DOCUMENTARY
Special Lessons
In this series, today's successful men and women in their respective fields visit the schools they attended in their youths to enthusiastically talk to today's children about the roads they took to become what they are today.

Kata Make People Laugh in Kyogen

DC110011

Kata Make People Laugh in Kyogen
©NHK

・NHK

・42 min.

・M/E & English Version


Mansai Nomura is a Kyogen actor. In Kyogen comedy, thinks Mansai, each performance of feelings of joy and anger have a characteristic form of expression called "kata." As a Kyogen actor, Mansai was thoroughly trained in "kata" from an early age, and he recounts that "kata" are not something which restrict unrestrained expression or flexibility, but rather they are a frame in which to fit oneself into, something that is essential in order to experience "freedom" later on. He holds a workshop for the children to experience Kyogen. To the traditional "kata", the children create the Kyogen production "Momotaro" while adding their own original inventions. The children are fascinated by the enjoyment of using their whole bodies to perform.