The Nō Plays of Japan

by Arthur Waley

DANCING AND ACTING.

Every Nō play (with, I think, the sole exception of Hachi no Ki, translated on p. [100]) includes a mai or dance, consisting usually of slow steps and solemn gestures, often bearing little resemblance to what is in America associated with the word “dance.” When the shite dances, his dance consists of five “movements” or parts; a “subordinate’s” dance consists of three. Both in the actors’ miming and in the dancing an important element is the stamping of beats with the shoeless foot.