The-Noh.com presents long interviews with leading Noh masters on the essence of the traditional performing art.

5th Interview:
Kazufusa Hosho, 20th Grand Master of the Hosho School

Taking Noh in new directions

2018 marked the tenth anniversary of Kazufusa Hosho’s rise to the position of 20th Grand Master of the Hosho School.

July 25, 2019
Interviewer: Kinue Oshima (Noh actor of the Kita school) / Photography: Shigeyoshi Ohi

4th Interview:
Kanze school shite-kata Noh actor, Tetsunojō Kanze IX

Handing down the kata in quest of “individuality”

In early April this year 2017, I paid a call on Tetsunojō Kanze IX at a training institute in Aoyama.

September 21, 2017
Interviewer: Kinue Oshima (Noh actor of the Kita school) / Photos: Shigeyoshi Ohi

3rd Interview:
Hisanori Kongō, the 26th-generation head of the Kongō school of shite-kata

The honing of one’s skill as performer is to form one’s core as an artist

One day in 2016, I made my way to Kongō Noh Theatre, on the west side of Kyoto Imperial Palace, to pay a call on Hisanori Kongō.

March 2, 2017
Interviewer: Takahiro Uchida, the-Noh.com / Photos: Shigeyoshi Ohi

2nd Interview:
Lead Actor of the Kanze School, Gensho Umewaka, Head of the Rokuro Umewaka Family.

Communicating the spirit of Noh as a living tradition to future generations

In September 2014, with the summer heat still lingering, I visited Gensho Umewaka at his rehearsal room in Yotsuya, Tokyo...

May 18, 2015
Interviewer: Takahiro Uchida, the-Noh.com / Photos: Shigeyoshi Ohi

1st Interview:
Kiyokazu Kanze, 26th Grand Master of the Kanze School

Prepared to devote body and soul to Noh

At the end of April 2013, I visited Kanze Noh Theatre in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward to meet Kiyokazu Kanze, the 26th grand master of the Kanze School.

June 3, 2014
Interviewer: Takahiro Uchida, the-Noh.com / Photos: Shigeyoshi Ohi