Kanze Kiyokado (観世清廉)

Kiyokado KANZE (1867 - 1911) was a Noh actor of the Kanze school of shite-kata (lead actors). The 23rd head of the Kanze school. He was the eldest son of Kiyotaka KANZE, the 22nd head of the school. Although he moved to Shizuoka with the Tokugawa family in 1869, he was in a wretched condition; he returned to Tokyo in 1877 and lived in his acquaintance's house near the Yushima-tenjin Shrine for a while. In 1888, he succeeded to the head of the school; since he was very young, Kosetsu KANZE became a guardian for him. In 1901, he constructed the Kanze Noh-gakudo (Noh play theater) in Omagari (present-day Shin-ogawa-machi, Shinjuku Ward).

He had no children of his own; he adopted Motoshige KANZE (the eldest son of Kuroemon KATAYAMA the Seventh [Motoyoshi KANZE] who was Kiyokado's younger brother).

[Original Japanese]