On “Kasama no Noh”
――A Viewpoint of Noh Plays around Shogun in the Period of Establishment of Noh――
1999 Volume 37 Pages 65-96
Details
1999 Volume 37 Pages 65-96
In the section 14 of Sarugaku dangi, one of his treatises on Noh, Zeami writes as a footnote, “Kasama no noh is not appropriate nowadays.” We may assume that this is a play called Yasu-inu, which has been excluded from the actual repertories of Noh plays. There are two questions to be answered. (1) The question whether this play was written in Zeami's days or had been done before. In other words, whether Zeami criticized a contemporary play or was against reviving the old play. (2) The question why Zeami regarded this play inappropriate at the time. The play deals with Yasu-inu, the son of a military man who revolted against the Kamakura-fu, the administrative office in Kamakura in the begining of the Muromachi Period. Kasama, the waki of the play, comes to arrest him and a fighting ensues.
In the process of finding answers to these questions one also will find what the situation of the noh actors under the patronage of Shogun was; Zeami was definitely one of them. Moreover, by examining this play, one can detect important influences of other noh plays on it, and vice versa.
