Pen/stage names:

Azuma Sanpachi
Azuma Sanpachi I
Azuma Sanpachi

Existence: ???

Connection: ???

Career:

7th lunar month of 1694: recorded for the first time; he performed as a dôkegata in Ôsaka.

1st lunar month of 1702: Sanpachi's rank in the Ôsaka hyôbanki, dôkegata section, was jô (superior) [visual].

1st lunar month of 1703: Sanpachi was recorded as a sakusha in the Ôsaka hyôbanki.

1st lunar month of 1706: Sanpachi worked as a sakusha in Ôsaka on the new year drama "Onna Daijin Shokunin Kagami" and on the kiri kyôgen "Oshichi Utazaimon", which were produced by Arashi San'emon III.

3rd lunar month of 1706: Sanpachi worked in the same theater on the drama "Shinjû Daki Botan" ^[1].

11th lunar month of 1707: he took the name of Azuma Sanpachi I (replacing the two ideograms in his family name with the one for East) worked in Ôsaka on the kaomise drama "Onna Daimyô Irekozan".

6th lunar month of 1710: he took back the name of Azuma Sanpachi and worked in Ôsaka on the drama "Onikage Musashi Abumi" ^[2], which was produced by Shinozuka Shômatsu I.

8th lunar month of 1710: Sanpachi worked in Kyôto at Miyako Mandayû on the drama "Imagawa Ima Monogatari".

11th lunar month of 1710: Sanpachi worked in Ôsaka on the kaomise drama "Hako Denju Ise Monogatari", which was produced by Shinozuka Shômatsu I.

10th lunar month of 1710: Sanpachi worked in the same theater on the drama "Imagawa Ima Monogatari".

11th lunar month of 1711: Sanpachi worked in Ôsaka on the kaomise drama "Tanba Tarô Kamado Shôgun", which was produced by Arashi Sanjûrô I.

12th lunar month of 1712: Sanpachi worked in Ôsaka on the kaomise drama "Enmei Kobukuro", which was produced by Arashi San'emon III.

11th lunar month of 1713: Sanpachi worked in Ôsaka on the kaomise drama "Onna Fude Yôbunshô", which was produced by Arashi San'emon III and Ogino Yaegiri I.

11th lunar month of 1718: Sanpachi worked at the Naka no Shibai on the kaomise drama "Sumiyoshi Tanjôseki", which was produced by Takeshima Kôzaemon II.

11th lunar month of 1725: Sanpachi worked in Kyôto at Kameya Kumenojô's theater on the kaomise drama "Senzai Gura Sangai Matsu", which was produced by the zamoto Arashi Jûjirô.

1st lunar month of 1726: Sanpachi worked in the same theater on the new year ni-no-kawari drama "Keisei Kurokamiyama".

10th lunar month of 1726: Sanpachi worked in the same theater on the onagori kyôgen "Arashi Sangorô Nagori no Sakazuki", which celebrated the coming departure of Arashi Sangorô I to Edo.

2nd lunar month of 1727: Sanpachi worked in Kyôto at Hayagumo Chôdayû's theater on the drama "Ôiso-zome Gofuku Dansu", which was produced by Sanogawa Mangiku.

2nd lunar month of 1727: Sanpachi worked in the same theater on the drama "Washû Futatsu Ishi".

11th lunar month of 1727: Sanpachi worked in Kyôto at Ebisuya Kichirôbê's theater on the kaomise drama "Tônai Tarô Danjiri Roppô", which was produced by Sanogawa Mangiku.

7th lunar month of 1729: Sanpachi worked in Kyôto at Hayagumo Chôdayû's theater, along with Fukuoka Yagoshirô, on the drama "Keisei Issôshu".

11th lunar month of 1729: Sanpachi worked, along with Fukuoka Yagoshirô, in Kyôto on the kaomise drama "Yomeiri Shichigosan", which was produced by Arashi Koroku I for the nadai Daikokuya Takenojô and welcomed in Kyôto the actor Sawamura Otoemon I.

2nd lunar month of 1730: Sanpachi worked in the same theater on the drama "Daidairi Ôtomo no Matori". No record afterwards.

Comments:

Azuma Sanpachi started his career as a minor dôkegata actor but he quickly became an important Kamigata sakusha, who was active from the first half of the 1700s to the very beginning of the 1730s.

[1] Literally 'Love Suicides Embracing the Tree Peony'. A translation from the article The Techniques of Genroku Theatre: Kabuki and Chikamatsu’s Jôruri Domestic Dramas.

[2] This drama was initially written by Chikamatsu Monzaemon's rival Ki-no-Kaion for the puppet theater and it was staged at the beginning of 1710.

The name of Azuma Sanpachi in a 1727 kyôgenbon for the drama "Ôiso-zome Gofuku Dansu" (the zone within the red box)

The Azuma Sanpachi line of playwrights