Zeami Motokiyo

Zeami was born around 1363, the son of Kan'ami Kiyotsugu, leader of a sarugaku performance troupe in the Yamato region.

As a boy performer in his father's troupe, Zeami caught the attention of the young shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, whose patronage transformed the family's fortunes and elevated Noh at the Kyoto court.

Favored at Yoshimitsu's court, Zeami received training in classical poetry and aesthetics, notably through the courtier-poet Nijo Yoshimoto, which deeply shaped his dramatic style.

On Kan'ami's death in 1384, Zeami became leader of the Kanze school of Noh, taking on both artistic direction and its repertory.

Zeami started composing his first and most famous secret treatise on the art of Noh, the Fushikaden (Transmission of the Flower through the Forms), for transmission within his school.

Over his career Zeami wrote or reworked plays that remain pillars of Noh, works traditionally attributed to him including Takasago, Izutsu, and Atsumori, developing the elegant mugen (dream-vision) style.

After the accession of Yoshinori, who favored Zeami's nephew On'ami, Zeami and his son Motomasa were excluded from shogunal performances; Motomasa's early death in 1432 was a further blow.

In 1434 the shogun Yoshinori banished the elderly Zeami to Sado Island for reasons that remain unclear; he was likely pardoned and returned after Yoshinori's death.

Zeami is traditionally said to have died around 1443; details of his final years after the Sado exile are uncertain.