Kan'ami was an actor, dancer, playwright and troupe leader of the Muromachi period, best known as the father of Noh founder Zeami. Patronized alongside his son by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Kan'ami became the first head of the Kanze school of Noh performance.
Prior to the development of Noh, Kan'ami was the head of a traveling troupe of performers based in Nara.
He died in 1384, in Suruga province, having performed at Sengen Shrine there in Suruga just the previous day. He was buried in Kyoto, however, at Shinju-an, a sub-temple within the compound of Daitoku-ji. His son Zeami was later buried there as well.[1]
References
- Thomas Hare, Zeami Performance Notes, Columbia University Press (2008), 3, 30-31.
- ↑ Kindai kabuki nenpyô kyôto-hen 近代歌舞伎年表京都篇, National Theatre of Japan (2004), 714.