Author Archives: inikyoto

Johanna visits Kyoto

Johanna Johanna Gernbacher has been living in a Zen temple in Nagaoka while studying utai, shimai and mask carving with Udaka Michishige in Kyoto since April 2012. She performed the kuse and kiri sections of Yuki in the student recital on the Yamatoya Noh stage before Udaka-sensei’s performance of Sesshoseki in November 2012. Johanna has been developing quickly as a shite and as a mask carver, and Udaka- sensei hopes she will continue her training and come back to Kyoto soon. She has now returned to Berlin where she will continue to study Noh, joining forces with other INI members in Germany.

This January Johanna visited Kyoto and it was nice to catch up! We went to the utaizome performance celebrating the new year at the Kongo Noh theatre, which was showing the seasonal decorations. We hope to see Johanna again soon!

Thoughts and pictures from the Noh workshop at HUB Kyoto

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The Noh Diaries

On Sunday 21st April I led a Noh theatre workshop for foreigners at the HUB Kyoto, Kyohakuin. It’s been a wonderful experience and a great chance to meet foreigners who share an interest in Noh and who are willing to try their best with Noh utai chant and shimai dance. Kyohakuin is an ex-school featuring a Noh stage which was not used for several decades. Recently the kagami-ita backdrop pine tree has been restored by Kim Hea-Kyoung and Ichimiya Keiko, and the participants of this workshop as well as myself had the privilege of dancing the shimai Oimatsu (‘Aged Pine’) in front of the renovated pine tree for the first time.

Diego and Carol Begert – ‘arigato gozaimashita’

Teaching absolute beginners is a very instructing experience for the teacher, too. Teaching a full, albeit brief, dance to people who never even walked the suriashi sliding step is very challenging…

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1st INI Summer Intensive Course in Vancouver (July 2012)

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The 1st INI Summer Intensive Course in Vancouver was a two-week series of workshops including mask-carving, shimai, and utai conducted by Udaka-sensei and organised/facilitated by INI Canadian representative Lee Stothers on an outdoor Noh stage in North Vancouver. The pictures below document the intensive mask carving session. Elaine Czech, who took the pictures, participated to the workshop and decided to continue the practice of Noh afterwards. She is now one of the junior INI members in Kyoto!