(Translated by William Scott Wilson)
Translated by William Scott Wilson
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/4770024991/?tag=2022091-20
2006
(Translated by William Scott Wilson)
Translated by William Scott Wilson
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DMC5H92/?tag=2022091-20
(Translated by Tom Hare)
Translated by Tom Hare
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007F1ET0Y/?tag=2022091-20
世阿弥 元清
Zeami Motokiyo was born in 1363 in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. His mother was the daughter of a priest and a Fief Lord. His father Kanami led a theater troupe which primarily performed in the Kyoto region, before becoming popular in the late 1360s and early 1370s.
Zeami Motokiyo received patronage in 1374, which was then an uncommon honor for an actor. Patronage allowed him to become a vocational artist and he began to lead the troupe after his father's death in 1385. The troupe became successful during his tenure as a leader. While leading the troupe, he wrote the first Japanese treatises on pragmatic aesthetics. The number of plays that he wrote is uncertain, but numbers at least 30.
One of the most important performances of Zeami's career occurred in 1394. At that time, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu visited the Kasuga shrine in Nara and Zeami performed during the visit. It was a significant political event, so Zeami was likely a well known artist then. He gave two significant performances for the Shōgun in 1399, one of which could have been attended by Emperor Go-Komatsu.
Due to his status as a well respected public figure, he had access to a number of patrons. He eventually reached the stature of a celebrity and wrote a significant amount between 1418 and 1428.
Zeami Motokiyo is known as the foremost writer of Noh and the artist who brought it to its classical epitome. Scholars attribute roughly 50 plays to him, many of which have been translated into European languages. The contemporary versions of his plays are sometimes simplified. Some of his plays are no longer extant, and roughly 16 exist only in the form of rare manuscripts.
(Translated by William Scott Wilson)
2006(Translated by William Scott Wilson)
(Translated by Tom Hare)
