The Strong Ones Under the Stage
縁の下の力持ち – The Strong Ones Under the Stage
The cello and double bass are the basso continuo in the Baroque music world. Basso continuo is the quiet foundation of the ensemble: a steady bass line and harmony that supports everything happening on top. It usually doesn’t get the spotlight, but without it, the whole structure feels unstable.
At one point in my career as orchestra manager, I noticed that quite a few of my double bass or cello colleagues had also become orchestra managers or stage managers, the facilitating stage staff. We concluded it probably has something to do with the kind of personality that chooses cello or double bass as their instrument in the first place. There are many fun theories about which personalities go with which instrument. Of course, it’s stereotyping musicians, so we like to keep it as just a fun conversation.
All the orchestra stage managers I know are very dedicated and really take great satisfaction from their job. It can look easy, even simple and mindless: just moving chairs and music stands. But it also needs planning ahead: which program, which repertoire, which orchestra set-up, who needs which chair (chairs differ in height and sometimes also in functionality). It’s a facilitating mentality. Job satisfaction comes from being able to serve—in this case, serving the musicians at the highest level possible. So the musicians can perform at their highest level without having to worry about a squeaking chair, a dysfunctional stand, or lighting that is too dim to read comfortably. That is their Ikigai.
Stage managers usually arrive a few hours before everyone else to set up the stage. They are often the last ones to leave, especially when the stage has to be cleared and everything loaded into the truck for transport. They are the ones who can almost never go to post-concert receptions, because while everyone is enjoying their after-concert drink, they are still working, quietly resetting the world for the next performance. It looks invisible from the outside, but it is what keeps everything moving.
Stage managers also need spatial awareness. Sometimes the stage (or orchestra pit) is small and the musicians are packed in tightly. One musician will stand up and say, “I can’t play like this; everyone needs to move to the right.” Very often, we don’t have an overview. We don’t see what is happening further to the right (that it is even tighter there), nor the consequences of shifting everything. That is where the stage manager and orchestra manager come in. He or she (yes, there are women stage managers too!) will ideally negotiate diplomatically why the whole orchestra cannot be moved, for example. They can also explain that the set-up is not built randomly; it is carefully thought through, sometimes after months of discussion, to create the best possible conditions for everyone—physically, mentally, and of course artistically.
In Japanese, there are several ways to talk about supporting or facilitating behind the scenes. But the expression that fits best here is 縁の下の力持ち (en no shita no chikara mochi). Literally, it means “the strong person under the en.” 縁 (en) is the raised edge or verandah of a traditional Japanese house; 縁の下 (en no shita) is the quiet space underneath that supports the structure from below. Someone who quietly supports others from the shadows, without being seen, is called an 縁の下の力持ち (en no shita no chikara mochi).
There is even a children’s tooth custom related to this space under the en. When a child loses an upper tooth, it is traditionally thrown “under the house,” under the 縁の下 (en no shita), so the new tooth will grow in straight and strong—almost like asking the hidden strength under the house to support the new tooth as well, instead of calling on a Western-style tooth fairy.
The kanji 縁 (en) is also the same character used in ご縁 (goen), “the ties that bring people together.” ご縁 is about the invisible connections—chance meetings, relationships, opportunities—that link people and lives. So the same character 縁 can mean the physical edge of a house supported from below, and also the invisible “edge” or bond that connects people. In that sense, the 縁の下の力持ち (en no shita no chikara mochi) is not only holding up the structure, but also quietly supporting the connection of people above.
To my surprise, there is even a character in the anime Haikyuu!! whose name is 縁下力 (Ennoshita Chikara). His position is substitute wing spiker. Now we know exactly what his presence in the volleyball team is: the strong one quietly supporting the team from the sidelines.
