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Zeami
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Zeami Motokiyo, also called Kanze Motokiyo, lived from about 1363 to about 1443. He was a Japanese actor, playwright and thinker on theatre, and is regarded as the most important writer of Noh theatre. His father Kan'ami led a theatre company and saw early on that his son had talent. When the young shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu saw him perform, he took the actor under his wing. At court Zeami received a classical education in literature, poetry and philosophy, which was unusual for an actor. After his father's death in 1385 he took over the leadership of the company.
Music and breakthrough
Zeami wrote an estimated fifty plays. Many of them draw their material from the Heike monogatari. Well-known titles include Atsumori, Takasago, Izutsu, Matsukaze and Yamanba. He combined folk dance, drama and music with classical poetry. He also wrote twenty-one treatises on the principles of Noh, including Fūshikaden. These are among the oldest writings on theatre in Japan, but they only became widely known in the twentieth century. After Yoshimitsu's death things became harder for him. In 1434 he was banished by the shogun Yoshinori to the island of Sado. After the shogun's death in 1441 he returned to the mainland.
Influence
Noh is a theatrical art in which slow dance, sung and spoken text, masks and a small ensemble of flute and drums come together. Zeami brought this art to its classical peak. His plays have been performed in Japan without interruption since they were written, and his ideas about beauty, silence and the flower of a performance still resonate in Japanese art.
Listening
Mentioned in other articles
- Noh Genre
In 1374 the young shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu saw a performance by Kan'ami and his son Zeami and became their patron; Zeami then wrote dozens of plays and the theory of the genre.