A General Study of the Formative Process of Noh Drama in the Ages of Kan'ami and Zeami

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I considered how Noh drama attained completion in the ages of Kan'ami and Zeami from three different angles. First, what kind of literary quality can be found in the works of Kan'ami and Zeami? Second, in what process were they produced as works of art? Third, what kind of changes were they subject to in terms of direction?To carry out my objective, I looked for Noh song texts of good quality, took their pictures, and kept them in a CD-ROM so as to make it easy to look up the texts. I made revised texts from those pictures and gave a careful study to them.Also I made a list of 131 Noh songs known to have existed in the age of Zeami, placing them according to the date of their first appearances and the types of protagonists. In the process, I came to have a general idea of what kind of Noh plays were staged in the age of Kan'ami, in the first half of the age of Zeami, and in the latter half of it respectively.In addition, I put my ideas in order about how Noh drama, from the age of Kanami to that of Zeami, absorbed the elements of dancing and music, and developed a basic model for Noh in its present form.Building on these fruits, I advanced a thesis for a degree in November, 1996, and got the degree of Doctor of Literature from Waseda University in November 1997. Also I made a report of my research to the Society of Medieval Literature in the autumn of 1996, and published the outcome of my research separately in the Bulletin of the Society of Medieval Literature and in the Bulletin of Nogami Memorial Noh Theater Research Institute in 1997. At present I am making up my research results into a book and preparing for publishing it.