ABSTRACT

Before the opening of the Noh performance the faint sound of a flute and drum comes through the liftcurtain. Now the musicians are tuning up in the Mirror Room. When this is over, the curtain is pushed aside, and through the space come quietly out three or four musicians, one after the other, carrying their instruments. First comes a flute player (hue), then a shoulder-drum player (kO-!uzllmi) and a: knee-drum player (i5-tuzllmi) , followed by a flat-drum player (taiko). (When a flat-drum is not used, the number of the musicians is three.) In this order they take their seats at an alloted place in the Baek Stage called the Musicians' Place (Hayasi-za). The shoulder-drum player and the knee-drum player sit on stools and the flute player and the flat-drum player sit on the floor. The chorus coming through the Hurry-door sit on the verandah. The men in the front row, after having repeated the opening song of the actor who comes on

first, sit quiet till the chorus singing begins, when those in the back row join thein. Their number is six or eight, sometimes ten, and in the middle of the back row sits the Chorus Leader (Zi-gasira).