¡°Life is a lying dream, he only wakes who casts the world aside.¡± ¡ª Zeami Motokiyo (1363-1443)
The theater par excellence of ¡°the world cast aside¡± is noh. Its roots are in 14th-century Japan. Its greatest practitioner ¡ª as writer, performer and theorist ¡ª is said to have been Zeami Motokiyo, who wrote, ¡°A man¡¯s life has an end, but there is no end to the pursuit of noh.¡±
Stately, stylized noh arose from primitive, rollicking ancestors ¡ª sarugaku (monkey music) and dengaku (rural music). Two qualities in particular define it: ²â¨±²µ±ð²Ô (mystery) and monomane (imitation).
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