SOURCE: De Poorter, Erika. “The Theoretical Writings of Zeami.” In Zeami's Talks on Sarugaku: An Annotated Translation of the Sarugaku Dangi, pp. 45-56. Amsterdam: J. C. Geiben, Publisher, 1986.

In the excerpt below, De Poorter surveys Zeami's theoretical writings, underscoring their “hidden” or “secret” quality as texts intended for a narrow, private audience.

Secret Traditions

Zeami began the Fūshi kaden, the first of a score of theoretical writings about Nō, in about 1400, after having already gained many years of experience as an actor, writer and director. As far as we know this was the first treatise on the art of Nō (Nōgakuron) in Japan. In a certain sense this was only natural, because Sarugaku had, after all, matured only one generation earlier to become an art form acknowledged and supported even by the shōgun.

There are probably several reasons why Zeami came to put his ideas...