Ogisai Kurokawa Noh, Traditional Noh theater festival in Kurokawa town, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan.
Ogisai Kurokawa Noh is a form of traditional Japanese Noh theater performed in the village of Kurokawa, in Yamagata Prefecture. Two local performing groups stage a large repertoire of classical plays alongside a selection of comedic pieces known as kyogen.
This form of theater began more than 500 years ago as a sacred ritual tied to the Kasuga Shrine in Kurokawa. In 1976, the Japanese government officially recognized it as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property.
The two local groups, Kamiza and Shimoza, pass their roles down within families across generations. When you watch a performance, you see actors who carry both their family line and their village with them on stage.
Performances take place in spring, and the venue is reached by local road from Tsuruoka. Checking the dates ahead of time is helpful, since shows happen only once a year.
Special tofu-based meals are prepared exclusively for this annual festival and served alongside the performances. This food tradition has been part of the event for generations and is considered as much a part of the occasion as the theater itself.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
