Japanese NOH

Japanese "NOH" is a traditional theatrical art.
It is said to have started in the 7th or 8th century, during the Heian Period.
Unlike Kabuki, NOH was originally fostered by Shoguns and powerful temples, resulting in a more royal taste. Alike Kabuki, the beauty of NOH is its simplicity and form. It is usually an improvisation of three characters with masks and a music team. The plays are usually based on the same storyline.

First half: The sub actor meets the main character.
The sub is a human being, and the main character is a non-human.
Intermission: This is called KYOGEN, an individual play itself.
It is supposed to be a funny interval in between a serious story.
Latter half: The main character expresses himself by song and dance.

According to what the non-human main character is, NO can be categorized into five. The five are 1.God or spirit, 2.Warrior, 3.Woman, 4.Everything outside 1/2/3/5, 5.Demon (ONI).

It is interesting how Japanese culture is attracted to the beauty of "negative". The word to express the beauty of NOH is "YUGEN", and we write "YU" using the same character as ghost, and "GEN", black. Ghost and black! How negative, but beautiful. The world is not a dichotomy of good and evil, but we all have both sides within one. YIN and Yan is the base of Asian culture...and when we think about environmental issues it is important to realize how all of us have good and evil effects on the world. Explore the world of NOH and see how human beings are interrelated with non-humans, and how human and non-humans are existing next to each other. We won't even think of destoying nature if we knew that a spirit is living in the tree. The way we see the world is based on how we put it to words or art expressions. Please tell me if you know any art that is similar to NOH's way of viewing the world!