In the second half of warrior noh plays, the ghost of a warrior (shite) appears to a priest (waki), to whom he tells the story of his final battle. These death narrations are usually narrated from the shite’s perspective when he was still alive. But in some pieces, the narrative perspective may move to the shite’s opponents, encompassing their view of him after he died. This is confusing even for Japanese devotees and practitioners of noh.
The sense of confusion turns into ambiguity in performance. Narration alternates between speech and song modes. The song mode is performed by the chorus, which speaks for the shite. Then again, sometimes the shite will chant with accompanying gestures. Accordingly, the main actor may appear as the narrator of the story or as the subject of the narration, giving rise to the ambiguity. In this study, I consider ambiguity in performance as influenced by, or at least aligned with, the way of thinking that blurs distinctions between enemies and allies, people and nature. Throughout noh history, ambiguity has been a natural and constructive way to portray the memory of battle. |