Yokomichi Mario (横道萬里雄)
Mario YOKOMICHI (1916-) is Noh (traditional masked dance-drama) researcher and director.
He was born in Tokyo Prefecture. Minao SHIBATA was his classmate in Gyosei elementary school and Gyosei junior high school. After graduating from Tokyo high school (the old system) and department of zoological science in school of science The University of Tokyo, he graduated from the department of literature, national literature of Tokyo Imperial University in 1941. He became the educational gikan (a bureaucrat with specialized skills) of the public entertainment department of National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo and served as the chief of the music and dancing research division and the director of the public entertainment department. He was awarded Minister of Education Award for Fine Arts with "Yokyokushu" (text of Noh play) jointly-edited with Akira OMOTE in 1964. He served as the member of the special committee for preparation of National Noh Theatre in 1976. He had served as the professor of Musicology of the Faculty of Music of Tokyo University of the Arts from 1976 to 1984. He served as the professor and director of the research institute of Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts in 1984. He was awarded Shiju-hosho (Medal of Honor with the Purple Ribbon) in 1983. He was awarded Kawatake Award of Japanese Society for Theatre Research with "Research of Noh" in 1987, special award of Traditional Japanese Culture Pola Award in 1998, Cultural Awards for the Promotion of Buddhism in 2003, Hisao TANABE Award in 2006 and Exxon Mobil Music Award in 2007. Besides, he was awarded Nohgaku Award of Hosei University.
He also served as Chairman of Toyo Musicology Course Academy and Music Drama Academy. He is the so-called colossus in the Nogaku field in the post war period, playing the leading role with Akira OMOTE in researching Yokyoku (Noh song) and Nogaku in the post war period, organizing the discourse for Nogaku for academic research and producing personally, and still active at the age of 90 now.
Books
The world of Noh and Kyogen (farce played during a Noh play cycle), interviewing five Living National Treasure, Heibonsha Limited, Publishers, 1972
Nohgekisyoyo, Chikuma Shobo Publishers, 1984
The research of Nohgeki, Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, 1986
Nohgeki Sozoroaruki, Nohgakushorin, 1996
The structure and practice of Utai (the chanting of a Noh text) rhythm, ji hyoshi (Noh chorus rhythm) and techniques, Hinoki shoten Co., Ltd., 2002
The structure of Jiji (events in a temple) as embodied arts, Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, 2005
Producing for Noh, Kogaki (variant performance) producing, new producing and more, Hinoki shoten Co., Ltd., 2007