Noh
Modern Noh after Meiji era

The fall of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1868 and the formation of a new, modernized government resulted in the end of financial support by the state, and the entire field of Noh experienced major financial crisis. Shortly after the Meiji Restoration both the number of Noh performers and Noh stages greatly diminished. The support from the imperial government was eventually regained partly due to Noh's appeal to foreign diplomats. The companies that remained active throughout the Meiji era also significantly broadened Noh's reach by catering to the general public, performing at theatres in major cities such as Tokyo and Osaka.

In 1957 the Japanese Government designated nōgaku as an Important Intangible Cultural Property, which affords a degree of legal protection to the tradition as well as its most accomplished practitioners. The National Noh Theatre founded by the government in 1983 stages regular performances and organizes courses to train actors in the leading roles of nōgaku. Noh was inscribed in 2008 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO as Nōgaku theatre.

Although the terms nōgaku and Noh are sometimes used interchangeably, the Japanese government's definition of " nōgaku " theatre encompasses both Noh plays and kyōgen plays. Kyōgen is performed in between Noh plays in the same space. Compared to Noh, " kyōgen relies less on the use of masks and is derived from the humorous plays of the sangaku, as reflected in its comic dialogue."
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