Kanami

Kan’ami 

one of the oldest schools of actors in the Japanese no theater. Two members are particularly well known.

Kiyotsugu Kan’ami. Born in 1333; died in 1384. The founder of the school. Kiyotsugu Kan’ami founded the Kanzeza Theater in the city of Iga; in his productions he combined theatrical elements of the 10th-l lth-century sarugaku, of the 11th—16th-century dengaku, and the early-14th-century kusemai, creating a new type of performance—the no theater. He was also an actor and teacher and theorist of theatrical art.

Zeami (Seami) MotokiyoKan’ami. Born in 1363; died in 1443. The son of Kiyotsugu Kan’ami. After his father’s death Zeami directed the Kanzeza Theater. Unlike his father he sought to please the tastes of the aristocracy (the emperor often attended his stage productions). Zeami Kan’ami was an outstanding actor and wrote more than 100 plays for the no theater, distinguished by exceptional refinement. He composed more than 20 treatises on the art of no.

REFERENCES

Nogami, Toyoitiro. Kan’ami Kiyotsugu. Tokyo, 1949.
Kobayasi, Shizuo. Zeami. Tokyo, 1943.
Geinojiten (Dictionary of Theatrical Art). Tokyo, 1962.

L. D. GRISHELEVA