Teachings on Style and the Flower (Fūshikaden)

The first and best-known treatise by Zeami, the actor and playwright who, with his father Kan'ami, turned sarugaku into the Nō theatre. Written between about 1400 and 1418 as a secret manual for his heirs, it passes on Kan'ami's teaching in seven books. The first sets out training by age, from a child of seven to an actor past fifty, warning that the charm of youth is only a temporary flower that must not be mistaken for the true one. The second covers the imitation (monomane) of types such as women, old men, madwomen, warriors and demons. Later books answer practical questions, tell the legendary origins of the art, and develop its central idea, the flower (hana): the quality that captivates an audience through freshness and surprise, and must grow from long mastery rather than from a fixed style. The final book adds that the flower depends on concealment, since its effect relies on the audience not knowing what is coming.

It is one of the earliest and most practical works of aesthetics anywhere, and its idea of the flower speaks to anyone who performs, teaches or creates for an audience.