Noh Seminar Series 2006 - San Francisco Bay Area

We are pleased to announce that the “Noh Seminars 2006" is to be held in the San Francisco Bay Area starting this March.

Thanks to the support and the patronage of the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco, Japan Airlines and The Japan Society of Northern California we are very grateful to materialize these long-awaited events.

We are inviting Otsuzumi Drummer of Okura-ryu, Shonosuke Okura and Noh Performer from Hosho-ryu, Masayuki Namiyoshi, in cooperation wtih Matsuno Kuhara Patrick and calligrapher Shioh Kato, who were the “team” that succeeded in bringing Noh theatre to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1989.

As you may know already, Noh is a Japanese traditional theatrical art that expresses the “soul of Japan”. This more-than-600-year-old art and it’s artists were awarded the title of World Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO in 2001. Both, Okura and Namiyoshi hold this title of Japanese Intangible Cultural Treasures (Overall Recognition) and with their stance on traditional art, they are also cultural event producers who are eager to introduce Noh to the world by innovative experiments in their performances.

The host organization is “Mary Sano Studio of Duncan Dancing”. Mary Sano is a pioneer of modern dancing and the joint performance of Mary Sano with Okura and Namiyoshi is planned for this year. This will surely to make history in the performing arts communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.

We would also like to acknowledge Seiichi Tanaka, the sensi of the San Francisco Taiko Dojo. He is greatly contributing to the operations of our Noh Seminar Series 2006 and is hosting the Noh Drumming class on March 18, 2006 for Taiko students. He is also interested in the introduction of the Otsuzumi drum into the Taiko drumming performances, which would be a truly unique experience.

As a precursor to the Noh Seminar Series 2006 we produced a workshop taught by Okura at the Kojinan Zendo (Zen Temple) in Oakland. It was very well received and well attended.

We are honored to share the philosophy of Noh with the people in this San Francisco Bay Area and hope to interest more Americans in this fascinating performance of Noh. If you have any questions please contact Toby Dubes on her mobile phone at 415 819 9882 or email quaunltd@ix.netcom.com, or for Japanese language needs please contact Takeo Koshikawa or Nobuko Nin at Piazza Trading & Co., Ltd.at 415 331 6711. Thank you very much and best regards.