What does "If you hide it, it is a flower" mean?

■ Basic Structure:
① Zeami's Question (Question from the second-generation president)
② Kan'ami's Answer (Answer from the founding president/current chairman)
③ Kamoshika-shi's Interpretation
※Source Annotation

■ Second Theme:
What does "If you hide it, it is a 'flower'" mean?

Zeami: "I think the 'flower' is the moment when the audience is most excited. Is that correct?"

Kan'ami: "That's right. To break it down a bit more, a flower is about interest and rarity. Just as seasonal flowers surprise and delight us because they bloom for a moment in their season, it is interesting because it is constantly changing, blooming, and scattering."

Zeami: "How can we humans make such a 'flower' bloom?"

Kan'ami: "The flower is the heart, and the seed is the technique. I feel that in the process of mastering the skills that become the seeds, through refined ingenuity, what is expressed can appear as a 'flower'."

Zeami: "How do people or organizations that seem attractive, as if they always have a flower, do it?"

Kan'ami: "That's a good question! 'If you hide it, it is a flower.' Definitely make a note of this. It is the secret to evoking unexpected emotion in people's hearts, but it is best if the audience finds it surprising and interesting without even realizing that it is a 'flower'."

For example, let's talk about martial arts. There are times when someone who should be weak defeats a strong enemy with an unexpected technique. And if the person who lost doesn't know why they lost and can only think that something was strange, you can win again next time. In other words, not revealing all your cards—being able to hide things—is a strength.

Also, suppose there is an actor who is good at playing villains because of their scary facial features. If that person just plays a villain as they are, no flower will bloom. When an actor with a beautiful and supple demeanor plays a terrifying villain, that is the flower. Returning to the topic of forms, you can only create unexpectedness if you have a wide range of skills.

Reference: "Fushikaden" by Zeami, annotated and translated into modern Japanese by Kazuma Kawase (Kodansha Bunko), pp. 158-164

• A flower is a heart that is timely, rare, and interesting.
• It does not stay; it is beautiful because it scatters.
• In the case of imitating an old man, you should not act like an old man. It is like 'a flower blooming on an old tree,' where the body is slow but the spirit is young.
• The flower that comes and goes year after year is the ability to hold all the styles that were naturally possessed—the appearance of childhood, the techniques of one's beginner days, the methods of one's prime, and the demeanor of old age—in one's performance at the same time. It is about keeping the techniques of your beginner days within you.

👉 Kamoshika-shi's Interpretation
If we compare 'If you hide it, it is a flower' to a professional drummer, it might be 'ghost notes.' Drummers called masters in both jazz and rock play faint notes—notes that you can barely hear, see, or touch—especially using the snare. A huge vortex of groove is generated in that realm, but that is only possible because the notes in their head—the pulse sense—are finely divided in their mind. As a result, both delicacy and generosity appear in the play, creating a groove. Playing everything is considered unrefined. 'If the drums go full force, the song becomes childish,' are the words of Hideo Yamaki, the pinnacle of the Japanese session drummer world.

I will continue writing.