Mishima's noh gets an outre twist.

Mishima's noh gets an outre twist

Yukiko Kishinami Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer

Yomiuri

Yukio Mishima's phenomenal knowledge about, and love for, theater and classical literature found an ideal vehicle in his Modern Noh Plays, a collection of noh play adaptations set during his lifetime in the mid-20th century.

Of the nine noh-inspired plays written from 1950 to 1962, Aoi-no-Ue and Sotoba-Komachi are perhaps the most popular. Both plays tell stories of mature women whose hidden, intense emotions are arresting and almost frightening.

The two short plays are often performed one after another, as they are in a bizarrely beautiful way …