kyōgen

English

Noun

kyōgen (countable and uncountable, plural kyōgen or kyōgens)

1. Alternative form of kyogen
   • 1973, Leonard C[abell] Pronko, Guide to Japanese Drama, G. K. Hall & Co., →ISBN, page 65:

     The twenty-two kyōgen in this volume give a broad sampling of the delightful comic interludes which were traditionally performed between the more austere nō plays. Like the nō, the kyōgen are highly stylized in performance, but they are much more human and poke fun at the foibles and foolishness of noble and commoner, man and woman alike.

   • 1983, William R. LaFleur, The Karma of Words: Buddhism and the Literary Arts in Medieval Japan, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 140:

     The judgment that early kyōgen was considerably more satirical is given further support by the discovery of an old text of kyōgen synopses, the Tenshō kyōgen-bon.

   • 1990, Richard Schechner, Willa Appel, editors, By Means of Performance: Intercultural Studies of Theatre and Ritual, Cambridge University Press, published 1997, →ISBN, page 181:

     Regular performances now are usually held on Saturday, Sunday or holiday afternoons and rarely include more than three noh plays plus one or two kyōgen, and sung or danced recital pieces.

   • 2004, The Ethos of Noh: Actors and Their Art (Harvard East Asian Monographs; 232), Harvard University Asia Center, →ISBN, page 111:

     The pine-music that followed featured Okina with three noh and two kyōgen.

   • 2009, Masae Suzuki, “Shakespeare, Noh, Kyōgen, and Okinawa Shibai”, in Alexander C. Y. Huang, Charles S. Ross, editors, Shakespeare in Hollywood, Asia, and Cyberspace (Comparative Cultural Studies), Purdue University Press, →ISBN, part two (Shakespeare in Asia), page 162:

     Where the adaptations of Twelfth Night by the Izumi family were just very short skits, in the length of traditional kyōgens, Sekine’s adaptation was fully developed as drama, using his knowledge of both Japanese and Western classical theater.