The Nō Plays of Japan: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Nō Plays of Japan, credited to Various, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Nō Plays of Japan by various authors. (Translated by Arthur Waley.) Read in English by Expatriate Noh (Nō), or Nogaku—derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent"—is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art still regularly performed today. Traditionally, a Noh program includes five Noh plays with comedic kyōgen plays in between, even though an abbreviated program of two Noh plays and one kyōgen piece has become common in Noh presentations today. An okina play may be presented in the very beginning, especially during New Year celebrations, holidays, and other special occasions. Noh is often based on tales from traditional literature with a supernatural being transformed into human form as a hero narrating a story. Noh integrates masks, costumes and various props in a dance-based performance, requiring highly trained actors and musicians. Emotions are primarily conveyed by stylized conventional gestures while the iconic masks represent the roles such as ghosts, women, children, and old people. Written in ancient Japanese, the text "vividly describes the ordinary people of the twelfth to sixteenth centuries." These translations are done by renowned scholar Arthur Waley, a remarkable self-taught master of both Chinese and Japanese, who is often regarded as the most important transmitter of East Asian culture to the West in history. - Summary by Wikipedia (edited by Expatriate)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Nō Plays of Japan
• Author credits: Various
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 26
• Listed recording duration: 5:49:08

Catalogue topics

• drama
• Japan
• Japanese literature
• theater
• noh
• dance
• noh drama
• arthur waley

Opening tracks: first 24 of 26

1. 00 - Introductory Notes — 36:52
2. 01 - Atsumori (Seami) — 13:02
3. 02 - 1.2 Ikuta (Zembō Motoyasu) — 8:58
4. 03 - 1.3 Tsunemasa (Seami) — 8:19
5. 04 - 2.1 Kumasaka (Zenchiku Ujinobu) — 13:59
6. 05 - 2.2 Eboshi-ori (Miyamasu) — 17:34
7. 06 - 2.3 Benkei on the Bridge (Hiyoshi Yasukiyo) — 8:05
8. 07 - 3.1 Kagekiyo (Seami) — 14:40
9. 08 - 3.2 Hachi No Ki (Seami) — 18:34
10. 09 - 3.3 Sotoba Komachi (Kwanami) — 15:02
11. 10 - 4.1 Ukai the Cormorant-Fisher (Enami no Sayemon) — 9:58
12. 11 - 4.2 Aya no Tsuzumi (Seami?) — 10:18
13. 12 - 4.3 Princess Hollyhock (Zenchiku Ujinobu?) — 14:52
14. 13 - 5.1 Kantan (Seami?) — 14:44
15. 14 - 5.2 The Hōka Priests (Zenchiku Ujinobu) — 14:48
16. 15 - 5.3 Hagoromo (Seami) — 12:26
17. 16 - 6.1 Tanikō (Zenchiku) — 8:38
18. 17 - 6.2 The Pool Sacrifice (Seami) — 8:55
19. 18 - 6.3 Early Snow (Zembō Motoyasu) — 5:09
20. 19 - 6.4 Haku Rakuten (Seami) — 13:40
21. 20 - 7.1 Summaries, Pt. 1 — 14:16
22. 21 - 7.2 Shunkwan (Seami) — 11:09
23. 22 - 7.3 Summaries, Pt. 2 — 13:43
24. 23 - 7.4 Summaries, Pt. 3 — 12:52

Listen to this recording

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.