Viewing Noh from the origin

The history of the whole of Japanese theater might have been entirely different if, in 1375 at Kasuge Temple near Nara, two adolescent boys had not formed a passionate friendship, a special relationship that would cause a unique and ultimately influential art form to come into being. The elder of the young men was Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, aged 17, the powerful dynastic shogun and ruler of all Japan, and he had experienced an early form of Noh performed by Kanami Kiyotsugu and his twelve year old son Zeami Motokiyo. It is due to Yoshimitsu's patronage and interest in early Noh that this dramatic form was able to develop into the highly refined, serene theater which we can see today.