Textile & Fashion

Noh derived from the two theatrical genres of sarugaku and dengaku, and was first fostered by the Ashikaga shogunate in the Muromachi Period, and brought to its first flowering through their patronage of Kan'ami and his son Zeami. During the Onin Wars, members of the aristocracy fled to the provinces, taking refuge with wealthy local figures, and this allowed noh to stay, after a fashion. In the Azuchi-Momoyama Period, the warlords Nobunaga and Hideyoshi used noh for political ends, and it made a dramatic comeback. Hideyoshi turned noh into part of elite military ritual, and appeared on-stage himself. Naturally, the old aesthetic propagated by Zeami, known as 'yugen' or 'mysterious depth', was displaced with more hard-hitting and contemporary dramaturgy. Story and character become more important, and acting styles changed. Most representative of this manner is what is called the Taiko's Noh (the Taiko being one of Hideyoshi's titles). But noh also had its relaxed and leisured side, and audiences were free to eat and drink during performances. On occasion the general public was also allowed to watch.
The old style of costume, which was intended by its beauty to create a sense of 'yugen' was dropped, and robes became more voluptuous and flamboyant. It is the Momoyama type that prevails today, with its karaori, nuihaku and surihaku cloths, and exhaustive techniques of embroidery and dyeing.