From ancient times, Japanese culture had developed importing and learning new concepts and products from both China and Korea, and had gradually shown their uniqueness, as seen in Noh plays and Zen Buddhism.  In other words, crossing the borders, Chinese and Korean people can see some elements of their ancient cultures in Noh and Zen, which can be regarded as partial Japanese translations of old and lost Chinese/Korean cultures.
     This paper aims to map “convergence” in some (possible) references on Noh and Zen Buddhism in James Joyce’s novels and William Butler Yeats’ plays.  As Richard Ellmann and Michael Patrick Gllespie noted, Joyce owned a copy of ‘Noh’ or Accomplishment: A Study of the Classical Stage of Japan (New York: Knopf, 1917) inscribed to Joyce by John Quinn, 29 June 1917, when Joyce was still looking for a publisher for his play "Exiles."  At that time, unlike Ezra Pound and W. B. Yeats, Joyce did not show any particular interest in Noh.  However, the word “Noh” appeared several times in Finnegans Wake (FW 244.26 and FW 611.11, etc.).
     Although the origin of Noh is obscure, it is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the fourteenth century.  Kan’ami and his son Zeami brought Noh to its present-day form under the patronage of the powerful Ashikaga Shogunate government.  It was when Japan struggled to establish a unique culture, free from the influence of neighboring Chinese and Korean cultures.  As Arthur Waley noted that it was in the language of Zen that poetry and painting were discussed; and it was in a style tinged with Zen that Zeami wrote of his own art (The No Plays of Japan, p. 32).  The concept of epiphany in Dubliners and many riddles in Ulysses and Finnegans Wake are close to that of the “koan” of Zen.
     W. B. Yeats admired Noh plays through his two Japanese friends, Yonejiro Noguchi and Michio Ito who stayed in London in the late 1910s.  Although Ito had never trained as a Noh actor/dancer, he played the role of the Hawk at the premiere of Yeats’ At Hawk’s Well (1916), which is full of the elements of Noh.  As Louis Armand (2001) notes, there is a possible reference to the Noh in the pantomime or in the Noh theatre: “O! Amune! Ark!? Noh?!” (FW 244.26).
     In the Introduction to Certain Noble Plays of Japan by Ezra Pound, Yeats compared the ghost lovers of “Nishikigi” with the Aran boy and girl in Lady Gregory’s story come to the priest after death to be married (9).
     There are many ghost stories in Noh plays in which the Buddhist monk plays an important role.  The most frequently used Japanese word in Finnegans Wake is “bonze” (a Japanese Buddhist monk).  St. Patrick, transforming into a Japanese monk (Patriki San Saki, FW 317.02) and the Chinese Archdruid appear in the Noh theatre and perform/discuss in pidgin English (FW 611-13).   This is the highlight of the Japan/China contrast throughout the novel.