Nobumitsu
かんぜこじろうのぶみつ 観世小次郎信光
能狂言
Kanze Kojirō Nobumitsu 1435-1516, noh actor, drummer, playwright, and theoretician.
Biography
Seventh son of eminent noh actor Kanze Saburō Motoshige (1398–1467), more commonly known as On’ami, Kanze Kōjirō Nobumitsu (1435-1516) learned to play drums. After his elder brother Matasaburō Masamori (? -1470) died leaving a young child as the next troupe leader, Nobumitsu took over his training and support. He is known today mostly for the dramatic plays he wrote employing many people on stage at one time, often labeled furyū style. Nobumitsu led the Kanze troupe through the difficult period of the Ōnin wars. Nobumitsu’s leadership enabled the Kanze family to maintain its important position as one of the major noh troupes.
Writings
Noh Plays
Plays still performed:
- Atagokūya (Atago) 愛宕空也, (愛宕)
- Chōryō 張良
- Funa Benkei 船弁慶
- Kochō 胡蝶
- Kōtei (Myō-ō-kyō) 皇帝, 明王鏡
- Kusenoto 九世戸
- Momijigari (Koremochi) 紅葉狩(惟茂)
- Orochi 大蛇
- Rashōmon (Tsuna) 羅生門 綱
- Ryōko 龍虎
- Tama no I 玉井
- Yoshino Tennin 吉野天人
- Yugyōyanagi 遊行柳
Plays that are no longer performed
- Fuji 富士
- Futari Miko 二人神子
- Haen 巴園
- Hikami 氷上
- Hoshi (Kōso, Kan no Kōso) (1452) 星 高祖 漢の高祖
- Itaten 韋駄天
- Kamei 亀井
- Kibune 貴船
- Mitsusue 満季
- Murayama 村山
- Taisei Taishi 太施太子
- Tomotada 知忠
Plays that are no longer extant
- Jō no Tarō 城の太郎
- Kōbōjo けうぼう女
- Miidera Zenji 三井寺前師(禅師)
- Morinaga 盛長
- Rōtosha 労度差
- Yasusada 保貞
Treatises
- Kanze Kōjirō Gonnogami Densho (The teaching of Kanze Kojirō Gonnogami, 1492). This text, untranscribed, can be found in the collection of the Kanze Shinkurō family. See Nō Kyūgen II, 1988.
- Koezukaukoto (On Chanting, 1511). This text is discussed in Omote Akira’s Nōgakushi Shinkō.
Reference
Lim Beng Choo. Another Stage: Kanze Nobumitsu and the Late Muromachi Noh Theater. Cornell East Asia Series 163, 2012.
MB based on LBC