Resumen de Is Creativity Divine or Earthly?: Zeami and the Debate over Genius and Talent
After the publication of Zeami’s critical writings in the late Meiji period, scholars of Noh adopted terms from previous debates about “authors” and “artists” to populate a nationally defined canon of literature. Concepts that often appeared in these debates, like “genius” (天才) and “natural talent” (天稟), still appear in appraisals of Zeami and seem to fit cleanly with Zeami’s own reflections on artistic success. Among them is Nose Asaji 能勢朝次 (1894–1955), compiler of the first annotated edition of Zeami’s secret texts. Meiji concepts of genius and natural talent at first excluded Zeami from the canon, but that changed with the publication of his previously secret writings. Subsequently, Nose identified natural talent and genius in his discussion of skin, flesh, and bone in his text “Attaining the Pursuit of the Flower” (Shikadō「至道」). The present essay proposes an alternative interpretation of “bone” not as talent but as a native capacity found in all sentient beings, analogous to the idea of Buddha nature. In conclusion, the impact of Nose’s reading on the reception of Japanese cultural traditions is taken up.
