The House of Kanze by Nobuko Albery (Century Publishing, 1985) is a historical novel set amidst the spelndour and corruption of the Ashihaga Shogunate in 14th century Japan. The book portrays the life and times of the first three generations of the Kanze and three Ashihaga Shoguns and in particular focuses on the untouchable boy player who later becomes the greatest Japanese actor-playwright of all time.
We first meet Zeami as an ethereally beautiful child, trained from birth as an actor, singer and dancer in the exacting disciplines of the Japanese theatre. His father, himself a superb actor and creative genius, heads a theatrical troupe of provincial players whose success under his leadership enables them to exchange the meager patronage of the local temple and the hardship of touring on the mud road for the favours of the Shogun’s court in Kyoto.
Following the troupe’s first highly successful performances, the young Shogun, Yoshimitsu, orders the entertainer’s beautiful 12-year-old son be made available for his nighttime pleasure. The relationship blossoms from lust to that of a companion and lover. Father and son both achieve a fantastic success and bask in the adulation of the capital.
From this pinnacle Zeami goes on to face the four great crises of his life. First, the ending of his affair with the Shogun – at the onset on manhood. Then the deaths of his father and of the Shogun which expose him to the malice of the new court and his rivals, and the challenge of leading the House of Kanze. And finally his betrayal by his adopted son and the bitter sweet triumph of his final stage appearance.
Ever present between the crowded detail of Zeami’s life – the glitter of court life, the stage triumphs, the relationships with his family, his fellow actors and rivals and a variety of wayside entertainers – is the iron hard dedication to his art: the theatre of noh. Zeami succeeds in honing to perfection the art of noh, establishing a tradition which survives to this day after over 600 years of turbulent Japanese history.
Nobuko Albery was born in Japan in 1940 but studied and worked in New York for several years. She has also written Samurai (1969 – under the name Nobuko Morris, co-authored with Ivan Morris and Paul Varley), Balloon Top (1978), Absurd Courage (1987) and Japanese Pride and Prejudice (2002). The House of Kanze is available in hardcover at Amazon.com.
