Date	Friday, 24 October, 2008 from 7:00 p.m. (Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.)
Venue	Kyoto Kanze Kaikan (44 Okazaki, Enshoji-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto ) Tel: 075-771-6114
Programme	A Kyogen play, Susugigawa (The Washing River) Featuring: SHIGEYAMA Sengoro A Noh play, AOI NO UE (The Lady Aoi) Featuring: KATAYAMA Kiyoshi

This short play presents a humorous incident between a hen-pecked husband and his slave-driving wife and mother-in-law. As usual, the two women have ordered the husband to do the laundry in the river behind the house. While he is washing the clothes in the river, they come to pester him. First one orders him to grind the buckwheat into flour and then the other demands that he fill the bath with water. He has not even finished doing the laundry when they come back again, demanding that he chop the firewood, hull the rice, heat the bath and wash the floors. The list of tasks is so long that the husband asks them to write them down on paper. He also makes them promise not to ask him to do anything more than what is on the list. The two women walk away laughing because their life is so easy when suddenly a piece of laundry floats away. The wife tries to catch it but falls into the river and begins to drown. The mother-in-law yells at the husband, demanding that he rescue her but he insists that the task of ‘rescuing woman from the river’ is not on his list.…
(From the Shintei zoho noh/kyogen jiten (Revised, Enlarged Noh/Kyogen Dictionary), Heibonsha Limited, Publishers, 1999)

Due to the jealousy and hatred of the Lady Rokujō who was the former mistress of Prince Genji, the Lady Aoi (represented on the stage by a folded robe) lies stricken with a mysterious illness. A priestess is summoned and evokes the evil spirit that is afflicting the Lady Aoi by plucking the string of a bow of catalpa wood. The spirit appears, gives vent to its hatred and then retires. A priest is called to help and when the evil spirit reappears, this time in its true form, he eventually subdues it by the power of his incantations.
<From A GUIDE TO NŌ 5th ed. by P. G. Oniel, Hinoki Shoten,1981>

Born in 1945. Eldest son of Shigeyama Sensaku IV (Living National Treasure and member of Japan Art Academy) of the Okura school of Kyogen. Sengoro studied under his grandfather Sensaku III and father Sensaku IV. He made his stage debut as a shite actor in 1949 in the play “Iroha.”
Sengoro XIII performed overseas for the first time in 1973 in Europe, followed by a number of tours in Europe and the United States. He organized the Hanagata Kyogen Kai association of young Kyogen actors in 1976. He is recipient of the Kyoto Municipal New Artist Award (1986) and the Kyoto Prefectural Culture Award’s Distinguished Service Prize (2004). He is a holder of Important Intangible Cultural Properties (collective recognition).
In 1990 he was sent by the Japan Foundation to perform in a series of programs in Southeast Asia. In 1994 he succeeded to the name Shigeyama Sengoro.

A shite (primary actor) of the Kanze School of Noh, Kiyoshi Katayama was born in 1964 as the first son of Kurouemon Katayama IX (living national treasure). His grandmother was the late Yachiyo Inoue IV (also a living national treasure), former head of the Inoue School of the traditional Kyoto Kyomaidance, and his older sister is Yachiyo Inoue V, head of the Inoue School. From childhood, Katayama studied Noh under his father and then Tetsunojo Kanze VIII. Together with his father, he organizes the Katayama Regular Noh performances. He performs frequently in theaters throughout the country, and often joins overseas tours to Europe, the United States, and other countries as well.
Katayama is involved in a variety of activities which are designed to share the joy of Noh with younger generations, including visiting Noh classes at schools, production of Noh picture books, stage production making full use of visual images, and the creation of virtual Noh plays using computer graphics technology.
Kiyoshi Katayama is a recipient of the Kyoto Prefectural Cultural Encouragement Award (1997), the Kyoto Municipal New Artist Award (2003), the New Artist Award of the National Arts Festival of the Agency for Cultural Affairs (2003), and the Japan Traditional Cultures Foundation Award (2007). He is one of a number of individuals who have been collectively designated as holders of Intangible Cultural properties, and he also serves as director of the Kyoto Kanze Kai association and executive director of the Katayama Noh and Kyomai Preservation Foundation.

Organizers	The Japan Foundation Kyoto Office, and The Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, Kansai
Collaboration	Katayama Noh and Kyomai Preservation Foundation, Kyoto Kanzekai
Endorsement	Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto City， Kyoto City Tourist Association, The Kyoto Shimbun Co., Ltd. The Consortium of Universities in Kyoto
Admission Fees	(All seats are Unreserved): ¥3,500 ( ¥2,000 for students ) A Party reduction(more than twenty) -10%off JF Supporter’s Club (in Japanese only): A member of Friend -10%off A member of Associate -20%off A member of Partner -50%off
Tickets will be available at	Tickets will be available from Wednesday, 24 September at: Kyoto Kanze Kaikan (44 Okazaki, Enshoji-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto / Tel:075-771-6114) and The Japan Foundation Kyoto Office (4th Floor, Urbanex Oike Bldg. East 361-1 Umeya-cho, Oike-sagaru, Kurumaya-cho, Nakagyo-ku,Kyoto / Tel: 075-211-1312)

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