Changes

*''Died: [[1443]]''

*''Died: [[1443]]''

*''Other Names'': [[観世]]元清 ''(Kanze Motokiyo)'', [[秦]]元清 ''(Hata no Motokiyo)''

*''Other Names'': [[観世]]元清 ''(Kanze Motokiyo)'', [[秦]]元清 ''(Hata no Motokiyo)''

*''Japanese'': 世阿弥 ''(Zeami)''

*''Japanese'': 世[[阿弥]] ''(Zeami)''

Zeami was an actor, troupe leader, playwright and theatre theorist, generally considered the founder of [[Noh]] drama. He is considered the original author of many plays prominent in the Noh repertoire, as well as several secret treatises on performance, in which he articulates numerous concepts later incorporated into [[kabuki]], ''[[joruri|jôruri]]'' puppet theatre, and other art forms, including the concept of ''[[jo-ha-kyu|jo-ha-kyû]]'', and that of "the flower," an almost indefinable quality which marks the greatest of performances, and which is that which captures the audience's interest.<ref>Hare, 6.</ref>

Zeami was an actor, troupe leader, playwright and theatre theorist, generally considered the founder of [[Noh]] drama. He is considered the original author of many plays prominent in the Noh repertoire, as well as several secret treatises on performance, in which he articulates numerous concepts later incorporated into [[kabuki]], ''[[joruri|jôruri]]'' puppet theatre, and other art forms, including the concept of ''[[jo-ha-kyu|jo-ha-kyû]]'', and that of "the flower," an almost indefinable quality which marks the greatest of performances, and which is that which captures the audience's interest.<ref>Hare, 6.</ref>

Zeami was born [[Hata no Kokatsu|Hata]] no Motokiyo, the son of performer [[Kan'ami]], with whom he was invited at a young age to become a court performer in service to [[Shogun]] [[Ashikaga Yoshimitsu]]. While at the shogun's court, and charged with organizing entertainments, Motokiyo and his father developed rural dances known as ''sarugaku'' into the beginnings of what is now known as Noh theatre or Noh drama. There would eventually develop five orthodox schools of Noh performance, with the [[Kanze school]] claiming the most direct connection to Zeami, and claiming Kan'ami as its first head.  

Zeami was born [[Hata no Kokatsu|Hata]] no Motokiyo, the son of performer [[Kan'ami]], with whom he was invited at a young age to become a court performer in service to [[Shogun]] [[Ashikaga Yoshimitsu]]. While at the shogun's court, and charged with organizing entertainments, Motokiyo and his father developed rural dances known as ''sarugaku'' into the beginnings of what is now known as Noh theatre or Noh drama. There would eventually develop five orthodox schools of Noh performance, with the [[Kanze school]] claiming the most direct connection to Zeami, and claiming Kan'ami as its first head.  

Upon his father's death in [[1384]], Zeami succeeded him, becoming the second head of the Kanze school. With the monetary wellbeing of the troupe now in his hands, Zeami took steps to adapt the style of his more provincial [[Yamato province|Yamato]]-based troupe, to better compete with those situated closer to the capital (Kyoto) and closer to Kyoto tastes. His own Yamato style, as passed down from his father, took the portrayal of women and of demons, and the techniques of ''monomane'' (imitation) more generally, as its greatest strengths, for example, but these were precisely the things which were not much appreciated by more sophisticated Kyoto audiences. Zeami attempted to resolve this by adopting elements of the [[Omi province|Ômi]] troupes' emphasis on cultivating an aesthetic mood of ''[[yugen|yûgen]]'' (mysterious beauty), not adopting it wholesale, but refashioning it so as to maintain Yamato traditions and styles of performance, while making Yamato performance more sophisticated and appealing to Kyoto audiences.<ref>Hare, 10., Quinn, 49.</ref>

Upon his father's death in [[1384]], Zeami succeeded him, becoming the second head of the Kanze school. With the monetary wellbeing of the troupe now in his hands, Zeami took steps to adapt the style of his more provincial [[Yamato province|Yamato]]-based troupe, to better compete with those situated closer to the capital (Kyoto) and closer to Kyoto tastes. His own Yamato style, as passed down from his father, took the portrayal of women and of demons, and the techniques of ''monomane'' (imitation) more generally, as its greatest strengths, for example, but these were precisely the things which were not much appreciated by more sophisticated Kyoto audiences. Zeami attempted to resolve this by adopting elements of other art forms, including chiefly ''[[kusemai]]'', and the [[Omi sarugaku|Ômi troupes']] emphasis on cultivating an aesthetic mood of ''[[yugen|yûgen]]'' (mysterious beauty), refashioning these elements as he incorporated them, so as to maintain Yamato traditions and styles of performance, while making Yamato performance more sophisticated and appealing to Kyoto audiences.<ref>Hare, 10., Quinn, ''Developing Zeami'', 49, 54.</ref>

Zeami began writing the earliest and today most famous of his treatises, the ''[[Fushikaden|Fûshikaden]]'' ("Transmission of the Flower, Forms, and Style"), in [[1400]]; much was completed within the following two years, but the latest portions of the text are dated [[1418]]. In [[1401]], he took on the [[art-name]] (''gô'') Zeami.

Zeami began writing the earliest and today most famous of his treatises, the ''[[Fushikaden|Fûshikaden]]'' ("Transmission of the Flower, Forms, and Style"), in [[1400]]; much was completed within the following two years, but the latest portions of the text are dated [[1418]]. In [[1401]], he took on the [[art-name]] (''gô'') Zeami.

==Thought==

==Thought==

In his writings on performance and training, Zeami wrote chiefly for the "primary actor," what would later come to be known as the ''shite''. In his time, in the Yamato ''sarugaku'' tradition he inherited from his father, there was already a division between those who performed primary roles, and those who performed secondary roles.<ref>Shelley Fenno Quinn, ''Developing Zeami'', University of Hawaii Press (2005), 131.

In his writings on performance and training, Zeami wrote chiefly for the "primary actor," what would later come to be known as the ''shite''. In his time, in the Yamato ''sarugaku'' tradition he inherited from his father, there was already a division between those who performed primary roles, and those who performed secondary roles.<ref>Quinn, ''Developing Zeami'', 131.</ref> As is evident in his writings, many other fundamental aspects of Noh theatre were also already existent, though many were yet to be codified. Thus, the five categories of plays, and the identification of the actors or roles as ''shite'', ''waki'', and ''tsure'', to name just a few examples, are not referred to explicitly as such in Zeami's writings, but rather develop out of his teachings.

</ref> As is evident in his writings, many other fundamental aspects of Noh theatre were also already existent, though many were yet to be codified. Thus, the five categories of plays, and the identification of the actors or roles as ''shite'', ''waki'', and ''tsure'', to name just a few examples, are not referred to explicitly as such in Zeami's writings, but rather develop out of his teachings.

==Selected Works==

==Selected Works==

*''[[Kakyo|Kakyô]]'' (花鏡, "A Mirror to the Flower", 1424)

*''[[Kakyo|Kakyô]]'' (花鏡, "A Mirror to the Flower", 1424)

*''[[Rikugi (Zeami)|Rikugi]]'' (六義, "Six Models", 1428)

*''[[Rikugi (Zeami)|Rikugi]]'' (六義, "Six Models", 1428)

*''[[Jugyoku tokka|Jûgyoku tokka]]'' (拾玉得花, "Pick Up a Jewel and Take the Flower in Hand", 1428)

*''[[Jugyoku tokka|Jûgyoku tokka]]'' (拾玉得花, "Pick Up a Jewel and Take the Flower in Hand", 1428), composed for his son-in-law, [[Komparu Zenchiku]]<ref>Quinn, ''Developing Zeami'', 75.</ref>

*''[[Shudosho|Shûdôsho]]'' (摺動書, "Learning the Profession", 1430/3)

*''[[Shudosho|Shûdôsho]]'' (摺動書, "Learning the Profession", 1430/3)

*''[[Museki isshi]]'' (夢跡一紙, "Traces of a Dream on a Single Sheet, 1432/9)

*''[[Museki isshi]]'' (夢跡一紙, "Traces of a Dream on a Single Sheet, 1432/9)

*[[Aridoshi|Aridôshi]]

*[[Aridoshi|Aridôshi]]

*[[Atsumori]]

*[[Atsumori]]

*[[Izutsu]]

*[[Izutsu]]

*[[Kinuta]]

*[[Kinuta]]

*[[Koi no omoni]]

*[[Koi no omoni]]

*[[Nue]]

*[[Nue (play)|Nue]]

*[[Saigyozakura|Saigyôzakura]] (attr.)

*[[Seiganji (play)|Seiganji]]

*[[Seiganji (play)|Seiganji]]

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==References==

==References==

*Thomas Hare, ''Zeami Performance Notes'', Columbia University Press, 2008.

*Thomas Hare, ''Zeami Performance Notes'', Columbia University Press, 2008.

*Rimer, J. Thomas and Yamazaki Masakazu trans. (1984). ''On the Art of the Nō Drama: The Major Treatises of Zeami.'' Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.  

*Thomas Rimer and Yamazaki Masakazu trans. (1984). ''On the Art of the Nō Drama: The Major Treatises of Zeami.'' Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.  

*Quinn, Shelley Fenno. "How to write a Noh play - Zeami's Sandō." ''Monumenta Nipponica'' 48:1 (Spring 1993). pp58-62.  

*Shelley Fenno Quinn. "How to write a Noh play - Zeami's Sandō." ''Monumenta Nipponica'' 48:1 (Spring 1993). pp58-62.

*Shelley Fenno Quinn, ''Developing Zeami'', University of Hawaii Press (2005).  

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