A stylised and intense form of high drama, Japanese Noh is undoubtedly as well suited to operatic treatment as Greek tragedy. Powerful emotions, violent actions and brutal social strictures abound in Noh, an art form which places great importance on formal gesture and minimalist staging. Lliam Paterson’s Spirit Harbour takes the Noh play Sessho-seki, The Killing Stone, as its principal subject, within a framing device which uses a survivor of the 2011 tsunami as overall narrator.

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A kitsune is a Japanese fox spirit, often with many tails.