 In 1956, Keene appeared in a performance of the "kyōgen" play "Chidori" with Takechi in the role of the sake shop owner, before an audience including such prominent authors as Tanizaki, Yasunari Kawabata and Yukio Mishima.Writing that "every form of art" should be popular with the public, Takechi next sought to rejuvenate noh in a similar manner with which he had kabuki and "kyōgen".He worked with the avant-garde group Jikken Kōbō (Experimental Workshop), which had been founded by composers Tōru Takemitsu, Jōji Yuasa and other artists in 1951.