Zeami Motokiyo (世阿弥 元清, c. 1363 – c. 1443) was probably born in 1363 south of the old capital of Nara, perhaps in Yūzaki, not far from the venerable and ancient temple complex, Hōryūji. His father, Kan’ami Kiyotsugu (観阿弥 清次 1333 – June 8, 1384), was the head of a troupe of sarugaku performers (the predecessor of nō) and was related to several of the leaders of rival troupes in the Yamato area. Kan’ami was a successful actor and played to appreciative audiences far from home as well as nearby in Nara. His troupe was also obliged to appear in certain official performances at religious institutions in Nara. Kan’ami’s troupe caught the eye of important officials in the capital, Kyoto, and in 1374, he was called upon to perform before the young shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1408). This was likely the first occasion when Zeami came into contact with the person who would become his most important patron, the shogun himself.
Zeami seems to have been a favorite of Yoshimitsu, who was only about five years his senior. The shogun showed Zeami extraordinary favor and incurred the criticism of certain aristocrats for it, but this does not seem to have impeded Zeami’s career. If some aristocrats considered him beneath their notice, others were impressed by the boy, and he was even afforded the opportunity to compose linked verse with the celebrated poet and minister of state, Nijō Yoshimoto. Perhaps through these exalted connections in Kyoto, Zeami gained an education unusual for someone of his social class. He is also known to have spent time at a major esoteric Buddhist temple southeast of Kyoto, Daigo-ji. A high cleric there, Mansai, occasionally mentions him and events touching on his troupe’s fortunes in his diary.
In 1384, after Kan’ami died while traveling in eastern Japan, Zeami was charged with the leadership of his troupe. Although facts about his life in these early decades are scant, we do know that he performed before the shogun in 1394 and again, twice, in 1399. Each of these performances was connected to important political spectacles for the shogunate, and Zeami’s performances on such occasions are indications of his success in maintaining patronage among the elite. Still, Zeami was unable to monopolize shogunal patronage, and he faced a challenge from a rival, Inuō Dōami. Dōami was the most celebrated actor in the style of sarugaku called Ōmi sarugaku (from Ōmi Province), which originated closer to the capital than Zeami’s Yamato sarugaku. Zeami was acutely aware of the differences between Ōmi and Yamato sarugaku, and he apparently made great efforts to master the techniques of his rivals in order to strengthen his own art. We see evidence of these efforts in his initial writings on performance, Fūshi kaden (Transmitting the Flower through Effects and Attitudes), the first parts of which were written between 1400 and 1403. In Fūshi kaden, Zeami unambiguously praises yūgen, a philosophical concept that could be translated as “profound elegance”. Yūgen was seen as a prime virtue of the actors of Ōmi sarugaku. Zeami expresses praise of yūgen even while maintaining the importance of his own Yamato sarugaku lineage, which was best known for dramatic imitation (monomane).
Records of events in Zeami’s life are rare in the first decades of the fifteenth century, but we do have a body of texts by Zeami on performance notes, patronage, and training, including Fūshi kaden, as well as celebrated texts such as Kakyō (A Mirror to the Flower, ca. 1424), Kyūi (Nine Ranks, late 1420s), and Shūgyoku tokka (Pick Up a Jewel and Take the Flower in Hand, 1428). These texts give us a perspective on Zeami’s aesthetic aims as well as his increasing interest in Zen. There are also other types of texts among Zeami’s writings from this period, including some on technical issues in singing (e.g., Fushizuke shidai, Technical Specifications for Setting a Melody, undated), on training actors and overseeing a troupe (Shūdōsho, Learning the Profession, 1430), on how to compose for the stage (Sandō, Three Courses, 1423) and on musical genre (Go on, Five Sorts of Singing, undated). The last of these serves as an anthology of noh songs and contains a large number of individual pieces arranged by category.
We have little precise information on when Zeami composed his most famous plays, but because some of them are mentioned in the texts mentioned above, we do have dates by which a number of them must have been performed. Among these are, by 1419, Tōru and Sekidera Komachi; by 1423, Aridōshi, Atsumori, Higaki, Kiyotsune, Sanemori, Tadanori, Takasago, and Yorimasa; and by the mid-1430s, Koi no omoni, Hanagatami, Hanjo, Izutsu, Kinuta, Semimaru, Taema, and Yashima. In the same texts, we find similar dates for a number of other plays that Zeami either revised or had a part in composing, such as Kayoi Komachi and Matsukaze (by 1423). A group of playscripts, moreover, is still extant in Zeami’s own hand, some by him, some by other playwrights. Among these are Eguchi (autograph ms. dated 1424), Tomoakira (ms. dated 1427), Yoroboshi (ms. dated 1429).
After Yoshimitsu’s death in 1408, Zeami does not seem to have retained the strong patronage of the shogunate. The next shogun, Yoshimochi (1386-1428), favored another actor, Zōami (active early 15th century), whose roots were in dengaku, a cousin of sarugaku. Zeami himself seems to have had a high regard for Zōami, referring to his performance of a certain piece as “chillingly beautiful.” Even without direct shogunal patronage during these years, Zeami remained a popular performer, and there are records referring to wealthy commoners who commissioned him for performances offered up to the gods at certain shrines in Kyoto.
Once Yoshimochi died in 1428, however, Zeami’s fortunes changed. The next shogun, Yoshinori (1394-1441), took a strong interest in Zeami’s nephew, On’ami. During these years, Zeami’s line was stripped of various rights and honors, his eldest son and principal heir, Motomasa, was killed (perhaps murdered), and another son, Motoyoshi, took the tonsure. In 1434, Zeami was exiled to Sado Island, northwest of the mainland of Honshū. Why such a harsh punishment was leveled against the more than seventy-year-old actor remains a mystery. Perhaps it was because of a dispute about who should control the legacy of Kan’ami and Zeami’s troupe. Whether this was the reason or not, one suspects that Zeami had little regard for Onnami’s acting. In fact, in the late 1420s, Zeami begins the practice of transmitting texts on performance not to lineal descendants, but rather to his son-in-law, Konparu Zenchiku. Among the most important of the texts to have been transmitted this way is Shūgyoku tokka (Pick Up a Jewel and Take the Flower in Hand, 1428).
In addition to the performance notes discussed above, Zeami can be accounted as the author of a fascinating memoir, Sarugaku dangi (Conversations on Sarugaku), although technically this text was recorded by his son, Motoyoshi. It seems likely that Zeami may have returned to central Japan shortly before his death in 1443. His final composition is a set of songs composed on or about, Sado, entitled Kintōsho (1436).
Contributor: Yamanaka Reiko and Thomas Hare