Noh × Contemporary Art "noh play KANZAKI" Performance Overview
Contemporary artist Yukihiro Yamagami travels around the world, drawing familiar landscapes in pencil and projecting videos shot from the same viewpoint onto the drawings, expressing the history, time, and memories of each place through his unique technique.
Yamagami's paintings evolve as time passes and video elements are added, gradually transforming into spatial experiences. In an exhibition space, for those who pass by, they appear as simple pencil sketches, but for those who stop and observe carefully, the space slowly emerges, creating a quiet moment of contemplation.
He has received requests for residency projects from various regions, and since 2015, he has stayed in Saga City, Taku City, Arita, and Karatsu in Saga Prefecture, creating works that have etched the region's history and culture into people's memories.
Video: Yukihiro Yamagami works 2012-2015
In "noh play," Yukihiro Yamagami creates the narrative structure and direction, while Kiemon Hayashi is responsible for adapting these elements to reflect the world of Noh performance and techniques, implementing the project in a way that respects traditional Noh culture. The original work is designed to maximize the indescribable sensations felt when experiencing Noh for the first time, while also making the worldview accessible to first-time viewers. Throughout the creative process, the Noh shite-kata and hayashi-kata performers provide advice and suggestions to ensure that while incorporating new staging elements, the work also fulfills its role in preserving and transmitting inherited traditions.
Video: Soseigekijo "Traditional Trial - Noh and Kyogen Plus"
This "noh play" will be performed in a Kanzaki City version as part of the 20th anniversary commemorative project of Kanzaki City Chiyoda Cultural Hall. The "noh play" held in Taku City in February 2024 attracted many viewers experiencing Noh for the first time and received high praise. This performance was realized through a request from Kanzaki City to hold it as part of the 20th anniversary commemorative project of Kanzaki City Chiyoda Cultural Hall.
This work features Kanzaki City's Kushida Shrine, Takashi Shrine, and Shiraori Shrine's Kushida Sansho Daimyojin, and also includes performances by local Satsuma biwa players, creating content that is familiar and accessible to the people of Kanzaki City.
We hope you will experience the overwhelming space of silence created by combining Yukihiro Yamagami's research in Kanzaki City with the Noh play "Kamo."
This project is being held as an adopted project of the 2025 Saga Prefecture Culture and Arts Festival "LiveS Beyond II."
Performance Details
| Venue | Kanzaki City Chiyoda Cultural Hall (Hangi Hall) |
|---|---|
| Date & Time | February 28, 2026 (Saturday) Performance starts at 2:00 PM / Doors open and reception begins at 1:30 PM |
| Admission | General advance tickets: ¥4,500, U20 advance tickets: ¥2,500 ※Same-day tickets are ¥500 more. |
Program
Part 1: Satsuma Biwa × Contemporary Art "BIWART"
Performance: Kanako Kitahara, Yukihiro Yamagami
Part 2: Yukihiro Yamagami Presentation
Discussing the local sentiments, research, and residency work that form the creative foundation
Part 3: Noh × Contemporary Art "noh play KANZAKI"
Concept and Direction: Yukihiro Yamagami
Performers:
- Noh Shite-kata: Kiemon Hayashi, Hiroyuki Matsuno, Takahiko Fukano, Shinsuke Saito, Chie Kinoshita
- Flute: Kazuhiko Aihara
- Kotsuzumi: Akihiro Iitomi
- Otsuzumi: Nobuyuki Shirasaka
- Taiko: Kiyoshi Yoshitani
- Satsuma Biwa: Kanako Kitahara
Artist Profiles
Yukihiro Yamagami
Creates works using a unique "Canvas Projection" technique by drawing familiar everyday landscapes with pencil and incorporating light and time through video projection from the same viewpoint. He has participated in exhibitions at Yuz Museum (Shanghai), National Gallery of Victoria (Australia), Tokyo Station Restoration Completion Memorial Exhibition, Asahi Beer Oyamazaki Villa Museum of Art, 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, and Saga Prefectural Museum, among others domestically and internationally. Winner of the Special Prize at the 11th "Taro Okamoto Award for Contemporary Art."
Kiemon Hayashi
Studied under his late father, the 13th Kiemon Hayashi, and the 26th head of the Kanze school, Kiyokazu Kanze.
As the 14th generation of the Kiemon Hayashi family, known as the only remaining house among the five Kyo-Kanze families, he will assume the name 14th Kiemon Hayashi in 2025, marking the family's 400th anniversary. While striving to inherit the art through exchanges with people from a wide range of traditional cultural genres, he also actively collaborates with Kabuki, opera, and contemporary art. Recognized as a "2014 Kyoto City Special Award for Arts and Culture" recipient and received the "2024 Kyoto Prefecture Culture Award Encouragement Prize." *Kyo-Kanze refers to the families that have transmitted Noh in Kyoto since the Edo period when the Kanze school moved to Edo.
Ticket Information
General advance tickets: ¥4,500 (tax included), U20 advance tickets: ¥2,500 (tax included)
※U20 tickets (for those 20 years old and under) require presentation of age verification at entrance.
※Same-day tickets are ¥500 more. If advance tickets are sold out, same-day tickets will not be available.
Ticket Sales
Kanzaki City Chiyoda Cultural Hall "Hangi Hall" counter TEL. 0952-44-2051 (9:00 AM to 5:00 PM)
Ticket Pia [P-code: 536-958] TEL. 0570-02-9999
https://t.pia.jp/pia/event/event.do?eventCd=2532723
Event Credits
Organized by: Kanzaki City, noh play Production Team
Special Sponsor: Ricoh Japan Co., Ltd. Saga Branch
Production: LOTUS
Cooperation: Saga Prefecture Arts Commission
Adopted project of the 2025 Saga Prefecture Culture and Arts Festival "LiveS Beyond II"
"noh play" and Feelings for Saga — Yukihiro Yamagami (Contemporary Artist)
I am a painter who primarily creates and presents original "Canvas Projection" works by drawing landscapes in pencil and projecting live-action video shot from the same viewpoint onto them.
My connection with Saga coincidentally began in 2014, the same year I started the "noh play" project. I was invited to participate in the "Media Butterfly" media art exhibition held in Arita Town. Another coincidence is that a work I created and presented in 2012 featured Tokyo Station, a representative work of Kingo Tatsuno, an architect from Saga, which led to this connection with Saga. From there, I created works while touring various landscapes in Saga Prefecture, including the townscape of Arita Town, Takeo Onsen Tower Gate, Karatsu Kunchi, Tara Town Sea Torii, and Karatsu City Historical Folk Museum. In 2022, I participated in the "Architecture of Architecture - Three Masters from Karatsu who Built Japan's 'Architecture'" exhibition held at the Saga Prefectural Museum. In 2024, I held noh play at Taku City Central Public Hall, and in October of the same year, I participated in production and exhibition at the SAGA360 at the Saga Prefectural Office New Building Observatory Hall. Saga has truly become a second home to me.
I am based in Osaka with a studio in Kyoto, so I have been exposed to diverse cultures in Kyoto throughout my youth. For example, performing arts such as Noh and Kyogen, painting arts such as Rinpa and Ukiyo-e, and the world of tea ceremony that Rikyu achieved all have a strong impression of flourishing in Kyoto and the Kansai region. However, historically, Japanese culture has moved from west to east, so perhaps these arts originated in Kyushu and Saga in a "sketch" state before art was fully formed, gradually moving west and becoming complete.
Through my research on Saga and Kanzaki City for the creation of "noh play KANZAKI," I made various discoveries and felt the sources of culture connecting to Kyoto. I want to create a work through "noh play" that helps people notice the history and culture of the Kanzaki region.
Inquiries [Planning and Production]
noh play Production Team Production
LOTUS Contact: Reiko Hagiwara
Email: lotus1@mbox.kyoto-inet.or.jp
noh play website: https://www.nohplay.com/
