From Private Zashiki to the Public Stage: Female Spaces in Early Twentieth-Century Nō

Abstract

This article discusses the situation of women in nō , focusing on the early twentieth century as a crucial period for the advancement of women. At that time, the reconstruction of gender relations assumed a central position in the debates on modernization, and the first actresses in modern theatre ( shingeki ) developed into ambivalent icons of the “new woman” ( atarashii onna ). In nō , following the dramatic rise in the number of female amateurs and the resultant need for female instructors, leading critics and performers engaged in two-sided debates on the role of women. The main points at issue still persist in contemporary debates. This essay offers a compendium of historical information on the key question of female participation in nō , which has been researched very little up to now, and discusses contemporary discourses on gender in nō . By analyzing the situation of women in its sociopolitical context and taking into account the debates on performing gender on stage that were taking place in all genres of performing arts at that time, it adds a new dimension to the existing research.