Quantitative metre in noh
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Dálný východ |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | |
| Field | Art, architecture, cultural heritage |
| Keywords | noh; hiranori; onori; chunori; syllabic and quantitative prosody; tanka; kuse(mai); Shinran; wasan; Iroha uta; Homer; hexametre; dactyl; Tocharoi; Yuezhi; Alexander the Great; Hellenism; Greek influence on Buddhist sculpture; Gandhara |
| Description | The hiranori rhythm, unique for the noh drama, combines the asymetrical (7–5) syllabic metre of the Japanese poetry with a symetrical 8-beat rhythm of the noh melodic singing (fushi). The study discloses its resemblance with the Greek quantitative metre of hexameter and seeks to explain the presence of quantitative prosody, otherwise atypical for Japan, through tracing back the origin of the hiranori rhythm on the Japanese soil and in the Buddhist chanting practice which, the study hypothesizes, might show a historical link with the Hellenistic cultures of Central Asia and their Greek heritage. |