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This study explores how Noh, as a performing art, overcame its “era of suffering” and maintained its status as a traditional Japanese art form today, amidst Imperial Japan’s defeat in the Asia-Pacific War and the subsequent dissolution of the empire. To this end, it builds upon my previous work (2024) primarily examined the issue of censorship and Noh during the GHQ occupation period. This paper, however, focuses on the Noh culture magazine 『Yūgen(幽玄)』 published immediately after defeat, alongside contemporaneous magazines such as 『Nōgaku(能楽)』 and 『Nō(能)』, to examine the perceptions and discourse within the Noh community at that time. The aim here is to shed light on a neglected aspect of modern Noh history by revealing the process of shedding the wartime armor of “martial Noh” and donning the brocade of “subtle Noh”—a transformation period following the Meiji Restoration, the Showa Restoration of defeat. Moreover, this issue extends beyond the Noh world alone. It stems from the grand historical inflection point of Imperial Japan’s dissolution, the GHQ occupation, the transplantation of democracy, and the abolition of ultra-nationalism. Consequently, the study also examines the Ministry of Education’s commencement of the “Cultural ㄴState” project and its lowering of the “Culture” banner on September 15, 1945. By transforming “culture” into a metaphor for defeat, Japan’s power structures and state have performed an 80-year script: veiling the perpetrator’s war responsibility while simultaneously reflecting and diffusing the suffering of atomic bombing and repatriation victims, thereby unifying the memory of war under the banner of “peace.” Simultaneously, the ambiguity of the Japanese people immediately after defeat—unable to clearly define its meaning or depth—freed them from the powerful control of militarism and ultranationalism. They found powerful attraction in “culture,” which hinted at hope for the future, stability, and improved living standards, using this as the driving force for revival. John Dower states in Embracing Defeat: “Japan’s emergence as a modern nation was stunning to behold: swifter, more audacious, more successful, and ultimately more crazed, murderous, and self-destructive almost an illusion―ninety-three-year dream become nightmare that began and ended with American warships..” However, the time when Imperial Japan invaded and dominated Asia was certainly no dream. Rather, the 80 years since defeat―during which GHQ transplanted democracy and allowed the Emperor, the sovereign of Imperial Japan, to live without being held accountable for the war―were the dreamlike years. At least, anyone who lived through both wartime and postwar should feel this way. The first 17 articles of the Constitution of the Empire of Japan dealt with the Emperor, declaring, “The Empire of Japan shall be governed by the Emperor of the Imperial Lineage of Japan for all generations.” This established an empire where the Emperor reigned as sovereign. This political transformation, which placed “Japanese culture” front and center in a nation where the people became sovereign under democracy, differs significantly from the transformation that followed the dissolution of the Tokugawa shogunate and the Satsuma Rebellion. That transformation formally adopted a constitutional democracy but in reality became an absolutist state based on the Emperor’s sovereign authority. This distinction is crucial when considering how the Noh world responded and forms a vital part of modern Noh history. Indeed, the Noh community adapted to the postwar era and demonstrated movements to survive by following the roadmap of a “cultural state” presented by the authorities, transforming Noh itself. A consistent thread running through modern Noh history is that maintaining a relationship and distance with the state and power allows the art form to survive in the short term. In the case of Noh, despite being a single performing art, it has endured for over 600 years, transcending successive powers. This relationship and distance thus represent both the limit that performing arts must accept under the modern nation-state system and an effective means of survival.