能面 Looking at the world through Noh mask

Noh is a Japanese classical musical-dance drama. The main actor wears a wooden carved mask which has very restricted visual field.

To give you an idea of how small the field is, put the tips of your left and right thumbs and index fingers together and make a circle, stretch out your arms in front of your face, and look through the circle. That small circle, that's how much you can see when you put on a Noh mask.

Facing forward, you cannot see your feet, your left or right side or above you. People and things suddenly come into or disappear from your vision like magic. Even walking up or down some steps becomes a hard task.

Presently I practice Noh wearing the mask. I have to dance across the stage with a spear, kneel and pick things up off the stage. I have done those procedures without the mask many times, but with the mask on, every move becomes timid and fearful. I have the fear of falling off the stage or stepping too far or too short. I cannot be confident of where I am on the stage. My natural navigation system depends so much on visual information.

So, how do I position myself when the visual information is restricted? There are three things I rely on.

On the Noh stage, there are 4 pillars in the 4 corners of the stage. These become very important indicators of where you are. Even through mask of the restricted visual field, when the pillars come into vision, you would know which way you are facing and heading.

The Noh stage is floored with wooden boards. On the main stage, the seams of the boards go vertically facing towards the audience, but at the back part of the stage where the musicians and stage hands sit, the boards are seamed horizontally, and on "the Hashigakari", a bridge that diagonally links the dressing room and the main stage, the seams go along the bridge (which means that it is in diagonal direction compared to the main stage direction). The direction of the seams also gives very important information on where you are on stage.

If your vision is restricted in even seeing your feet, how do you know about the seams? Your feet will tell you. In Noh, you glide on stage. The back of your feet are in contact with the floor and by moving with glides, you will know the direction of the seams and know when the seams change.

Pillars, seams and the feet; they give me information to my navigation system on stage. I did not know that my feet could be so sensitive when put into focus.

Looking at the world through a Noh mask, I learn that when there are some restrictions to what you are accustomed to do, then other senses start operating much more sensitively than before to compensate for what you need, to gain the same performance.

I think the same principle applies not only within a self but within a system or organization.