Playwright name:

Hanabusa Rochô

Existence: ???

Connection: ???

Career:

11th lunar month of 1751: Rochô worked in Kyôto, along with Fujikawa Sakoku, on the kaomise drama "Kaeribana Shinohara Gunki".

11th lunar month of 1756: Rochô worked, along with Fujikawa Sakoku and Horikoshi Ikkô, at the Minamigawa no Shibai on the kaomise drama "Daimyô Bimandai Kuniiri Kamakura Kagami", which was produced in Kyôto by Sawamura Kunitarô I for the nadai Hayagumo Chôdayû.

1st lunar month of 1757: Rochô worked in the same theater, along with Fujikawa Sakoku and Horikoshi Ikkô, on the new year ni-no-kawari drama "Keisei Chimoto no Taki".

9th lunar month of 1757: Rochô worked in the same theater, along with Horikoshi Ikkô, on the drama "Ôtomo no Kuronushi Momo Yoguruma".

1st lunar month of 1759: Rochô worked, along with Namiki Jûsuke I, at the Minamigawa no Shibai on the new year ni-no-kawari drama "Keisei Kachôzan".

2nd lunar month of 1760: Rochô worked, along with Namiki Jûsuke I, at the Kitagawa no Shibai on the ni-no-kawari drama "Keisei Sajiki-ga-Dake".

11th lunar month of 1760: Rochô worked, along with Namiki Eisuke I, at the Minamigawa no Shibai on the kaomise drama "Ôshimadai Kitsune no Mukoiri", which was produced by Sawamura Kunitarô I.

12th lunar month of 1761: Rochô worked, along with Fujikawa Sanpachi and Nakayama Gohachi, at the Kitagawa no Shibai on the kaomise drama "Karanishiki Miyako no Hinagata", which celebrated the shûmei of Takeshima Kôzaemon IV.

1st lunar month of 1762: Rochô worked, along with Namiki Jûsuke I, in Kyôto at Kameya Kumenojô's theater on the new year ni-no-kawari drama "Keisei Kanekake no Matsu".

11th lunar month of 1763: Rochô worked ^[1] at the Kitagawa no Shibai on the kaomise drama "Shôchikubai Ôshimadai", which was produced by Sawamura Kunitarô I.

1st lunar month of 1764: Rochô worked ^[1] in the same theater on the new year ni-no-kawari drama "Keisei Koinariyama".

11th lunar month of 1764: Rochô worked in Kyôto at the Kitagawa no Shibai, along with Namiki Shôzô I and Namiki Gohachi, on the kaomise drama "Genpei Tsûrikimaru", which celebrated the shûmei of Iwai Hanshirô.

11th lunar month of 1765: Rochô worked, along with Namiki Shôzô I and Namiki Jûsuke I, at the Naka no Shibai on the kaomise drama "Ôzatsuki Shuen no Kachidoki" ^[2], which was produced by Mimasu Daigorô I and Nakamura Utaemon I.

7th lunar month of 1766: Rochô worked in the same theater, along with Namiki Shôzô I and Namiki Risuke, on the drama "Otokodate Gonichi no Katabira". He also worked at the Minamigawa no Shibai, along with Tenmaya Kyûshichi, on the drama "Keisei Sumidagawa".

1st lunar month of 1769: Rochô worked in Kyôto on the new year ni-no-kawari drama "Keisei Sato no Kinzan", which was produced by Onoe Kumesuke. No record afterwards.

Comments:

Hanabusa Rochô was an important Kamigata sakusha, who was active from the first half of the 1750s to the end of the 1760s. He was equally at home in sewamono and jidaimono dramas. He excelled in oiemono.

[1] The others sakusha were Tenmaya Kyûshichi, Nakayama Gohachi & Kusakari Saisuke.

[2] There were two zamoto at the Naka no Shibai, Mimasu Daigorô I and Nakamura Utaemon I, and there were two kaomise dramas produced in this theater. Nakamura Utaemon I produced the two dramas and Mimasu Daigorô I produced only the second drama. The two dramas had a different casting but used the same title "Ôzatsuki Shuen no Kachidoki".

The name of Hanabusa Rochô in a 1761 Kyôto yakuwari banzuke (the zone within the red shape)