 v TN15
https://sakkaku.org/r/16146

[Shiba Ryushi]

Shiba Ryushi was no actor but that didn't stopped him from playing the part.



//Just a tag and the roll
D7 MA Acting Noh play Awareness Untrained 0CR 0VP Benten Touched | 4k4 ⇒ 25 (TN: 10)

[Asahina Minase]

The smaller of the two celestial sisters graces the stage with slow and practised movements as if she'd done this dance a thousand times and not just learnt it in the last few days. Her stand out piece is the song though, the voice coming from behind the mask providing a the celestial sister just the right amount of heavenly timbre and aplomb.

--

D7 MA Theatricals: Perform Singing/Awareness, Sensation, Voice, Void for +1k1. 2 called raises | 7k6 ⇒ 44 (TN: 25)

D7 MA Theatricals: Perform Dance/Agility, Sensation, Void for +1k1. | 4k3 ⇒ 29 (TN: 15)

[Asahina Hoshiko]

These theatrical feathered cloaks were lovely. Hoshiko enjoyed watching the performance from backstage, absently petting her cloak until it was time to join her much shorter cousin to step up and play their heavenly maiden parts. She tries to fix Tengoku in her mind, in hopes that it will somehow translate into a more heavenly aura for the audience, her focus being somewhat marred by thinking about the ungrateful peasant bargaining for entertainment when he was lucky enough to even have such an encounter.

The inner conflict found expression when the time came to perform for the ungrateful lout. The sturdy priestess's movements remained graceful, and retained the simple steps of the dance with ease, but the words to the song fled entirely. She faked it for a phrase or so and then resorted to humming the tune underneath Minase's Obviously Better voice until their cue to vanish from the peasan'ts sight (and the audience's) forever.

D2 MA performance: Time for some song and dance. Untrained! Singing | 4k4 ⇒ 13 (TN: 15)

D2 MA performance: Time for some song and dance. Untrained! Dancing | 4k4 ⇒ 17 (TN: 15)

[Ikoma Honoka]

For her part, the so called 'rookie' who had been totally not secretly practicing on her own at night shone as the Maiden of the Robe. She moved around the stage with a perfection that made her look professional, her voice carried the emotion that the Maiden had both begging for her robe to be returned and the joy of being reunited with the robe, and her performance (she believed) would be the shining part of the whole act.

She did quite well, so it might well be!



(ooc: D7 MA Theatrical performance. Acting/awareness+Voice+Benten's Touch from Asahina Hoshiko. Tn15+2 raises (Tn25) | 7k6+4 ⇒ 55 (TN: 25))

[Doji Hikaru]

This is Hikaru's chance to perform. Perform at the Imperial Winter Court. Joining at all might be a once in a lifetime visit, and the chance to be on stage? May the Fortunes desert him if he passed up that chance. Of course, that meant that he also had the chance to out-ham one Ikoma Honoka, so he takes his swing.

He bring it. He is the fisherman, a bit of a burr in his accent based on those he's met at the docks. His manner slouched just a bit, but he voice rings out clear and crisp to the crows and the awe with which he regards the Maiden just seems so real.

Take that!
___
OOC fluff
D7 - Theater Roll - Acting/Awareness - TN 15 four raises for TN 35 - VP spent - Voice for +1k1 - Benten's touch for 1k1+4 | 8k7+4 ⇒ 49 (TN: 35)
TN 35 passes (4 raises)

[Doji Shinnosuke]

The Heavenly Maidens fade into the mists with a last melancholy trill of the flutes, the fishermen exit slowly down the passage back to their mundane lives.

And now, it's time for something completely different!

Courtiers who have attended performances in the past will be familiar with the tradition of filling the intervals between Noh plays with a comic interlude, giving everyone a break from the high emotions of serious drama (and letting the musicians leave the stage for a short rest, as well). And so...

The Comic Interlude (Kyogen)
Tied To A Pole

A Lord is planning to go out, leaving his two retainers to watch his house. Usually, whenever he leaves Taro and Jiro unattended, the two always break into his sake storehouse and drink up all his best sake--but this time, he has a plan. The Lord recruits the mischievous Taro to help him trick Jiro into showing off with his bo staff, allowing Taro and the Lord to sneak up and tie Jiro's hands to the two ends of the staff. While Taro is gloating, the Lord ties his hands behind his back too, then departs, leaving the two retainers tied up.

The rest of the skit is a slapstick comedy as the two differently-tied-up retainers figure out how to open the sake storehouse, open a barrel, get a bowl, and help one another drink up the sake one scoop at a time. Of course, they become increasingly tipsy and perform dances made silly by their awkward restraints. At the end of the skit, the Lord returns home to find his clever plan has failed. Taro and Jiro blame one another for their mischief, and the Lord chases his drunken retainers off the stage with exaggerated shouts of "Take that! I'll get you yet!"

Cast:
The Lord: Daidoji Ryu
Taro: Yasuki Masaki
Jiro: Doji Shinnosuke

Costuming, set and props:
The Lord wears court costume with long, trailing nagabakama (formal trousers).
The Servants are dressed in everyday clothing.
Props include rope, Servant Jiro's bo staff, and a bowl for the servants to 'drink' from.


Kyōto - Gion: Gion Corner - Kyōgen by Wally Gobetz, on Flickr

[Daidoji Ryu]

Ryu was a rather handsome fellow, actually, but he had a tendency towards frowning.

This stood him in good stead in this role, where he was a... was it a strict lord that kept his servants from drinking up his sake stores? Probably not. But he did play it as stern, nevertheless, the better to contrast the shenanigans the two other actors got up to.

"... and stay out of trouble!" As Ryu made to depart the stage, he shot a glance back, half-suspicious, half-despairing. He'd felt both of those emotions often enough.

With that, he departed, leaving the two to their devices...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

unholy... acting... talent! | 5k5 ⇒ 31 (TN: 15)

[Doji Shinnosuke]

Shinnosuke, dressed in comparatively simple-looking plaid robes with his white hair slicked back into a topknot, seems to be channeling all the enthusiasm of Haku at just before dinnertime into the role of Jiro Kaja.

He makes his eyes huge with enthusiasm and surprise, waves his bo staff around with comically inept abandon until Taro and the Lord tie his hands up to it, and then spends the rest of the skit milking the physical comedy of his absurd scarecrow pose for all it's worth, especially when miming trying to get the storehouse door open and scoop sake out of the barrel. As the two servant characters get drunk, his scarecrow locomotion becomes exaggeratedly wobbly. When the Master unexpectedly returns, he mugs a shocked face and almost seems about to projectile-fall right off the stage, Looney-Tunes style. But he keeps his feet, sways back, and, bobbling like a weathervane in a typhoon, threatens gamely to "give you all a taste of my mighty bo technique!" before skipping off the stage in the final comical chase sequence.

jirokaja.png (207.07 KiB) Viewed 171 times

For him, this performance is playing it safe--he's not leaving it all on the field, but leaving room for the other kyogen players to show well and keeping his metaphorical Dragon powder dry for the fireworks show of the finale. But it's still a darn good performance.

D7 MA Theatricals--Kyogen, Acting, 3 raises over base TN 15. Prodigy, Voice, KA. | 10k5 ⇒ 35 (TN: 30)

[Yasuki Masaki]

When Masaki gets back on stage as Taro, the ritual robes of the cleansing ritual have been swapped for the simple clothes of a poor servant, even somewhat ragged - a great contrast to the court costume she'd worn just hours before. A small trinket dangles from a straw bracelet on her left arm - on close observation, one would notice it's a figurine of a person donning a laughing mask. The straw on the bracelet and trinket are reminders of who exactly the *actual* person behind Taro is (if one allows for the fact that this part of the play doesn't involve masks, of course!)

Mask or no mask, even her face seems somewhat changed.

The normally warm, but contained expression is replaced during most of the first part of the act by giggles and impish grins as Taro works with the Lord to tie Jiro up. They are briefly replaced by a general feeling of 'woe is me' when he is equally tricked by the Lord... but the mischievous grins soon come back, combined with (possibly somewhat exaggerated!) expressions of joy, frustration, anger... and ultimately drunkenness as the two servants work together for their *noble* goal. The drunkenness seems particularly well done - as if this was something that had been rehearsed at least a few times before the quick time they had before this specific play.

As the Lord comes back to find his barrel again half-empty, Taro scurries off in meandering, stumbling steps, even turning back to make a mocking face at the Lord before running away off stage.

--------
OOC:
D7 MA - Noh play, Interlude (Kyogen). Acting/Awa, Air Kami's Blessing still active for +4. A small straw figurine of an actor with a mask dangles from her arm like a bracelet (Asahina trinket used for +2k0). Base TN 15 (Average). 2 Raises called. | 7k4+4 ⇒ 35 (TN: 25)

[Daidoji Ryu]

And so, Ryu chased the two of them around the stage, cursing them. "Taro! Jiro! You wretches! You scoundrels! I'll get you yet!" He promised them.

It was, after all, how that sort of play always went.

[Doji Shinnosuke]

The drunken retainers are chased off the stage, bellies full of sake, as their lord roars (probably ineffectual) revenge!

Next comes a short pause while a few things are moved around on stage, and the audience has a chance to take a quick break for minor bodily needs before the finale of the show.

A faux "mountain" made of cloth draped over a bamboo frame is placed at the rear of the stage, just in front of the musicians' area, and the musicians return after their rest. Once again, the flute strikes up first, followed by the other instruments and chanting, as the final act of the performance begins, this time transporting cast and audience to the deep mountains in autumn...

The Second Noh Play
Momijigari: Autumn Leaf Viewing
A dramatic finale play depicting the conflict between a noble samurai and a demon, ending with the victory of order over chaos and bravery over villainy.

In the first half of this play, an elegant, clearly high-ranking noblewoman and her waiting women are holding an autumn-leaf-viewing excursion in the mountains. A samurai warrior, Koremochi, is out hunting in the same mountains with his companions, and the hunting party encounter the leaf-viewing party. The noblewoman refuses to give her name but invites Koremochi and his companions to join her celebration, singing and encouraging them to drink more and more sake. As the noblewoman performs a graceful but increasingly sinister dance, the men fall asleep. The noblewoman and her companions slip away into the night.

While Koremochi sleeps, he is visited by a mountain kami in the service of the Fortune Hachiman, who explains to him (and the audience) that this mountain is haunted by a demon who has possessed the form of the mysterious lady. The mountain kami departs, leaving behind a holy sword.

Koremochi wakes, finds the sword beside him, and arms himself for the fight. The final section of the play is a dramatic battle between Koremochi and the demon, which now reveals its true form.

Cast:
Koremochi (Waki): Daidoji Ryu
The Noblewoman/The Demon (Shite): Doji Shinnosuke
The Mountain Kami (Ai): Kuni Shiori
The Lady's retainers/lesser demons (Tsure) OR Koremochi's companions (Waki-tsure): Everyone Else!

Costuming, set and props:
A faux 'mountain' (a bamboo frame covered in brocade cloth and decorated with autumn maple leaves) is placed at the back of the stage. The Demon will emerge from inside it in the second half.
In the first half, the Noblewoman and her retainers perform wearing glittering robes and masks representing beautiful, young to middle-aged women. In the second half, they wear demonic masks and dramatic, mane-like wigs.
Koremochi and his companions are not masked and wear fancier versions of samurai hunting dress.
The Mountain God is dressed finely.
Koremochi has a bow and quiver in the first half, and a prop sword after his dream. The demon is armed with a prop war-hammer.

[Agasha Yuna]

Yuna was ready with her shamisen, primarily playing battle music at the finale. Demon slaying music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjiaY80ecxY

Now her expression was serious. Resolute. Battle ready!



https://sakkaku.org/r/16182 47 vs TN 15