Noh - Roles

Roles

There are four major categories of Noh performers: shite, waki, kyōgen, and hayashi.

1. Shite (仕手, シテ). In plays where the shite appears first as a human and then as a ghost, the first role is known as the maeshite and the later as the nochishite.
   • Shitetsure (仕手連れ, シテヅレ). The shite's companion. Sometimes shitetsure is abbreviated to tsure (連れ, ツレ), although this term refers to both the shitetsure and the wakitsure.
   • Kōken (後見) are stage hands, usually one to three people.
   • Jiutai (地謡) is the chorus, usually comprising six to eight people.
2. Waki (脇, ワキ) performs the role that is the counterpart or foil of the shite.
   • Wakitsure (脇連れ, ワキヅレ) or Waki-tsure is the companion of the waki.
3. Kyōgen (狂言) perform the aikyōgen (相狂言) interludes during plays. Kyōgen actors also perform in separate plays between individual noh plays.
4. Hayashi (囃子) or hayashi-kata (囃子方) are the instrumentalists who play the four instruments used in Noh theater: the transverse flute (笛, fue?), hip drum (大鼓, ōtsuzumi?) or ōkawa (大皮?), the shoulder-drum (小鼓, kotsuzumi?), and the stick-drum (太鼓, taiko ?). The flute used for noh is specifically called nōkan or nohkan (能管?).

A typical Noh play always involve the chorus, the orchestra, and at least one shite and one waki actor.