Stage names:

Nakamura Shirogorô I
Nakamura Shirojûrô
Nakamura Shirogorô I
Umegaki Anzaemon (?)

Line number: SHODAI (I)

Poetry name: Kashô

Existence: 1651 ~ 5th day of the 1st lunar month of 1712

Connection:

Master: Nakamura Shichisaburô I

Adopted son: Nakamura Shirogorô II

Disciples: Nakamura Shingorô I, Nakamura Mitsusaburô, Nakamura Imazô

Career:

Before 1697: we lack data about his first years in the Kabuki world in Kamigata; his first stage name is Umegaki Anzaemon.

1697: he becomes both a tachiyaku and a disciple of the Edo star Nakamura Shichisaburô I, who gives him the name of Nakamura Shirogorô I.

Fall 1699: Shirogorô goes to Kyôto.

3rd lunar month of 1707: Shirogorô's rank in the Ôsaka hyôbanki, tachiyaku section, is jô-jô-(shiro)kichi (superior - superior - (white) excellent) [visual].

Fall 1707: Shirogorô goes to Kyôto.

11th lunar month of 1707: Shirogorô plays in Kyôto at Miyako Mandayû's theater the role of Ise no Saburô in the kaomise drama "Sanmen Daikoku Zeni".

1st lunar month of 1708: Shirogorô's rank in the Kyôto hyôbanki, tachiyaku section, is jô-jô-(shiro)kichi (superior - superior - (white) excellent) [visual].

11th lunar month of 1709: Nakamura Shirogorô I takes the name of Nakamura Shirojûrô in Kyôto at Hayagumo Chôdayû's theater, performing in the kaomise drama "Kokonotsu Kogura Hitotsubu Manbai".

1st lunar month of 1711: Nakamura Shirojûrô takes back the name of Nakamura Shirogorô I in Kyôto at Miyako Mandayû's theater, to perform in the new year drama "Keisei Kuhonji Jôdo".

3rd lunar month of 1711: Shirogorô's rank in the Kyôto hyôbanki, tachiyaku section, is jô-jô-(hanshiro)kichi (superior - superior - (half-white) excellent) [visual]. He plays in Kyôto at Miyako Mandayû's theater the role of Tôkurô in the drama "Makkô Kômyô Koyasugai".

5th day of the 1st lunar month of 1712: Shirogorô dies.

Comments:

Nakamura Shirogorô I was an important Kyôto tachiyaku actor, who founded a branch of the Nakamura clan in Kamigata, from which rose to stardom the star Nakamura Tomijûrô I.

Kaneko Kichizaemon (left) and Nakamura Shirogorô I (right) in an illustration from a Kyôto hyôbanki which was published in 1702

Prints & Illustrations

The Nakamura Shirogorô line of actors