Stage names:

Nakamura Tôzô I
Mizuki Tôzô I
Nakamura Utaemon II
Nakamura Tôzô I
Mizuki Tôzô I

Guilds: Ebisuya, Yamatoya

Line number: SHODAI (I)

Poetry names: Jûgyô, Kajû ^[3], Kaju ^[3]

Existence: 1752 ~ 22nd day of the 3rd lunar month of 1798 ^[1]

Connection:

Masters: Nakamura Utaemon I, Mizuki Masano

Son: Nakamura Tôzô II

Grandson: Nakamura Shikan III

Great-grandsons: Nakamura Tamashichi I, Nakamura Tsurusuke V

Career:

1752 ~ 1780: born in Kyôto. He started his career as a disciple of Mizuki Masano, who gave him the name of Mizuki Tôzô I around 1767 and trained him as a jitsuaku actor.

1780: he became disciple of Nakamura Utaemon I and received the name of Nakamura Tôzô I.

11th lunar month of 1782: Nakamura Utaemon I and his disciple Nakamura Tôzô I respectively took the names of Kagaya Kashichi I and Nakamura Utaemon II; the former Utaemon celebrated his shûmei in Ôsaka at the Naka no Shibai and the latter Utaemon celebrated his shûmei in Kyôto at Hayagumo Chôdayû's theater, where he played the roles of Yokoyama Daizen and the tayû Sanshô in the kaomise drama "Gosekkyô Suehiro Keizu".

1st lunar month of 1784: Tôzô's rank in the Kyôto hyôbanki, jitsuaku/katakiyaku section, was jô-jô-(shiro)kichi (superior - superior - (white) excellent) [visual].

11th lunar month of 1790: he gave his name to his master's son, who became Nakamura Utaemon III, and he took back the name of Mizuki Tôzô I in Ôsaka at the Kadomaru no Shibai.

1791: he took back the name of Nakamura Tôzô I.

7th lunar month of 1791: Tôzô played at the Kitagawa no Shibai the roles of Tsuribune Sabu and Mikawaya Giheiji in the drama "Natsu Matsuri Naniwa Kagami"; his stage partners were Kataoka Nizaemon VII (Danshichi Kurobê) and Arashi Kichisaburô II (Issun Tokubê).

29th day of the 10th lunar month of 1791 ^[2]: his master Kagaya Kashichi I died.

22nd day of the 3rd lunar month of 1798 ^[1]: Tôzô died.

Comments:

Nakamura Tôzô I was an actor, who made all his career in his native Kamigata during the second half of the 18th century. He was mainly a jitsuaku actor, trained by one of the best jitsuaku of his time, but never reached the same levels of art and fame as his master.

[1] The 22nd day of the 3rd lunar month of the 10th year of the Kansei era was the 7th of May 1798 in the western calendar.

[2] The 29th day of the 10th lunar month of the 3rd year of the Kansei era was the 24th of November 1791 in the western calendar.

[3] His haimyô when he was Nakamura Utaemon II.

Kanô Hinasuke I (left) and Nakamura Tôzô I (right) in Kyôto in 1792

Prints & Illustrations

The Mizuki Tôzô line of actors

The Nakamura Utaemon line of actors

The Nakamura Tôzô line of actors