Female Children in Medieval Japanese Noh Plays

Abstract

Even though female characters play consequential roles in noh plays and have been analyzed, female children have not been a subject of research. Therefore, I am going to analyze female children in noh plays in terms of the relationship between female children and motivation, age, spheres, and death. The target plays are <italic>Jinen koji</italic>, <italic>Fuji's Drum</italic>, <italic>The Mirror of Pine Forest</italic>, <italic>The Pool Sacrifice</italic>, <italic>Minase</italic>, and <italic>Skylark Mountain</italic>. Through the analysis of these plays, I discovered that female children played significant roles in noh plays. However, their motivation and actions do not influence the progress of the plots. Rather, female children as equipment mark the beginning of the plots of the plays and cause other characters to carry on the story.