The Japanese dramatic art of Noh has a rich six-hundred-year history and has had a huge influence on Japanese culture and such Western artists as Ezra Pound and William Butler Yeats. The actor
and playwright Zeami (1363–1443) is the most celebrated figure in the history of Noh, with his numerous outstanding plays and his treatises outlining his theories on the art. These treatises
were originally secret teachings that were later coveted by the highest ranks of the samurai class and first became available to the general public only in the twentieth century.
William Scott Wilson, acclaimed translator of samurai and Asian classics, has translated theFushikaden, the best known of these treatises, which provides practical instruction for
actors, gives valuable teachings on the aesthetics and spiritual culture of Japan, and offers a philosophical outlook on life. Along with theFushikaden, Wilson includes a comprehensive
introduction describing the historical background and philosophy of Noh, as well as a new translation of one of Zeami’s most moving plays,Atsumori.
