能楽師 シテ方観世流／重要無形文化財保持者（総合認定）
大阪府寝屋川市生まれ。伝統的な能楽師の家系ではなく一般家庭に育ちながら、寺社や古典文学への親しみを通じて、能の世界に惹かれていく。京都の短期大学在学中に能楽部に入部し、能を舞うことへの憧れから四年制大学へ編入し、稽古を重ねるようになる。
卒業後は文化財の保存・修復に携わる研究機関で働きながら素人として稽古を続け、「自分が一生かけてしたいのは能である」との思いから職を辞し、観世流・故杉浦元三郎師のもとに内弟子として入門。住み込みでの七年にわたる厳しい修行を経て独立し、「石橋」「乱」「道成寺」などの大曲のシテを勤めながら研鑽を重ねている。
現在は公益社団法人能楽協会京都支部に所属し、杉浦定期能や京都観世会の舞台でシテを勤めるほか、解説付き公演や市民講座、学校でのワークショップなど、能に初めて触れる人々へ向けた普及活動にも力を注いでいる。とりわけ京都観世会において、女性能楽師として約四十年ぶりに「道成寺」のシテを勤めるなど、女性能楽師の活躍を静かに切り拓いてきた存在の一人でもある。
女性を主題とした曲では、六条御息所を描く「葵上」をはじめ、言葉にならない感情の揺らぎや影の気配を繊細にすくい取り、静かな時間の中に観る者の心を映し出す舞台づくりを大切にしている。
Born in Neyagawa, Osaka and raised outside a traditional noh family, Miki Matsui was drawn from an early age to shrines, temples, and classical literature. While studying at a junior college in Kyoto she joined the campus noh club, and her desire to perform noh herself led her to transfer to a four-year university to deepen her training.
After graduation she worked at an institute devoted to the conservation and restoration of cultural properties while continuing her practice, but eventually chose to devote herself entirely to noh. She left her job to become a live-in apprentice under the late Kanze master Motosaburo Sugiura, spending seven rigorous years as an uchi-deshi before establishing herself as an independent shite actor and taking on demanding roles in major works such as Shakkyô, Ran, and Dôjôji.
Now a member of the Nohgaku Performers’ Association in Kyoto, Matsui appears regularly on stage at Kyoto Kanze Noh Theatre and other venues around Japan. Alongside her performances, she engages in outreach through lecture-demonstrations, community courses, and school programs that open the world of noh to first-time audiences. At Kyoto Kanze Noh Theatre she became only the second woman in history — and the first in forty years — to perform the leading role in Dôjôji, making her one of the figures quietly advancing the presence of female noh actors today.
As a female noh actor, she brings a nuanced sensitivity to plays that center on women, such as Aoi no Ue, illuminating subtle emotional currents, quiet.