Konan Public Hall

Seeking to bring the joy of Kyogen – Japan’s traditional form of comedic spoken drama – to as wide an audience as possible, the Yokohama Noh Theatre has declared the second Sunday of every month ‘Kyogen Day’ in the city. Every month on this day, the theatre organises a first-timer-friendly performance featuring two plays with explanatory commentary (in Japanese).  In June, the touring programme – a temporary arrangement being taken while the Yokohama Noh Theatre undergoes renovations – is stopping at Konan Public Hall in southern Yokohama. Actors from the Manzo Nomura family will be performing ‘Hagi Daimyo’, in which a rustic feudal lord struggles to learn waka poetry from his jovial servant, and ‘Fukuro Yamabushi’, where an ascetic priest attempts to help his younger brother who has been possessed by an owl spirit.