Zeami Motikiyo (1363?–1443?)—actor, troupe leader, playwright, and theorist—perfected the classical fourteenth-century masked dance-drama form of noh. His claim to enduring Japanese and even international fame is largely attributable to a series of twenty-one treatises covering the history of the art, proper training methods, role execution, and vivid actorly anecdotes. They are detailed, personal, and evocative, the fruit of increasingly hard experience. Recognized as an exceptional talent by the Ashikaga shogun at age twelve, Zeami was promoted from temple-based “beggar” of an itinerant troupe to the elite arts, religious philosophy, and etiquette of the court. Yet such patronage did not bring stability: He appears to have continually struggled to maintain the supremacy of his own troupe over rival troupes that supplanted him in public and patron favor.

The treatises, which Zeami began writing at age thirty-seven, were intended for a son who died young, yet they were maintained secretly among Kanze...

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