Noh performances ceased after the Taisho era, and the Noh stage at Nagae Atsukushihiko Shrine lay dormant for a long time.

Sado's Noh is revived after about 100 years

On Sado Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site, one-third of Japan's remaining Noh stages still exist. Among them is a stage that has been all but forgotten for a century: the Atsukushihiko Shrine Noh Stage, where performances ceased after the Taisho era.

This year, as part of the Sado Island Galaxy Art Festival 2025, we are bringing this historic stage back to life for a truly special event.

A One-Day-Only Experience Where Tradition Meets Innovation

This event will feature a historic Noh performance by a local troupe, marking a revival on this stage after approximately 100 years.

Following the performance and symposium, the Noh stage will become a canvas for modern sound. Eight contemporary artists will create a unique atmosphere using everything from electronics, laptops, and keyboards to guitars, flutes, and even custom-made instruments crafted from Sado's local bamboo. The evening will kick off with a special guest performance by the father-son duo Reishu & Satoshi Fukushima, whose music blends shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) with electronic sounds, a fusion inspired by their connection to Sado.

This is more than just a performance; it's a sensory journey where the solemnity of Noh and the serene sounds of contemporary music converge, offering a one-of-a-kind experience that will sharpen your senses.

A Deeper Dive into Sado's Music and Culture

This event also serves as the release concert for the 2025 LP record "Sound Surrounding On Sado,"which documents the music and people of the island. Advance copies will be available for purchase at the venue.

In addition, we will host a symposium to explore the profound role of Noh and contemporary music on Sado. Why did Noh flourish so uniquely here? What is its purpose in the modern world? Art critics, Noh masters, and musicians will share their expertise to explore these questions with you.

Delicious food and drinks unique to Sado will also be available from local vendors.

This is an unparalleled opportunity to experience Sado's past and present, a fusion of tradition and innovation that could only happen in 2025. Don't miss it.

Hosho School "Gakuyō Yūbu-no-kai" Tadao Houri Hōshō-ryū Noh Master and the Founder/Head of the Gakuyō Yūbu-no-kai. Based in Sado City, Niigata Prefecture. They established the "Gakuyō Yūbu-no-kai" in 2008 and currently instruct approximately 20 students in Sado. The association is dedicated to the practice of chanting (Utai) and dancing (Mai), and organizes an annual recital to present the members' progress. They are also actively involved in local Noh events, such as Takigi Noh (firelight Noh), undertaking community-based activities. Driven by the belief that Noh is not just a traditional performing art but a mirror reflecting the human spirit, they are committed to passing on the technical skills and spiritual depth to the next generation. links:Gakuyō Yūbu-no-kai

-------- 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM: Sado Island Galaxy Art Festival 2025 Symposium --------

Theme: "NOH - YUGEN - AMBIENT: Time and Resonance with Sado's Culture and Climate" (Tentative)

Thematic Discussion: Noh, Yūgen, and Ambient

This symposium will delve deeply into common concepts like "time," "space," and "resonance," by contrasting the "Yūgen" (profound, subtle, and mysterious) world view of Noh, which is uniquely rooted in Sado Island, with the "tranquility" and "relationship with place" found in contemporary and ambient music.

From the multifaceted perspectives of a Noh Master, an art critic, a music director, and an art festival producer, we will explore the present state of Sado, where tradition and innovation intersect.

This symposium aims to offer a deeper understanding of the Noh performance, which will be revived later the same day after a lapse of nearly 100 years, and the live performance by contemporary music artists on the Noh stage ("NOH & EXPERIMENT 2025 - Noh and Sound, the Intersecting Present").

We will explore the background of why a distinctive form of Noh developed on Sado Island and the role of Noh in modern society. A multi-angle discussion will unfold, allowing attendees to experience the new culture of "Sado in 2025" born from the fusion of tradition and innovation.

Sound Surrounding On Sado + Liner Notes: Noi Sawaragi + Cover Photo: Shoin Kajii

Speakers (titles omitted):
Noi Sawaragi (Professor, Tama Art University / Member, Institute of Anthropology of Art and Design / Advisor, Sado Island Galaxy Art Festival)
Links:Tama Art UniversityInstitute of Anthropology of Art and Design

Tadao Hori (Hōshō-ryū Noh Master / Head of the Gakuyō Yūbu-no-kai)
Links:Gakuyō Yūbu-no-kai

Masato Hoshino (Founder and Director, Experimental Rooms)
Links:Experimental Rooms

Morito Yoshida (Representative Director, Sado International Art Promotion Organization / Artist)
Links:Sado International Art Promotion OrganizationMORITO YOSHIDA

-------- 1:30 PM – 5:30 PM: Live Performance --------

This event also serves as a release commemoration performance for the LP record album "Sound Surrounding On Sado," which documents the music and people of Sado in 2025, and an advance sale will be held on the day. Exquisite Sado-specific food vendors are also planned within the venue.

A diverse range of artists will participate, offering a unique artistic experience where the solemn space of Noh theater intersects with the tranquil resonance of contemporary music.

Don't miss this special opportunity to experience the Sado of 2025 with all five senses, where tradition and innovation converge.

Starring: Yuta Sumiyoshi + Masayasu Maeda (Kodo) / Sadrum / plantar / Charles Munka / Morito Yoshida / Kota Aoki + Miyuki Fukunishi + Tomoyo Shiina + Nao Orihara / Yuka (the fugu plan?) / Opening Guests:  Reishu Fukushima + Satoshi Fukushima

Yuta Sumiyoshi Music Director of Kodo. He started playing Japanese drums (Wadaiko) in the second grade of elementary school. He entered the apprentice center in 2010 and became a member in 2013. On stage, he mainly plays the drums and flute. He is also Kodo's sound maker, creating numerous essential pieces for their performances, such as "Yui," "Meguru," and "Ayu." He directed "Meguru -MEGURU-" in 2018, Kodo's Asakusa performance of "Ayu" (2021), and "Yamabumi" (2024). In 2022, he served as the music director for "Michikake." In addition to actively working on sound production, he is also active in "Kenta Taku Yuta Taku" with Kenta Nakagome and "iiiZØ (MIZOU)." He presides over "0on (Zero On)," Kodo's experimental music label. He is one of the key persons shaping the future of Kodo's stage, continuously exploring new forms of musical expression with an interest not only in taiko music but also in experimental music and sound art. He received the Kagawa Prefecture Culture and Arts Newcomer Award in 2021. links: YUTA SUMIYOSHI KODO 0ON (JP label)

Masayasu Maeda He joined Kodo in 2016. In addition to performing, he is also in charge of composing, stage directing, and staging. Since 2022, he has been responsible for stage direction at "Earth Celebration," a festival held in Sado that aims to create a new global culture. In 2023, he collaborated with musicians Shuta Hasunuma and Manami Kakudo, and in 2024, with NAKIBEMBE EMBAIRE GROUP, who made their first visit to Japan from Uganda, realizing new creations that transcend genres and borders. He is pioneering new musical expressions for Kodo through a wide range of listening, from Ohayashi (Japanese festival music) to ambient sounds and noise music. links: MASAYASU MAEDA KODO

Sadrum Sadrum is a bamboo drum group based on Sado Island. They personally handle everything from cutting the local Sado Mōsōchiku (Japanese timber bamboo) to crafting their own instruments, which they then use in their performances. They have released two CDs: Sadrum Live in Itary (2008) and Take no Kokoro (Bamboo Heart) (2011). They perform in various locations both on and off the island, earning high praise for their soft, unique bamboo tones and original grooves. links: SADO BAMBOO CLUB / SADRUM

plantar "plantar," a solo project by composer Nozomu Sato, is an activity rooted in harmony with nature, blurring the boundaries between humans, animals, and plants. His compositions, structured by a polyphonic sense of harmony nurtured since his time in a choir as a child and a mathematical order, evoke the geometry found in nature, such as leaf veins and cicada wings. This music is disseminated from Sado Island, a place where untouched culture remains. links: NOZOMU SATO

Charles Munka Charles Munka was born in Lyon, southeastern France. Based on Sado Island, he actively presents his works internationally in locations such as Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul, Zurich, and Los Angeles. With a unique cross-media style encompassing painting, drawing, and collage, he continues to pursue the aesthetics of popular culture involved in image appropriation, drawing wide influence from Abstract Expressionism to Japanese manga. Munka's works explore the liminal space between proximity and distance and the fleeting feeling of a place that is both his own and not his own, telling a story of identity that is constantly layered, reinvented, and re-emerging. Munka's work is inspired by the theory of the dérive (drift), where unplanned journeys through various landscapes unconsciously lead to an experience of the aesthetics of the overlooked and ephemeral. In this case, the final experience is the artwork, an embodiment of the information collected during the artist's journeys and daily commutes. The vibrant, information-saturated fragments in Munka's paintings allude to the surprise and chaos of the postmodern Asian landscape, and the juxtaposition of textures, traces, and symbols merge in an epic where Munka is the protagonist. links: CHARLES MUNKA THE NOH MIXIES

Morito Yoshida Morito Yoshida (Morito) is an artist and producer born on Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture. He began his career in Tokyo in the 90s, then worked in the United States and Okinawa, and is currently based on Sado Island. Since 1995, he has developed "Communication Performance" (Kōshin Ensō), where he uses shortwave, AM, and FM radios as "instruments" in live performances, mixing radio waves received in real-time with his own signals. In his roots, Sado Island, he founded the "Sado Island Galaxy Art Festival" (Sado no Shima Ginga Geijutsusai). As the founder and general producer, he takes the lead in planning, operation, collaboration with domestic and international artists and art institutions, and cooperation with the local community. links: MORITO YOSHIDA EyeEm Sado Island Galaxy Art Festival

Kota Aoki Kota Aoki was born on Sado Island on February 11, 1985. From around 2014 to 2018, he was based in Tokyo and Kanagawa, where he experimented with recording experimental music and performing in live houses. He is currently based on Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture, and continues his creative activities in painting, music, and other mediums. links: KOTA AOKI

Miyuki Fukunishi Miyuki Fukunishi performed in live music activities as a member of the acoustic unit "Bontoraborushi" and the electric band "Paprikans" starting in 1991, where she was in charge of composition, vocals, and bass. She performed at various venues in Tokyo, including Shibuya Apia, Kichijoji Mandala 2, Koenji Inaoza, Koenji Penguin Cafe, and Kichijoji Star Pine's Cafe. In 2009, she moved to Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, and shifted her focus to composing music using computer software. In 2020, she composed the music for the "Factory Run Project" by invited artist Kim Jaemini (South Korea) for the "Arts Maebashi Artist-in-Residence Program 2019." In 2021, she was responsible for the music of the DVD Memories of the Maebashi Air Raid: A Message from Atago Historical Archives (produced by Joshu Bunka Lab). In 2022, she participated in "KASHIMA 2021 BEPPU ARTIST IN RESIDENCE" with Kim Jaemini. She moved to Sado in 2022. links: MIYUKI FUKUNISHI

Tomoyo Shiina Tomoyo Shiina is from Ibaraki Prefecture. She moved to Sado in 2018 and has been operating the garden shop Silt since 2019. links: SILT

Nao Orihara She was born in Shibata City, Niigata Prefecture in 1989. She has been living on Sado Island since 2015 and co-hosts the "Sado Island Record Society" with Tomoyo Shiina. links: NAO ORIHARA まめやハロン

Yuka (the fugu plan?) This is a duo featuring Yuka (vocals and ukulele), who was born and raised on Sado Island and is involved in various activities through music incorporating the "island wind" while traveling between NY and Sado and visiting various countries, and Shanir Blumenkranz(Producer/Bass Wood Ginbri), a New York native born to to play a sound. Depending on the country they are performing in, other members join in and the band changes colour completely each time. links: THE FUGU PLAN? SHANIR EZRA BLUMENKRANZ

Reishuzan Fukushima Reishuzan Fukushima (1948 - )shakuhachi player. Reishuzan Fukushima began performing and improvising as a shakuhachi player after encountering the Muramatsu-style shakuhachi on Sado in the 1990s. Diploma of Tozan-ryu Shihan in 2024.   +   Satoshi Fukushima Satoshi Fukushima (1977- ) Japanese composer. He graduated from Niigata University's Faculty of Education, where he was trained to teach special subjects (music). He received his M.F.A. in Media Expression from the Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences (IAMAS). Since 2002, he has been creating compositions based on real-time computer processing and interactive relationships with performers. He is also a member of the band Mimiz, which experiments with improvisation and computer-based sessions of its own. In 2008, he began to actively compose chamber music series with Junichi Hamaji. Among them, "an object of metamorphose", an exchange-type collaborative composition, was started on New Year's Day 2009 and is still in progress. Some of his previous compositions have been written by himself in his own score with detailed commentary and formatting. He continues to reflect on the description of time and how it is played. The CD "Satoshi Fukushima: Chamber Music 2011-2015" was released on G.F.G.S. label in 2016. He is a member of JSEM(Japanese Society for Electronic Music). Studied composition under Masahiro Miwa. url: www.shimaf.com Some of the major awards he's been associated with are Mimiz: 2006 ARS ELECTRONICA 2006 Digital Music Honorary Mention Satoshi Fukushima: 2006 The First AAC Sound Performance Dojo Award for Excellence Satoshi Fukushima: The 6th JFC Composition Award 2011, Honorable Mention Junichi Hamaji + Satoshi Fukushima: The 17th Japan Media Arts Festival 2013, Art Division, Jury Recommended Work Satoshi Fukushima: 2014 Japan Media Arts Festival, Excellence Award, Art Division Satoshi Fukushima: Honorable mention in the 2017 Ryuichi Sakamoto Installation Music Contest links: REISHUZAN FUKUSHIMA SATOSHI FUKUSHIMA G.F.G.S LABEL (JP label) EXPERIMENTAL ROOMS (JP label)

Food and Drink Booth

mameya haron,LA PAGODE,Yakitori Yajima,Oni Cafe

How to Register / How to Purchase Tickets

1. Purchase tickets at TAACHI (53-1 Ryotsu Ebis, Sado City).
2. Purchase online tickets via Art Sticker (General Admission / Sado Resident Discount).　
https://artsticker.app/en/events/93458
3. Online tickets available on EDGE OF NIIGATA (General Admission Only).
https://edge-of-niigata.com/tour/51465/