Pen name:
| Chikamatsu Monzaemon I |  |
Real Name: Sugimori Nobumori
Line number: SHODAI (I)
Existence: 1653 ~ 22 November 1725
Connection:
Disciples: Takeda Izumo I, Chikamatsu Kannosuke
Career:
1653: born in the city of Furue in the province Echizen; he is the second son of the samurai Sugimori Ichizaemon Nobuyoshi.
September 1683: premiere in Kyôto at Ujiza of Monzaemon's first official puppet play "Yotsugi no Soga"; this is Monzaemon's first work for the jôjûri reciter Uji Kaganojô.
January 1685: premiere in Ôsaka at the Takemotoza of Monzaemon's play "Shusse Kagekiyo"; this is Monzaemon's first work for the jôjûri reciter Takemoto Gidayû. This jidaimono is considered as the first "new" jôjûri (in opposition to the "old" jôjûri (kojôjûri), a new style which will be called Gidayû in the future.
March 1693: the first drama written by Monzaemon for the star Sakata Tôjûrô I is performed in Kyôtô at Miyako Mandayû's theater. The play's title is "Butsumo Mayasan Kaichô" and the others actors in the casting are Yamashita Hanzaemon, Yoshizawa Ayame, Kirinami Senju I, Kaneko Kichizaemon and Iwai Heijirô.
November 1696: premiere in Kyôto at Miyako Mandayû's theater of Monzaemon's play "Tôhôsaku", which is produced by Sakata Tôjûrô I.
April 1697: premiere in Kyôto at Miyako Mandayû's theater of Monzaemon's play "Uzuki Kokonoka Sono Akatsuki no Myôjôgachaya", which is produced by Sakata Tôjûrô I.
January 1698: premiere in Kyôto at Miyako Mandayû's theater of Monzaemon's play "Kamigyô Uta Hajime", which is produced by Sakata Tôjûrô I (it is said that the actor revised the script quite a lot himself).
January 1699: premiere in Kyôto at Miyako Mandayû's theater of Monzaemon's play "Keisei Hotoke no Hara", which is produced by Sakata Tôjûrô I. This is a huge success.
October 1699: premiere in Kyôto at Miyako Mandayû's theater of Monzaemon's play "Amidagaike Shin Teramachi", which is produced by Sakata Tôjûrô I.
January 1700: premiere in Kyôto at Miyako Mandayû's theater of Monzaemon's play "Keisei Guzei no Fune", which is produced by Sakata Tôjûrô I.
May 1701: Takemoto Gidayû takes the name of Takemoto Chikugonojô.
January 1702: premiere in Kyôto at Miyako Mandayû's theater of Monzaemon's play "Keisei Mibu Dainenbutsu", which is produced by Kokon Shinzaemon; the 2 leading roles are played by Sakata Tôjûrô I and Arashi Kiyosaburô I.
May 1703: premiere in Ôsaka at the Takemotoza of Monzaemon's first his first shinjûmono "Sonezaki Shinjû"; it is also Monzaemon's first sewamono and it is based on a real event that happened in Ôsaka in April 1703; "Sonezaki Shinjû" will be adapted to Kabuki a few years later and staged for the first time in Edo in April 1719 at the Nakamuraza [more details].
November 1704: premiere in Kyôto at Miyako Mandayû's theater of Monzaemon's drama "Kisshô Tennyo Anzan no Tama".
Summer (?) 1705: the play "Keisei Kinryû no Hashi" is staged in Kyôto at Miyako Mandayû's theater; this is the last script written directly for Kabuki actors by Monzaemon.
February 1707: premiere in Ôsaka at the Takemotoza of Monzaemon's play "Horikawa Nami no Tsuzumi"; it will be adapted to Kabuki for the very first time more than 2 centuries later, in April 1914 in Ôsaka at the Nakaza.
End of 1707: premiere in Ôsaka at the Takemotoza of Monzaemon's play "Shinjû Kasane Izutsu"; it will be adapted for Kabuki for the first time in January 1720 in Edo in the 3 main theaters (Nakamuraza / Ichimuraza / Moritaza), to commemorate the 16th anniversary (17th memorial service) of the suicide of the couple Tokubei and Ofusa.
August 1708: premiere in Ôsaka at the Takemotoza of Monzaemon's play "Keisei Hangonkô"; it will be adapted for Kabuki for the first time in January 1719, staged in Ôsaka at the Kado no Shibai [casting].
1 November 1709: the actor Sakata Tôjûrô I dies.
21 January 1711: the jôjûri master Uji Kaganojô dies.
March 1711: premiere in Ôsaka at the Takemotoza of Monzaemon's play "Meido no Hikyaku". It is based on a real event that happened in Ôsaka the 5th December 1710: a messenger named Chûbei was executed because he used some official money, which was entrusted to him, for the love of a courtesan named Umegawa.
July 1712: premiere in Ôsaka at the Takemotoza of Monzaemon's play "Komochi Yamamba"; it will be adapted to Kabuki more than 8 decades later, in March 1795 in Ôsaka at the Kado no Shibai [more details].
10 September 1714: the jôjûri master Takemoto Chikugonojô dies.
November 1715: premiere in Ôsaka at the Takemotoza of Monzaemon's play "Kokusen'ya Gassen". It is extremely successful and is extended up to March 1717 (this is the longest run in Japan theater history, all genres taken into account). It will be adapted to Kabuki for the first time in Fall 1716 in Kyôto at Miyako Mandayû's theater [casting].
August 1717: premiere in Ôsaka at the Takemotoza of Monzaemon's play "Yari no Gonza Kasane Katabira"; It is based on real events, which occurred in Ôsaka in July 1717.
January 1718: premiere in Ôsaka at the Takemotoza of Monzaemon's play "Yamazaki Yojibei Nebiki no Kadomatsu".
February 1718: premiere in Ôsaka at the Takemotoza of Monzaemon's play "Nihon Furisode Hajime"; it is immediately adapted to Kabuki the same month and staged for the first time in Kyôto [casting].
November 1718: premiere in Ôsaka at the Takemotoza of Monzaemon's play "Hakata Kojorô Nami Makura"; it is based on a real incident involving a gang of seven smugglers who were caught in Nagasaki and were nose-cutted and put in the stocks for three days in Ôsaka in October 1718.
August 1719: premiere in Ôsaka at the Takemotoza of Monzaemon's play "Heike Nyogo-ga-Shima"; It will be adapted to Kabuki for the first time in January 1720 in Ôsaka at the Naka no Shibai [casting].
December 1720: premiere in Ôsaka at the Takemotoza of Monzaemon's play "Shinjû Ten no Amijima". It is based on a real event that happened in Ôsaka the 14th October 1720: the double suicide in Amijima in the precinct of the Daichôji Temple of Kamiya Jihei (a paper merchant from the Tenma district) and the courtesan Kinokuniya Koharu (from the Kita-Shinchi pleasure quarter). This drama will be adapted to Kabuki the following year and staged for the first time in Edo at the Moritaza [more details].
July 1721: premiere in Ôsaka at the Takemotoza of Monzaemon's play "Onna Goroshi Abura no Jigoku". It is not a hit and quickly goes into oblivion. It will adapted to Kabuki for the very first time by Takeshiba Manji in October 1907 at the Misakiza, where it will be staged by a troupe of female Kabuki. A new script will be written by Watanabe Katei for the actor Jitsukawa Enjirô I. It will be successfully staged in November 1909 in Ôsaka at the Asahiza [casting], in January 1910 in Kyôto at the Minamiza [casting] and in Tôkyô at the Shintomiza [casting].
January 1724: premiere in Ôsaka at the Takemotoza of Monzaemon's play "Kanhasshû Tsunagi Uma"; this is Monzaemon last drama.
Comments:
"The most renowned of puppet theatre and Kabuki playwrights, popularly but unrealistically called the Japanese Shakespeare".
(Samuel Leiter in "New Kabuki Encyclopedia")
"The giant among the playwrights of his time was Chikamatsu Monzaemon, but as his
best plays were written for the Doll-theatre, he does not rightly belong to an account
of Kabuki playwrights. It is true, however, that the great influence his compositions
had upon Kabuki, even to the present day, can hardly be over-estimated.
His real name was Sugimori Nobumori, and the little town of Hagi, in the Province of
Hizen, that has produced so many men famous in Japanese history, regards him as an
illustrious son. This is disputed, since several other villages in different parts
of the country also put forward claims as to Chikamatsu's birthplace. Even his last
restingplace is not known, for his grave is found in two places, the cemetery of
Hyômyôji, a Buddhist temple in Ôsaka, and in a village near this city. And so the
greatest playwright of Japan, who wrote more than one hundred plays, was born and died
in obscurity. It is thought that he was an illegitimate son, since there seemed
to have been some cloud upon his life. The Sugimori family were of good repute,
and served the lord of Hagi.
In his youth Chikamatsu entered the temple named Chikamatsu, at Karatsu, in the
province of Hizen, and it was from this temple that he took his professional name later
in life. While dwelling there he must have laid the foundation for that large knowledge
of Buddhism, history, and literature he displays so abundantly and convincingly in
his plays. The calm of the Buddhist retreat soon became monotonous to his vigorous
spirit, which sought for new worlds to conquer. He went to Kyôto, where he remained for
some time with a brother, then entered the service of the noble house of Ichijô,
where he became familiar with the customs and ceremonies of the aristocracy,
and more particularly with the traditions of the Nô, which influenced his earlier
writings greatly. When he severed his relation with this princely establishment,
he had conferred upon him a certain rank in acknowledgement of his service.
So little is known concerning Chikamatsu's life that it is impossible to conjecture the
reasons that led him to write for Kabuki, and associate with the "riverside beggars".
His first success was at the Miyako Mandayûza, Sakata Tôjûrô's theatre.
"Kokon Yakusha Taizen", or "Account of Ancient and Modern Actors", a chronicle of the
theatre, published in 1750), records that Chikamatsu surprised the audience by a
novelty, in the form of the ghost of a Court lady called Fujitsubo that came out of
wisteria flowers and was transformed into a snake. People in the audience were so
pleased they shouted: "Monzaemon! Monzaemon! Monzaemon!"
In spite of his apparent popularity, Chikamatsu had a sudden change of heart,
and at the age of 38 he left for Ôsaka there to collaborate with Takemoto Gidayû,
the Doll-theatre minstrel. What was Kabuki's loss at this time proved to be a gain
later on, for his masterpieces were absorbed by Kabuki and generations of actors since
Genroku have performed the varied characters of his plays.
A brother, with whom Chikamatsu had stayed when he first went to Kyôto, was a medical
authority in his day, who had published books on medical subjects, and also works on
history. This younger brother once suggested to Chikamatsu that he could utilise
his talent to better advantage than in writing for the Doll-theatre, as we are
told by Dr. Fujii in his Life of Chikamatsu. But the latter retorted that the
profession of writing plays might be less harmful than the writing of treatises
on medicine, because in the latter case misprints or errors might prove very harmful
to the lives of men.
Chikamatsu took his materials from all sources. He helped himself liberally to the plots
of the Nô drama and of Kyôgen, Buddhist sermons that were recited to popular tunes,
songs of the people, children's airs and even vulgar ditties, while the songs of
folk-dances he used to advantage. He was a scholar, familiar with the Chinese and
Japanese classics, and learned in Buddhism. But he always aimed to make the
common people understand, and considered that the lower classes were his regular
audience and chief patrons. He died at 64, in 1724, having written steadily for
thirty years, composing one hundred and thirty pieces."
(Zoë Kincaid in "Kabuki, the Popular Stage of Japan")
"Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653~1725), generally ranked as the greatest Japanese dramatist, by some estimates wrote 160 plays for the
puppet and Kabuki theaters. There are doubtful attributions, and other works of slight literary importance,
but no matter how we pare the list, we are left with at least thirty or forty plays of exceptional interests."
(Donald Keene in "Major Plays of Chikamatsu")
"Chikamatsu, who never hesitated to take his ideas, plots, and materials from any
source that suited his purpose, borrowed to some extent from Kabuki. One of his plays,
"Tamba Yosaku", was originally played twenty years before his own composition by
the first Arashi San'emon. "Yuki Onna Gomai Hagoita" (lit., "the Snow-Woman-Five-Battledores"),
a Chikamatsu masterpiece, was in reality one of Arashi San'emon's favourite plays."
(Zoë Kincaid in "Kabuki, the Popular Stage of Japan")
Chikamatsu Monzaemon I
