was a Japanese actor and director, who specialized in the Noh form of musical drama. He was the second son of Kanze Tetsunojō VII, a descendant of

Kan'ami was a Japanese Noh actor, author, and musician during the Muromachi period. Born in Iga Province, Kan'ami also went by and . He is the father of the well-known playwright . Theater Kan'ami's career began in Obata, Nabari-shi, Mie when he fo ...

and

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 ...

, who founded the Noh movement in the 14th century. Trained alongside his brothers by his father and grandfather, Kanze made his Noh stage debut at the age of three. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

ended, Kanze attended the Tokyo Music School, although he dropped out before completing his studies. With his family running one of Japan's five main Noh schools, Kanze was controversially adopted by another school, the Kita group, for 11 years. His activities caused an uproar in the Noh community, and he quit the movement, acting in conventional drama and films. With the help of his older brother, Hisao Kanze, also an actor, Hideo resumed his career in Noh in 1979. On May 2, 2007, Kanze was involved in a serious car accident when his car crashed into the median strip on the Chūō Expressway in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

. An elderly female passenger, believed to be a colleague, suffered serious head injuries and died in hospital. Kanze died just over a month after the accident from intestinal cancer, aged 79.

Filmography

* '' Ningen'' (1962) as Kompira * '' Pitfall'' (1962) * '' Lost Sex'' (1966) * '' Summer Soldiers'' (1972) * '' Nichiren'' (1979)

References

External links

* Japanese male stage actors Noh playwrights 1927 births 2007 deaths Deaths from colorectal cancer Deaths from cancer in Japan 20th-century Japanese dramatists and playwrights {{japan-stage-actor-stub