Kanze Kiyotaka (観世清孝)
Kiyotaka KANZE (1837 - 1889) was a Nohgakushi (Noh actor) playing shite (principal roles) of Kanze-ryu school. He was the 22nd head family of the Kanze-ryu school. He called himself Sakon KANZE.
He was a child of Kiyonaga KANZE, the 21st head.
In 1869 he followed the lead of Yoshinobu TOKUGAWA and moved to Shizuoka. After that, he left for the capital in accordance with the trend of re-evaluation of Nohgaku (the art of Noh) in Tokyo. During this time, Minoru UMEWAKA, the first, Tetsunojo KANZE, the fifth (also known as Kosetsu KANZE) and others worked hard to restore Noh in Tokyo. Consequently, there arose a conflict over the right of issue of license and it resulted in the foundation of Umewaka-ryu school in 1921.
His first son was Kiyokado KANZE, the 23th. His third son Motoyoshi became adopted heir of Kuroemon Shinzo KATAYAMA, the sixth, and married Mitsuko, a daughter of Shinzo. Later, he succeeded to the seventh head of the Katayama family and called himself Kuroemon KATAYAMA, the seventh. His brother-in-law was Gonnosuke Nobuyoshi SHINDO, the 10th, who was the last head of waki-kata (supporting actors) of Shindo-ryu school.