was a Japanese
Noh
is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...
actor and playwright of the Konparu school. He was the grandson of
Konparu Zenchiku
was a skilled Japanese Noh actor, troupe leader, and playwright. His plays are particularly characterized by an intricate, allusive, and subtle style inherited from Zeami which convolved yūgen with influences from Zen Buddhism (his Zen master ...
. Zenpō's plays were more popular and dramatic, novel and crowd-pleasing with large casts and more elaborate effects and sets, than the plays of his grandfather's, or his great-grandfather
Zeami
(c. 1363 – c. 1443), also called , was a Japanese aesthetician, actor, and playwright.
His father, Kan'ami Kiyotsugu, introduced him to Noh theater performance at a young age, and found that he was a skilled actor. Kan'ami was also skil ...
's, although he did have an appreciation of
yugen
Japanese aesthetics comprise a set of ancient ideals that include '' wabi'' (transient and stark beauty), '' sabi'' (the beauty of natural patina and aging), and '' yūgen'' (profound grace and subtlety). These ideals, and others, underpin much o ...
and
wabi (Zenpō was a pupil of
Shuko and quoted him as saying "The moon not glimpsed through rifts in clouds holds no interest").
Plays
*''Arashiyama'' (嵐山)
*''Hatsuyuki'' ("Virgin Snow" or "First Snow"; 初雪; written in the ''yugen''
Zenchiku style
)
*''Ikarikazuki'' ("The Anchor Draping"; 碇潜)
*''Ikkaku sennin'' ("One-Horned Wizard"; 一角仙人; this Noh inspired the
kabuki
is a classical form of Japanese dance- drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.
Kabuki is though ...
play ''Narukami'')
*''
Ikuta Atsumori
''Ikuta Atsumori'' (生田敦盛), sometimes known simply as ''Ikuta'', is one of many Noh plays derived from the story of Taira no Atsumori, a young Taira clan samurai who was killed in the 1184 battle of Ichi-no-Tani. Taking place largely at I ...
'' (生田敦盛)
*''Kamo'' (賀茂)
*''Tōbōsaku'' (東方朔)
Treatises
*''Mōtanshichinshō'' (1455)
"How to Write a Noh Play; Zeami's Sando"
by Shelley Fenno Quinn. ''Monumenta Nipponica
''Monumenta Nipponica'' is a semi-annual academic journal of Japanese studies. Published by Sophia University (Tokyo), it is one of the oldest English-language academic journals in the field of Asian studies, being founded in 1938. Although the jo ...
'', Vol. 48, No. 1. (Spring, 1993), pp. 53-88.
Further reading
*''Four classical Asian plays in modern translation'' (1972), by Vera Rushforth Irwin. . (Contains a translation of ''Ikkaku sennin''.)
*''Furyuno no jidai: Konparu Zenpo to sono shuhen'' ("Komparu Zempo and the age of furyu (spectacle) noh performance"; 1998), by Tomoko Ishii. Published in Tokyo by ''Tokyo Daigaku Shuppankai'';
References
*''Zempo Zodan'' (manuscript dated 1553) section 4, in Kodai Chusei Geijutsuron. Cited in Hirota, D. (ed) (1995). ''Wind in the pines: classic writings of the way of tea as a Buddhist path''. Fremont, CA: Asian Humanities Press, 71.
Noh playwrights
1454 births
1520 deaths
15th-century Japanese male actors
16th-century Japanese male actors
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