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The text is divided into three sections:
The text is divided into three sections:
#The Three Paths (''sandô''), including an introduction, and discussion of the techniques of material (''shu''), structure (''saku''), and writing (''sho'').
#The Three Paths (''sandô''), including an introduction, and discussion of the techniques of material (''shu'', 種), structure (''saku''), and writing (''sho'').
#The Three Styles (''santai''), including discussions of the venerable style (''rôtai''), feminine style (''nyotai''), and martial style (''guntai'').
#The Three Styles (''santai''), including discussions of the venerable style (''rôtai''), feminine style (''nyotai''), and martial style (''guntai'').
#Miscellaneous, including the role of the ''hôka'' entertainer, the role of the demon, the ear- and eye-opening, Noh plays for young actors, revision of plays, and the centrality of ''[[yugen|yûgen]]''
#Miscellaneous, including the role of the ''hôka'' entertainer, the role of the demon, the ear- and eye-opening, Noh plays for young actors, revision of plays, and the centrality of ''[[yugen|yûgen]]''
==Three Paths==
In the Three Paths, Zeami discusses three key aspects of playwriting, beginning with the types of characters that make for the best Noh pieces, then discussing rhythmic and narrative aspects of the structure of the plot, before finishing with a discussion of the composition of the language, i.e. the lines chanted onstage.
[[Shelley Fenno Quinn]] translates the first of the three paths, ''shu'', as "material," but points out the [[kanji|character]] more literally means "seed" or "kernel." In this section, Zeami suggests that since a ''shite'' actor's performance consists chiefly of song/chant (''utai'') and dance (''mai''), a ''shite'' role inclined towards literary qualities is ideal for making it easier for the actor to achieve an effect of grace and ''yûgen''. To that end, he suggests four categories of ideal figures: ''hôka'' entertainers, ''[[kagura]]'' performers, and men and women associated with the arts.
==Three Styles==
Here, Zeami discusses three basic styles of representation. He uses the play ''[[Takasago]]'' as his model for discussing the venerable style (''rôtai''), cites plays in which the protagonist is the ghost of a warrior as the ideal examples of plays in the martial style (''guntai''), and suggests that plays featuring the ghosts of aristocratic women, such as the characters [[Yugao|Yûgao]], [[Ukifune]], and [[Lady Rokujo|Lady Rokujô]] from the [[Tale of Genji]], as the paragon of plays in the feminine style (''nyotai'').
==Miscellaneous==
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==References==
*Shelley Fenno Quinn, ''Developing Zeami'', University of Hawaii Press (2005), 115-146.
[[Category:Poetry and Theater]]
[[Category:Muromachi Period]]
[[Category:Historical Documents]]