Recognizing the coexistence of Shinto with Buddhism, particularly Zen, is crucial in relation to Japanese religiosity. One scholar, Kasulis, takes this approach. Rather than expecting one source such as Buddhism or Shinto to influence Japanese art forms, he uses Noh as a primary example of showing that Shinto/Zen have a complex relationship. He believes this connection between Noh and esoteric Buddhism, within which Zen lies, derives from Zeami's personal religious beliefs. However, he is quick to point out that Noh plot-lines are filled with kami and Shinto mythology; in addition, the layout of the Noh stage resembles Shinto shrines. (Kasulis 2004 0005, 45-47) While it is clear that Zen Buddhism had a direct influence on Noh, it is just as clear that Shinto themes and roots exist, despite Zeami's Buddhism.
Many scholars choose to overlook the Shinto roots of Noh, emphasizing the correlation between the teachings Zeami embraced (Mori 2002 , 86; Morinaga 2002 , 267) and the themes in Noh which encapsulate the banishment of worldly desire and the attainment of some form of personal enlightenment. These are cited as evidence of Noh being solely Buddhist. However, a large number of Zeami's plays deal strictly with Shinto themes, not Buddhist ones: Fujisan, Hōjōgawa, Hakozaki and Akoya no Matsu are among these works yet to be translated into the English language. (Rimer 1992, 218)
Many elements of Noh that are considered Zen, stem from Noh's ability to exist outside of normal space/time. This “timeless time” or “spaceless space” is seen as a parallel to the Zen goal of “mindless mind”. (George 1987, 158) The liminality of performance creates a threshold through which performers connect directly with the audience. “A different drama is created for each member of the audience because Noh effects a direct change between the hearts of the performers and of each spectator. Each person, not the audience as a group, has an intense, private encounter with the performer.” (Komparu 1983, xxi)
The main character, shite, is many times a ghost, or a mythical hero from historical epics who has returned to the present, but is enacting the past. (Mori 2002, 158) “The time frame of the acting, which would normally flow from past to future, is warped or even made to flow backwards, so that the passage of time is nonrealistic, but the action itself, while it takes place in a constantly shifting scene, is performed within an actual space.”(Komparu 1983, xvii) Thereby, the audience is brought into a world where both time and space obey alternative laws.
The convention of the masks donned in Noh performance suggest another liminal aspect: that the double-negation of self in which the actor performs “...first denies the existence of physical facial expressions and then goes a step further to deny within his consciousness the existence of the mask.” (Komparu 1983, 17) The actor transcends mere imitation and, for the duration of the performance, literally assimilates himself into the character. Performing okina or onnagata require further invocations of liminality: the former involving complicated rituals in which the actor becomes the god, the latter in which male actors perform female gender.
The final liminal aspect of Noh involves the trance-like state deemed desirable for viewing Noh. “This is very close to a state of sleep, but the state of being half awake and half asleep, this feeling of being halfway between dreaming and reality is the territory of where the nonrealisitic consciousness of Noh dwells.” (Komparu 1983, xxiv) By letting oneself become absorbed into the space/time of the performance, the viewer enters a crossroads and exists in both the created world and the literal one.
Intriguingly, another argument in opposition to Noh's shamanistic roots actually calls attention to its Shinto ties, emphasizing those connected to the essentialist ideology of State Shinto. Eric Rath proposes that Noh “...masquerad[es] as a ritual reenactment of ancient spiritual rites,” (2000, 254) while in reality its shamanistic tradition was invented “...after World War II, and was inspired by folklore studies,”(259). His insinuation that the same ideology behind State Shinto,the indoctrinating ideological force behind the rampant Japanese nationalism of pre-World War II, also rewrote Noh history is naïve and limited in its scope. Rath dismisses all evidence of pre-Shinto shamanism as “mere propaganda”, due to its appropriation and reinterpretation glorifying the emperor and imperial lineage as divine. (259) In addition, by naming State Shinto as the corrupter of Noh's foundational roots, Rath brings to light several arguments that support Neo-Confucian ideological influence upon Japanese art forms and yet, does not further explore that which I believe to be the most obvious progenitor.
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