A Japanese Island Preserves an Ancient and Ghostly Theater Form

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Shinobu Kamiyama is not a professional actress. The mother of two works as a caregiver in a day service for the elderly. But she is one of many residents of Sado Island, in Japan’s northwest, who share an unusual passion for one of the world’s oldest — and most otherworldly — forms of theater.

On a summer night, Ms. Kamiyama played the lead role in a ghost story belonging to Japan’s ancient Noh form of drama. She wore a small oval mask and an ornate kimono as she stepped out onto a Shinto shrine’s weathered wooden stage surrounded by torches. A chorus of singers chanted, and musicians played a flute and drums while she stomped and spun in stylized dance moves.

When it was her turn to sing, she delivered her verses in a low drone that climbed to climatic peaks, in Noh’s distinctive style that blends religious incantation with operatic aria.