I’ve just found out from the trip to Hiroshima that the area around the Atomic-Bomb Dome, the Sarugaku-cho Neighbourhood which was the epicentre of the atomic bomb explosion, was a bustling area known for Noh actors, artisans, physicians and shops of all types and size.

And the reason why they were there is the oldest Noh stage in Japan at Itsukushima-jinga on Miyajima Island as pictured above...

I have a personal connection with Itsukushima-jinga.  Knowing about it during my 2009 trip from a kind waitress at the Aizuya Kitchen in Minami Senju, Tokyo. I mentioned about the oldest Noh stage in Japan to her. She then searched the internet for information about the shrine for my next trip.  

And there I was in 2011.  On arriving at Miyajima via a JR ferry, I suddenly remembered my Independent Study essay during my second year at the VCA in 1996 on “Spirituality in Japanese Theatre”. I photocopied a picture of “the oldest Noh stage in Japan” from a book from the VCA Library, as well as a picture of a priest dancing Bugaku on a stage in front of a big Torii gate. As I approached the Noh stage at Itsukushima-jinja, I realised that, 15 years on, I was standing at the very spots that the photos in my essay were taken, both of the Noh and Bugaku stage. I never thought when I researched about Noh in 1996 that I’d be studying it. Had the Bhutanese government not cancelled my residency with the Royal Academy of Performing Arts in Thimphu, I wouldn’t have studied Noh and wouldn’t have been on the pilgrimage to Miyajima Island as a Noh student.  

It’s fateful indeed that I was there...