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Props
The most commonly used prop in Noh is the fan, as it is carried by all
performers regardless of role. Chorus singers and musicians may carry their fan
in hand when entering the stage, or carry it tucked into the obi. In either
case, the fan is usually placed at the performer's side when he or she takes
position, and is often not taken up again until leaving the stage.
Several plays have characters who wield mallets, swords, and other implements.
Nevertheless, during dance sequences, the fan is typically used to represent any
and all hand-held props, including one such as a sword which the actor may have
tucked in his sash or ready at hand nearby.
When hand props other than fans are used, they are usually introduced or
retrieved by stage attendants who fulfill a similar role to stage crew in
contemporary theater. Like their Western counterparts, stage attendants for Noh
traditionally dress in black, but unlike in Western theater they may appear on
stage during a scene, or may remain on stage during an entire performance, in
both cases in plain view of the audience.
Stage properties in Noh including the boats, wells, altars, and the
aforementioned bell from Dōjōji, are typically carried onto the stage before the
beginning of the act in which they are needed. These props normally are only
outlines to suggest actual objects, although the great bell, a perennial
exception to most Noh rules for props, is designed to conceal the actor and to
allow a costume change during the aikyogen interlude.
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