SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA.- Museum visitors can view up close the beautiful designs and exquisite workmanship of dazzling layered costumes from Japan’s Noh theater when the San Diego Museum of Art opens Sculpture in Silk: Costumes from Japan’s Noh Theater on November 15. This major exhibition of traditional costumes from the Yamaguchi Noh Costume Research Center in Kyoto, Japan, includes more than 43 robes and accessories created during the Edo period (1601–1868) in addition to more than 100 outstanding modern examples of Noh costumes, carefully reproduced using Edo period designs and techniques. The exhibition is organized by Art Capital Group, Inc., of New York.

“This exhibition of Noh theater costumes from Japan is not only a feast for the eyes, but also an opportunity to explore a classical Japanese art form that is rarely presented in the United States. As masterpieces of refined design, these garments are the most accessible aspect of the Noh spectacle. Their resplendence immediately conveys the emotional intensity and level of skill that the performance entails,” says the Museum’s senior curator of Asian art, Caron Smith.

“Noh” means skill or accomplishment, and Noh theatrical performances, which can last up to an entire day, typically combine taut narrative, dance, song, masked actors, minimal stage sets, with costumes as sumptuous and brilliant as the other elements of the drama are subtle and minimal.

Noh theater came into being in Japan in the early Muromachi period (1392-1568) under the patronage of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, a feudal shogun. Over the centuries, this performance art received moral and financial backing from such aristocrats, whose aesthetic sensibilities were cultivated by classical Japanese literature. Exquisite garments were created, often from brocade and damask imported from China. Often, too, when one of the Noh performances was particularly well received, the shogun and feudal lords would remove their own garments and donate them to the actors on the spot. These costumes also differ from those worn in Kabuki, Japan’s other traditional theater form, in that they are not identified exclusively with individual roles or plays.

Made for an art form enjoyed by the elite court society in Japan, Noh costumes can be appreciated as masterpieces of textile art. Visitors will admire the delicate brocades, embroidered satins, gauzes, and other weaves, featuring elaborate designs woven layer upon layer—some appearing to “float” in three-dimensional relief, others bound into a fine, tight weave. The beauty of the woven design is augmented by the quality of fine silk threads used in its production and the infinite care taken in creating dyes in elegant and evocative colors—whether indicative of celebration, melancholy, or hidden emotions. Through photographs and wall texts, the exhibition examines the intricate processes involved in producing these fine garments as practiced at the Yamaguchi Noh Costume Research Center.

Noh costumes can be appreciated not only as a textile art, but also as one of the most expressive elements of Noh drama in establishing the character the actor is playing. There are approximately 250 plays in the Noh canon performed today and about 200 masks, but there are only 20 different types of Noh costumes. (The types of costumes are differentiated by the width of sleeve and cuff openings, the method of closure, and other variables possible in the construction of a garment composed of panels of fabric.)

In the Edo period, costumes were woven into different patterns and worn with different accessories, or combined in different ways, to define a gamut of character types. For example, a gauzy dancing cloak (choken) open over a red kimono with double-width sleeves (karaori) worn open over a divided skirt with large pleats in the front can suggest the imposing splendor of an 11th-century Heian noble woman in twelve-layered costume. Meanwhile, the same kimono (karaori) worn snugly wrapped around the legs can serve as the costume of a woman of any era or station of life. Color carries information as well. For instance, robes containing red are used for young people, while older women are portrayed with less colorful robes. The mask, with a fixed _expression, must be skillfully manipulated by the actor who utilizes the shadows the stage lights cast on it to vary the  expression.

With the choice of costume and mask, the actor (always a male) must construct the presence of demons, princes, wives, priests, and ghosts. The limited range of ritualized stances, gestures, and movements may give the appearance that nothing is happening in the performance, though it is most often quite the contrary. The installation will incorporate video and photographs of Noh performances to remind the viewer that the role of these costumes is not static, but part of the stately rhythm of the drama, with its hair-raising moments of intensity.

All the robes, masks, and accessories in this exhibition—including the original Edo period examples—come from the Yamaguchi Noh Costume Research Center in Japan, which has dedicated itself to the reproduction of robes in Edo-period style to preserve the art into the modern era. Extensive research has been conducted on silk threads, dyes, weaves and techniques, which have not been practiced in over a century, to produce the contemporary garments on view. The exhibition will enable visitors to view the same robe in its original and contemporary forms to demonstrate both the skill that went into its re-creation and the effects time and usage exacts upon its model.

Noh drama is now and always was theater for the elite. Through the experience of Noh costumes as presented in this exhibition, the viewer will taste the drama of which they are a part and stand in awe of the craftsmanship that elevates them to works of art. Sculpture in Silk: Costumes from Japan’s Noh Theater is organized by Art Capital Group, Inc., with works originating from the Yamaguchi Noh Costume Research Center in Japan.