Komparu Zenchiku
Encyclopedia
Komparu Zenchiku was a skilled Japanese Noh
actor, troupe leader, and playwright. His plays are particularly characterized by an intricate, allusive, and subtle style inherited from Zeami which convolved yūgen with influences from Zen Buddhism (his Zen master was Ikkyū
) and Kegon
. Actors should strive for unconscious performance, in which they enters the ‘circle of emptiness’; such a state of being is the highest level of artistic or religious achievement.
He lived, worked, and died in the Nara
area of Japan. He was trained by Zeami and his son, Motomasa (d. 1432), eventually marrying a daughter of Zeami. At some point he took the artistic name Komparu Ujinobu and then finally Komparu Zenchiku. In 1443, he became the leader of the Kanze acting troupe and thus the second successor to Zeami Motokiyo
. Zeami passed on his secret teachings to Zenchiku, apparently prompting Zeami's exiling; this refusal to transmit to his blood descendants also prompted a split between the Komparu school and the Kanze. Zenchiku's grandson was Komparu Zempo
, and his descendants would continue to head the Komparu school of Noh.
Noh
, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...
actor, troupe leader, and playwright. His plays are particularly characterized by an intricate, allusive, and subtle style inherited from Zeami which convolved yūgen with influences from Zen Buddhism (his Zen master was Ikkyū
Ikkyu
was an eccentric, iconoclastic Japanese Zen Buddhist monk and poet. He had a great impact on the infusion of Japanese art and literature with Zen attitudes and ideals.-Childhood:...
) and Kegon
Kegon
Kegon is the name of the Japanese transmission of the Huayan school of Chinese Buddhism.Huayan studies were founded in Japan when, in 736, the scholar-priest Rōben originally a monk of the Hossō tradition invited Shinshō to give lectures on the Avatamsaka Sutra at...
. Actors should strive for unconscious performance, in which they enters the ‘circle of emptiness’; such a state of being is the highest level of artistic or religious achievement.
He lived, worked, and died in the Nara
Nara Prefecture
is a prefecture in the Kansai region on Honshū Island, Japan. The capital is the city of Nara.-History:The present-day Nara Prefecture was created in 1887, making it independent of Osaka Prefecture....
area of Japan. He was trained by Zeami and his son, Motomasa (d. 1432), eventually marrying a daughter of Zeami. At some point he took the artistic name Komparu Ujinobu and then finally Komparu Zenchiku. In 1443, he became the leader of the Kanze acting troupe and thus the second successor to Zeami Motokiyo
Zeami Motokiyo
Zeami Motokiyo , also called Kanze Motokiyo , was a Japanese aesthetician, actor and playwright.-Acting:...
. Zeami passed on his secret teachings to Zenchiku, apparently prompting Zeami's exiling; this refusal to transmit to his blood descendants also prompted a split between the Komparu school and the Kanze. Zenchiku's grandson was Komparu Zempo
Komparu Zempo
Komparu Zempo was a Japanese Noh actor and playwright of the Komparu school. He was the grandson of Komparu Zenchiku. Zempo's plays were more popular and dramatic, novel and crowd-pleasing with large casts and more elaborate effects and sets, than the plays of his grandfather's, or his...
, and his descendants would continue to head the Komparu school of Noh.
Theoretical writings
- Rokurin ichiro no ki ("A Record of Six Rings and the One Sword"; 六輪一露之記)
- 歌舞髄脳記
- Go'on Sangyoku Shū ("Collected Comments on the Five [Feeling] Tones and the Three Performing Modes [Used to Create Them]"; 五音三曲集)
- 明宿集
- 至道要抄
Noh plays
- Bashō ("The Plantain Tree"; 芭蕉)
- Eguchi ("Mouth-of-Sound"; 江口; sometimes credited to Kan'ami and revised by Zeami, or Ikkyu)
- Kakitsubata ("The Iris"; 杜若; possibly by Zeami)
- Kogō ("Lady Kogō"; 小督)
- Matsumushi ("The Pine Cricket"; 松虫)
- Mekari (和布刈)
- Oshio (小塩)
- Saoyama (佐保山; Zenchiku?)
- Seiōbo ("Queen Mother of the West"; 西王母)
- Senju (千手 or 千寿)
- Shironushi (代主)
- Shōkun (very uncertain authorship; variously attributed to Zenchiku, Zeami, or neither)
- Shōki (鍾馗)
- ShunkanShunkanShunkan was a Japanese monk who, after taking part in the Shishigatani plot to overthrow Taira no Kiyomori, was exiled along with two others to Kikai-ga-shima. His story is featured in the Heike monogatari, and in a number of traditional derivative works, including the Noh play Shunkan and jōruri...
or Kikaigashima (俊寛 or 鬼界島) - Tamakazura ("The Jeweled Chaplet"; 玉葛 or 玉鬘)
- Tatsuta (龍田 or 竜田)
- Teika (定家; about the rumored love affair between Fujiwara no TeikaFujiwara no TeikaFujiwara no Teika , also known as Fujiwara no Sadaie or Sada-ie, was a Japanese poet, critic, calligrapher, novelist, anthologist, scribe, and scholar of the late Heian and early Kamakura periods...
and Shikishi NaishinnōShikishi NaishinnoPrincess Shikishi was a medieval Japanese poet, who lived during the late Heian and early Kamakura periods. She was the third daughter of Emperor Go-Shirakawa . In 1159, Shikishi, who did not marry, went into service at the Kamo Shrine in Kyoto...
) - Ugetsu ("Rain and Moon"; 雨月)
- Yang Kuei-fei, Yokihi, or Yōkihi ("Everlasting Sorrow"; 楊貴妃)
Further reading
- Nōgakuron Kenkyū, by Konishi Jin'ichi (Keene commends pgs 240-271 in particular)
- Revealed Identity: The Noh Plays of Komparu Zenchiku (Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies, 55), by Paul S. Atkins. ISBN 978-1929280360
- Six Circles, One Dewdrop: The Religio-aesthetic World of Komparu Zenchiku, Arthur H. Thornhill. ISBN 978-0691073521, 1 June 1993, Princeton University Press
- Traces in the Way: Michi and the Writings of Komparu Zenchiku, Noel J. Pinnington. Published by Cornell UniversityCornell UniversityCornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
's East Asia Program 30 June 2006; ISBN 978-1933947020 - Zeami, Zenchiku (1974), Zeami; Zenchiku Konparu; Akira Omote; Shuichi Katō. ISBN 9784000700245
- "Crossed Paths: Zeami's Transmission to Zenchiku" by Noel J. Pinnington, Monumenta NipponicaMonumenta NipponicaMonumenta Nipponica is a biannual academic journals of Japanese studies. It is affiliated with Sophia University .- Contents :Each issue contains three to four main research articles, and ten to fifteen reviews of recent books in Japanese studies, dealing with Japanese society, culture, history,...
, Vol. 52, No. 2. (Summer, 1997), pp. 201-234. - "Esotericism in noh commentaries and plays: Konparu Zenchiku's Meishuku shu and Kakitsubata," by Susan Blakeley Klein in The culture of secrecy in Japanese religion, Bernhard ScheidBernhard ScheidBernhard Scheid is an Austrian historian, academic and Japanologist on the faculty of the Institute of East Asian Studies at the University of Vienna ....
; Mark Teeuwen. ISBN 0-415-38713-2 - "Spirituality for the dancer-actor in Zeami's and Zenchiku's writings on the No." Benito Ortolani, 1983-1978; Dance as cultural heritage. Vol. 1. (CORD dance research annual. 14) New York, CORDCongress on Research in DanceCongress on Research in Dance is an international non-profit interdisciplinary society for dance researchers, artists, performers and choreographers. CORD publishes the Dance Research Journal, and sponsors annual conferences which distribute annual awards...
, c1983. p [147]-158. OCLC: 83163532 - "Was the Author of Ominameshi Komparu Zenchiku?", Haruo Nishino, in "The Noh Ominameshi: A Flower Viewed from Many Directions," Cornell East Asia Series 2003, Vol. 118, pages 209-222, ISSN 1050-2955
- "Zenchiku's Aesthetics of the Nō Theatre", Benito Ortolani
- "Zenchiku's Philosophy of the Noh Drama", by Asaji Nobori, in the 1960 Hiroshima Bunkyō Joshi Daigaku Kenkyū Kiyō.