Zeami Motokiyo - Career

Career

Zeami received patronage in 1374, which was then an uncommon honor for an actor. Patronage allowed him to become a vocational artist and he began to lead the troupe after his father's death in 1385. The troupe became successful during his tenure as a leader. While leading the troupe, he wrote the first Japanese treatises on pragmatic aesthetics.

Zeami adhered to a formalist writing process: he began with a topic, determined the structure, and finished by writing the lyrics. The number of plays that he wrote is uncertain, but numbers at least 30. His intellectual interests were eclectic and he was a proficient writer of Renga. The Tale of the Heike was the source of several of his best known plays. He integrated Japanese and Chinese ancient poetry into his drama. Contemporary dramatists Doami and Zoami had a significant influence on him, earning recognition in his treatises. He spoke particularly well of Zoami, but his shift toward Yugen and away from Monomane may have been because of Doami's influence. He mixed popular dance, drama, and music with classical poetics and thus and broadened and popularized the classical tradition. In his earlier work, he used Zen illustrations, creating new Zen words and using established Zen words out of context. Many of the themes he used are present in other schools of Buddhism. Japan was dominated by a focus on Zen culture then, and he was registered at a Zen temple and was a friend of a well-known Zen priest. In 1422, he became a lay monk.

One of the most important performances of Zeami's career occurred in 1394. At that time, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu visited the Kasuga shrine in Nara and Zeami performed during the visit. It was a significant political event, so Zeami was likely a well known artist then. He gave two significant performances for the Shogun in 1399, one of which could have been attended by Emperor Go-Komatsu.

Zeami found Yoshimitsu to be a difficult patron, and was rivaled by Inuo, a Sarugaku actor, for the favor of the Shogun. Though Yoshimitsu died in 1408, and new Shogun, Yoshimochi, was indifferent to Zeami and preferred the dengaku work of Zoami, Zeami's career remained strong due to his connections with the urban commercial class. Due to his status as a well respected public figure, he had access to a number of patrons. He eventually reached the stature of a celebrity and wrote a significant amount between 1418 and 1428.