Noh Performance at the Hagoromo Matsuri

Every year at the beginning of October, the Hagoromo Festival is held at Miho Matsubara in Shimizu. I was excited about going to see the Noh Performance at the festival this year with three friends. Usually the performance is held at the beach at Miho Matsubara, near Mount Fuji, but this year rainy weather forced the perfomance to move to an indoor venue near the train station.  We were disappointed not to be at the beach for the performance, but maybe we can go another year.

Hagoromo means garment or veil.  The legend is that a fisherman named Hakuryo found a beautiful robe hanging on a pine branch in the Miho Pine Grove.  He was about to take it away when a heavenly maiden appeared and asked him to return the "hagoromo" to her. The fisherman insisted on keeping it because he had found it. She cried in despair, saying she could not return to heaven without it.  The fisherman agreed to return it to her on the condition that he could see her dance the Celestial Dance wearing the robe.  The heavenly maiden agreed and danced for him, but then vanished into a mist when her dance was finished. 

(photo from the internet)

My friend bought our tickets early and was able to get us in the eighth row. Photos were not allowed during the performance, but I did take a few of the stage before it began.  

The performance used an ancient form of Japanese that even my Japanese friends did not understand. We knew the story behind the performance, so it was okay that we didn't understand the words.