Konparu Zenchiku

Japanese: 金春禅竹 - こんぱる・ぜんちく

Year of death: Around Bunmei 1 (1469)
Year of birth: 1405
A Noh actor from the mid-Muromachi period. He developed Zeami's Noh in his own way, and established the foundation for the rise of the Konparu school. His real name was Ujinobu, but he may have been known as Kanuji until 1437. In his later years, he took the Buddhist name Ken'o Zenchiku, and in later generations, he is often referred to as Konparu Zenchiku, combining his title of Daifu and his Buddhist name. His grandfather was Konparu Gonnokami, who was the first to take the name Konparu. His father Yasaburo died young, and Zenchiku, who became Zeami's son-in-law, looked up to Zeami as his de facto leader. In 1428, Zeami passed on the teachings of Rokugi and Shugyokutokuhana to Zenchiku, and Zenchiku was expected to have a bright future as one of the successors. When Zeami was exiled to Sado, Zenchiku sent money to Sado and supported his mother-in-law, Kotobuki Tsubaki, who remained in Nara. Zenchiku was not as flashy as Onami, who was seven years his senior, but he worked steadily, mainly in Nara, and in his later years he was so highly regarded that he was called on a par with Onami (Shinkei's "Hitorigoto"). At around the age of 60, he handed over the family headship to his son Shichiro Motouji and became a monk. Perhaps out of admiration for Ikkyu Sojun, he moved to Yamashiro and established Tafuku-an in Shinsho. The names Tafuku-an and Zenchiku are one and the same, and the name is likely a reference to an episode about a Zen monk who was also a favorite of Ikkyu, which appears in "Goto-egen" and other works, such as "Tafuku Ichisou no Bamboo." Zenchiku wrote treatises such as "Rokurin Ichiro no Ki," "Kabuki Zuinouki," "Goon Sankyokushu," and "Meishukushu," which, while difficult to understand, develop his own unique ideas. Of Nosaku's works, more than a dozen pieces, including "Kamo," "Teika," "Basho," "Gyokuzu," "Yang Guifei," "Ugetsu," and "Oshio," are said to be by Zenchiku, and there is a strong possibility that "Nonomiya" and "Kumano" are also included. In his masterpiece "Teika," a cold world that is just a hair's breadth away from the grotesque is developed around the theme of forbidden love, pioneering a new world of Noh that surpasses that of Zeami.

(Matsuoka Shinpei)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：文明1前後?(1469)
生年：応永12(1405)
室町中期の能役者。世阿弥の能を独自に発展させ,金春流隆盛の基礎を固めた。実名氏信。ただし永享9(1437)年までは貫氏と称したか。晩年の法名が賢翁禅竹で,後世には大夫号と法名を合わせて金春禅竹と呼ばれることが多い。祖父に金春をはじめて名乗った金春権守がいる。父弥三郎は早世したらしく,世阿弥の娘婿となった禅竹は,世阿弥を実質的な指導者と仰いだ。正長1(1428)年には,世阿弥から『六義』や『拾玉得花』の相伝を受け,後継者のひとりとして将来を嘱望された。世阿弥が佐渡に流されたときには,佐渡に送金し奈良に残る義母寿椿を扶養した。禅竹は,7歳年上の音阿弥ほどの派手さはないものの奈良を中心に地道に活動し,晩年には音阿弥に並称されるほどの評価を得た(心敬『ひとりごと』)。 60歳ごろに子の七郎元氏に家督を譲って出家し,一休宗純を慕ってか,山城の薪庄に多福庵を営んで移り住んだ。多福庵と禅竹という名は一体のもので,『五燈会元』などにみえる「多福一叢の竹」という,一休も好んだ禅僧のエピソードにちなむ命名だろう。禅竹には『六輪一露之記』『歌舞髄脳記』『五音三曲集』『明宿集』などの論書があり,難解ながら独自の思考が展開されている。能作では「賀茂」「定家」「芭蕉」「玉葛」「楊貴妃」「雨月」「小塩」など十数曲が禅竹作とされ,「野宮」「熊野」もその可能性が強い。代表作「定家」では禁断の恋を題材としてグロテスクと紙一重の冷えた世界が展開され,世阿弥を超える新しい能の世界が開拓されている。<参考文献>伊藤正義『金春禅竹の研究』

(松岡心平)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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