Zeami Motokiyo

Zeami Motokiyo (c. 1363–c. 1443) was a Japanese Noh playwright, actor, and theorist who helped shape Noh into a refined dramatic art. The son of the performer Kan’ami, he gained early prominence and enjoyed patronage from the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. Zeami wrote numerous Noh plays and articulated principles of performance, training, and aesthetics in influential treatises, most famously the Fūshikaden (also known as Kadensho). His writings discuss concepts such as “flower” (hana) and the cultivation of artistic mastery over a lifetime. Zeami remains a central figure in the history and theory of Noh theater.