was a form of

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

popular in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

during the 11th to 14th centuries. One of its predecessors was a , a form of entertainment reminiscent of the modern-day

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...

, consisting mostly of acrobatics,

juggling Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object o ...

, and

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

, sometimes combined with drum dancing. Sangaku came from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

to Japan in the 8th century and there mingled with indigenous traditions, particularly the harvest celebrations of

dengaku were rustic Japanese celebrations that can be classified into two types: that developed as a musical accompaniment to rice planting observances, and the dances that developed in conjunction with . The celebrated for rice planting was perform ...

. In the 11th century, the form began to favor comic sketches while other elements faded away. By the late 12th century, the term "sarugaku" had come to include comic dialogues based on word play ( toben), improvised comic party dances ('' ranbu''), short plays involving several actors, and musical arrangements based on courtesan traditions. During the 13th century, there was increased standardization of words, gestures, musical arrangements, and program combinations; as well as the adoption of the guild (''za'') system to which all present-day Noh schools can be traced. ''

Kyōgen is a form of traditional Japanese comic theater. It developed alongside '' Noh'', was performed along with ''Noh'' as an intermission of sorts between ''Noh'' acts on the same stage, and retains close links to ''Noh'' in the modern day; therefo ...

'' also developed from sarugaku. Of particular significance is the development of sarugaku troupes in

Yamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a name for the whole of Japan. Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial House of Japan. Japanese his ...

around

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...

and

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

during the

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kamak ...

and early

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

s. In particular, the sarugaku Noh troupe Yuzaki, led by

Kan'ami was a Japanese Noh actor, author, and musician during the Muromachi period. Born in Iga Province, Kan'ami also went by and . He is the father of the well-known playwright . Theater Kan'ami's career began in Obata, Nabari-shi, Mie when he fo ...

, performed in 1374 before the young ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was the third '' shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate, ruling from 1368 to 1394 during the Muromachi period of Japan. Yoshimitsu was Ashikaga Yoshiakira's third son but the oldest son to survive, his childhood name being Haruō (). Yoshimitsu ...

. The success of this one performance and the resultant shogunal patronage lifted the artform permanently out of the mists of its plebeian past. From then, the term sarugaku gave way to the current nomenclature,

noh is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...

. The Japanese term "Sarugaku" is also used in other contexts to refer to a job or profession that seems to debase the employee or to treat him or her as a source of entertainment rather than as a professional. According to William Scott Wilson, Saragaku translates to "monkey music", is an ancient form of drama, and is the predecessor to Noh.

Takuan Sōhō was a Japanese Buddhist prelate during the Sengoku and early Edo Periods of Japanese history. He was a major figure in the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism. Noted for his calligraphy, poetry, tea ceremony, he is also popularly credited with the ...

states as fact that "the emperor's recitation is given like Sarugaku".Takuan Soho, translated by William Scott Wilson, "The Unfettered Mind – Writings of the Zen Master to the Sword Master", p. 20.

References

*''

Encyclopædia Britannica 2005 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

'', article- "sarugaku" *BigDaikon.com, message board post with use of "sarugaku" in modern contex

(accessed May 14, 2006) *''Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia'', Kodansha Ltd. 1993 Theatre in Japan Noh {{theat-stub