OIS Students Delight Audience at NHK Hall

For the second year, OIS students provided some light-hearted moments in the performance October 2 at NHK Hall in downtown Osaka. Elementary and middle school students played the role of birds from around the world to help the water fairy clean the canals, rivers, and bays of Osaka in the Noh play, “The Fairy of the Water”. Noh is an ancient form of Japanese theatre and actors from the Yamamoto Noh Theatre company trained the students in the art form. The students even got the chance to speak, several of them boasting of the beautiful waterways of their home countries in their mother tongues.or the second year, OIS students provided some light-hearted moments in the performance October 2 at NHK Hall in downtown Osaka. Elementary and middle school students played the role of birds from around the world to help the water fairy clean the canals, rivers, and bays of Osaka in the Noh play, “The Fairy of the Water”. Noh is an ancient form of Japanese theatre and actors from the Yamamoto Noh Theatre company trained the students in the art form. The students even got the chance to speak, several of them boasting of the beautiful waterways of their home countries in their mother tongues.

The play was backed by the Kansai Philharmonic, which played pieces of music with a water-theme, including Strauss’s The Blue Danube. The theme of the evening was East Meets West and that certainly was the case with European classical music juxtaposed with Noh theatre.

The students designed their own costumes, learned about makeup and dance and performed in front of a crowd of 1,400 people. The evening performance kicked off the Osaka Beyond 2020 campaign, sponsored by the Osaka city government. The goal is to promote international relations and the fine arts in anticipation of the Tokyo 2020 summer Olympics.

We appreciate the efforts of the Yamamoto Noh Theatre company, OIS parent Chizuko Bobrove and everyone at OIS that made the activity a success.