Texts of noh plays in Japanese fall into two categories. First there are utai-bon, i.e. libretti. These are typically printed in beautiful calligraphy, handsomely bound, and include notations for the vocal music. There is minimal annotation of the text--variants, allusion, authorship, performance history, etc. Utai-bon are best used by those who are learning how to sing and dance in the noh style; those who are interested in performance aspects of the art (although things have changed greatly since the sixteenth century); and those who are already quite familiar with a play but would like to bring a lightweight, attractive text to the theater. The print is large and the pages don't make noise when you turn them.
Prices are around 2,000-2,500 yen per book for a single play (new). They can also be had in used bookstores in Japan for a few hundred yen and there is no charge for the musty smell of knowledge. The Kanze school publishes two handy compendia, each containing a hundred plays. These sell for about 20,000 yen each new.
Most of the time, however, one wants a scholarly text of a play with sufficient background infromation. In this case, use a finding list to locate a printed version, which will probably be included in an anthology of plays. The most recent and comprehensive finding list may be found one such anthology: Nishino Haruo, ed., Yokyoku hyakuban (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 1998) pp. 699-729. This book is vol. 57 of the Shin Iwanami Nihon koten bungaku taikei.
For any given play, Prof. Nishino may give a number of sources. (Note, however, that he does not index the plays included in his own anthology; check p. 4 to see if your play is included in Yokyoku hyakuban.) If you are fortunate, you may have a choice of versions. When I am looking for a play, here are the other sources I consult, with the easiest to use listed first:
1. Ito Masayoshi, ed. Yokyokushu. (3 vols., published by Shinchosha. Part of Shincho Nihon koten shusei series.) Nicely designed, with some notes in sepia for easy reading. Still in print.
2. Yokomichi Mario and Omote Akira, ed. Yokyokushu (2 vols, Iwanami shoten. Part of Nihon koten bungaku taikei series.) Very solid; contains the earliest texts available, which makes it ideal for historical research. Unfortunately it is out of print and difficult to find used.
3. Koyama Hiroshi et al., ed. Yokyokushu (2 vols, Shogakkan. Part of Nihon koten bungaku zenshu series. Recently revised and reprinted.) Includes translations of the plays into modern Japanese, for what it's worth.
4. Sanari Kentaro, ed. Yokyoku taikan (Several volumes; not so easy to find. First published in the 1930's, reprinted in 1982). Also has modern Japanese renderings, but they are of even less use as they are in prewar Japanese.
These sources should include every play in the current repertories.
Last updated November 10, 1998.