Remembering Zeami: The Kanze School and Its Patriarch

This article examines the history of the reception and popularization of the achievements of no's founder, Zeami Motokiyo, as represented by three important actors of the Kanze school: Kanze Motoakira (d. 1774), Kanze Sakon (d. 1939), and Kanze Hisao (d. 1978). Eric Rath describes how memories of Zeami helped these three actors to shape the Kanze school's performance practices and institutions. He reveals, too, how debate over no's direction and essence has come to be framed in respect to the person considered to be its patriarch.