Remembering Zeami: The Kanze School and Its Patriarch

Abstract

This article examines the history of the reception and popularization of the achievements of nö’s founder, Zeami Motokiyo, as represented by three important actors of the Kanze school: Kanze Motoakira (d. 1774), Kanze Sakon (d. 1939), and Kanze Hisao (d. 1978). Eric Rath describes how memories of Zeami helped these three actors to shape the Kanze school’s performance practices and institutions. He reveals, too, how debate over nö’s direction and essence has come to be framed in respect to the person considered to be its patriarch. Eric C. Rath is assistant professor of premodern Japanese history at the University of Kansas. He is the author of several articles on the history of nö and the forthcoming book The Ethos of Noh: Actors and Their Art (Harvard University Asia Center Press).