was a Japanese
Noh actor, author, and musician during the
Muromachi period
The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...
. Born in
Iga Province
was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan located in what is today part of western Mie Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Iga" in . Its abbreviated name was . Iga is classified as one of the provinces of the T� ...
, 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 founded a
sarugaku theater group in the
Kansai
The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropoli ...
region on the main Honshu island. The troupe moved to
Yamato
was originally the area around today's Sakurai, Nara, Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a Names of Japan, name for the whole of Japan.
Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial ...
and formed the Yuzaki theater company, which would become the school of
Noh theater. He grew in popularity and began making trips to
Kyoto
Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...
to give performances. In 1374, the
shōgun
, officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu
was the third '' shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate, ruling from 1368 to 1394 during the Muromachi period of Japan. Yoshimitsu was Ashikaga Yoshiakira's third son but the oldest son to survive, his childhood name being Haruō (). Yoshimitsu ...
was in the audience of a performance and was so impressed by it that he became Kan'ami's patron.
Kan'ami was the first playwright to incorporate the song and dance style and dances from rustic harvest celebrations. He trained his son
Zeami Motokiyo
, 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 skilled in acting and formed a ...
in his style, and his son eventually succeeded him as director of the Kanze school of Noh. Kan'ami died in
Suruga Province
was an Provinces of Japan, old province in the area that is today the central part of Shizuoka Prefecture. Suruga bordered on Izu Province, Izu, Kai Province, Kai, Sagami Province, Sagami, Shinano Province, Shinano, and Tōtōmi Province, Tōtōm ...
.
Notable works
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Further reading
*
Encyclopædia Britannica 2005 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, article – "Kan'ami"
1333 births
1384 deaths
Noh playwrights
14th-century Japanese male actors
Japanese Buddhists
14th-century Japanese dramatists and playwrights
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