Stage names:
| Arashi San'emon I |  |
| Maruko San'emon | |
Real name: Nishizaki San'emon
Line number: SHODAI (I)
Existence: 1635 ~ 18th day of the 10th lunar month of 1690
Connection:
Brother: Arashi Kan'emon I
Son: Arashi San'emon II
Grandson: Arashi San'emon III
Disciple: Takeshima Kôzaemon II
Career:
1635 ~ 1670: born in Nishinomiya in the Settsu province. His father Nishizaki Shimpei, a rônin who settles in Edo to run a fishmonger shop, gives him the name of Nishizaki San'emon. The young man, not really interested in his father business, becomes actor, performing under the name of Maruko San'emon in Edo. After a few years in the Shôgun capital, he moves back to the Kamigata area.
1671: Maruko San'emon triomphe in the play "Keisei Sayo Arashi", in which he uses for the first time in the Kabuki history the roppô technique, a revolution in the acting of tachiyaku actors. One of San'emon great lines in this play, which starts with the words "Hana no Arashi" ("a tempest of flowers"), is so famous that he decides to change his name to Arashi San'emon.
1675 ~ 1676: San'emon becomes zamoto in Kyôto.
11th lunar month of 1677: San'emon achieves a great success in Kyôto at the Shijô Kitagawa no Shibai, playing the role of Kagonuke no Yatsushi in the drama "Tamba Yosaku Tazuma Obi".
Spring 1678: San'emon plays the role of Kokuraya Gembei in the drama "Yoshino Miuke", which is staged in the same theater. His partner in the role of the courtesan Yoshinodayû is Itô Kodayû II.
1680: his son makes his first appearance on stage as a wakaonnagata actor, playing under the name of Arashi Monzaburô.
11th lunar month of 1681 ~ 10th lunar month of 1682: San'emon and Araki Yojibei I produce several plays together in Kyôto.
11th lunar month of 1682 ~ 10th lunar month of 1683: San'emon and Suzuki Heizaemon I produce several plays together in Ôsaka. they are the first zamoto in Kabuki history to produce a play narrating a couple of lovers double suicide (shinjûmono), based on a real incident that happened in Ôsaka.
11th lunar month of 1686 ~ 10th lunar month of 1687: his son Arashi Monzaburô becomes zamoto and produces several dramas in Ôsaka in which San'emon plays the leading roles.
1st lunar month of 1687: San'emon's rank in "Yarô Tachiyaku Butai Ôkagami", the first hyôbanki in Kabuki history, is jô-jô-kichi (superior - superior - excellent). He shares this ranking with Itô Kodayû II.
1690: San'emon falls seriously ill and is replaced on stage by his son Arashi Monzaburô. He dies in Ôsaka in the 10th lunar month of 1690.
Comments:
Arashi San'emon was the founder of three great lines of actors which blossomed out and declined for two centuries: the Yoshidaya guild (the Arashi San'emon and Arashi Hinasuke lines of actors) and the Kyôya guild (the Arashi Sangorô line of actors).
This actor was a precursor whose innovations like the roppô technique or the shinjûmono plays had a beneficial effect on the development of Kabuki: "He greatly improved plays, wore magnificent garments, and acted to the accompaniment of flute, drum, and shamisen. His plays served Chikamatsu Monzaemon I as originals when that dramatist wrote two of his best-known doll-dramas." (Zoë Kincaid in "Kabuki, the Popular Stage of Japan")
Arashi San'emon I (left), in the company of Itô Kodayû II (right), as depicted in the illustrated book "Yarô Tachiyaku Butai Ôkagami"
The Arashi San'emon line of actors