Pen name:
| Namiki Shôzô I |  |
| Izumiya Shôzô | |
| Ônishi Shôzô | |
| Izumiya Shôzô | |
Guild: Izumiya
Line number: SHODAI (I)
Existence: 1730 ~ 17th day of the 2nd lunar month of 1773
Connection:
Master: Namiki Sôsuke
Disciples: Namiki Gohei I, Nagawa Kamesuke I, Namiki Shôzô II, Namiki Kitasuke, Namiki Tônan, Namiki Namboku, Namiki Sôji
Career:
1730: born in Ôsaka in the district of Dôtombori; his name is Kyûta and his father Izumiya Shôbei manages a shibai jaya.
8th lunar month of 1748: he takes the name of Izumiya Shôzô and works as a sakusha at the Ônishi no Shibai.
11th lunar month of 1748: Shôzô becomes tatesakusha at the Naka no Shibai, where he writes the kaomise drama "Fuyugomori Tsumagoi Ikusa", which is produced by Bandô Toyosaburô I.
7th lunar month of 1749: he takes the name of Ônishi Shôzô to write with Takagi Richû the drama "Otokodate Yôrô no Taki", which is staged at the Naka no Shibai.
11th lunar month of 1749: he takes back the name of Izumiya Shôzô to work at the Ônishi no Shibai, where he writes the kaomise drama "Kotobuki Kogane no Kachi Ikusa", starring the actors Bandô Toyosaburô I, Arashi Sanjûrô II, Iwai Hanshirô III, Sanjô Namie I, Iwata Somematsu I, Mimasu Daigorô I (the zamoto) and Nakamura Utaemon I.
1751: he becomes a disciple of the puppet theater playwright Namiki Sôsuke; he takes the name of Namiki Shôzô I.
7th day of the 9th lunar month of 1751: his master Namiki Sôsuke dies.
12th lunar month of 1751: premiere in Ôsaka at the Toyotakeza of the puppet play "Ichi-no-Tani Futaba Gunki"; Shôzô was one of the sakusha who worked under the supervision of Namiki Sôsuke to write this drama.
11th lunar month of 1752: Shôzô goes back to the Kabuki world, becoming tatesakusha at the Kado no Shibai, where he writes the kaomise drama "Nagoya Ori Hinatsuru no Nishiki", which stars Fujikawa Heikurô, Sakata Tôjûrô III, Arashi Koroku I, Fujikawa Hachizô I, Mimasu Daigorô I (the zamoto) and Yoshizawa Sakinosuke II.
11th lunar month of 1758: Shôzô is tatesakusha at the Kado no Shibai, where he writes the kaomise drama "Arigatashi Fujiwara Keizu", which is produced by Nakayama Bunshichi I.
12th lunar month of 1758: premiere at the Kado no Shibai of Shôzô's drama "Sanjukkoku Yobune no Hajimari"; for the very first time in Kabuki history, a mawaributai, invented by Shôzô, is built and used on the stage of a theater [more details].
1st lunar month of 1764: Shôzô's ni-no-kawari drama "Keisei Hana no Shiroyama" is produced at the Minamigawa no Shibai by Arashi Matsunojô III.
11th lunar month of 1764: Shôzô is tatesakusha at the Kitagawa no Shibai, supervising the writing of the kaomise drama "Gempei Tsûrikimaru".
9th lunar month of 1767: premiere in Kyôto at the Kitagawa no Shibai of Shôzô's drama "Yadonashi Danshichi Shigure no Karakasa" (casting unknown).
7th lunar month of 1768: Shôzô's drama "Yadonashi Danshichi Shigure no Karakasa" is staged for the first time in Ôsaka, at the Takeda no Shibai, a koshibai venue [casting].
Summer 1769: Shôzô and the actor Arashi Hinasuke I tour together in the Awa province on Shikoku Island.
6th lunar month of 1770: Shôzô's drama "Yadonashi Danshichi Shigure no Karakasa" is staged for the first time in Ôsaka ôshibai, at the Kado no Shibai [casting].
1st lunar month of 1771: premiere at the Naka no Shibai of Shôzô's drama "Kuwanaya Tokuzô Irifune Monogatari" [casting].
11th lunar month of 1772: Shôzô is tatesakusha at the Naka no Shibai, where he writes the kaomise drama "Onoe Kikugorô no Baranu Banashi".
2nd lunar month of 1773: Shôzô's drama "Nippon Daiichi Mekari no Shinji" is staged in the same theater; this is his final creation.
17th day of the 2nd lunar month of 1773: Shôzô dies in Ôsaka.
Comments:
Namiki Shôzô I was one of the most notable 18th century Kamigata playwrights. He wrote more than 90 plays and was also as the inventor of the revolving stage mawaributai in 1758.
"Namiki Shôzô (1730~1773) was one of the most prominent sakusha
in Kyôto, during the middle decades of the eighteenth century. He studied under one of
the best ningyô shibai playwrights,
Namiki Sôsuke, and wrote for the dolls as well as for the actors. In his time the vogue
for the Doll-theatre had already begun to wane, and allured by the superior attractions
of Kabuki he wrote more for the latter than for the dolls. His plays were full of
complicated situations that tested the actor's ability, a technique he had acquired
as a result of his apprenticeship to the ningyô school,
which demanded many situations to keep the movements of the marionettes full of significance,
for otherwise their dollships would have become all too apparent."
(Zoë Kincaid in "Kabuki, the Popular Stage of Japan")
Namiki Shôzô I