Pen names:

Tsuuchi Han'emon
Higuchi Han'emon

Stage names:

Suzuki Heizaemon II
Suzuki Bennosuke

Existence: ???

Connection:

Father: Suzuki Heizaemon I

Master: Tsuuchi Jihê II

Son: Suzuki Heizaemon III

Disciples: Tsuuchi Montarô

Career:

1st lunar month of 1701: son of Suzuki Heizaemon I, he received the name of Suzuki Bennosuke and peformed as a wakaonnagata in Ôsaka in the new year ni-no-kawari drama "Keisei Mandôe", which was produced by Kamogawa Noshio I.

1701 ~ 1706: he switched to tachiyaku, took the name of Suzuki Heizaemon II and became a disciple of Tsuuchi Jihê II. His first pen name was Higuchi Han'emon.

1st lunar month of 1706: Han'emon worked at the Yamamuraza on the new year drama "Yometori Hida no Takumi".

11th lunar month of 1706: Han'emon worked at the Yamamuraza on the kaomise drama "Kaeribana Buyû Kagami", which celebrated the arrival in Edo of the Kamigata actor Takeshima Kôzaemon I.

11th lunar month of 1707: Han'emon worked at the Yamamuraza on the kaomise drama "Yukihira Obana Gitsune".

7th lunar month of 1708: Han'emon worked at the Yamamuraza on the drama "Keisei Icchô no Yumi".

1709: he took the name of Tsuuchi Han'emon.

11th lunar month of 1709: Han'emon worked at the Yamamuraza on the kaomise drama "Taihei Okuni Kabuki", which celebrated the arrival in Edo of the Kamigata actors Asao Jûjirô I, Arashi Sanjûrô I and Fujikawa Buzaemon I.

11th lunar month of 1711: Han'emon became tatesakusha and worked at the Yamamuraza in the kaomise drama "Shida Konjiki no Uroko".

3rd lunar month of 1713: the play "Sukeroku" was staged for the first time in Edo at the Yamamuraza. The script was written by Han'emon under the supervision of Tsuuchi Jihê II. The roles of Sukeroku, Agemaki, the shirozake seller Shinbê and Ikyû were played by Ichikawa Danjûrô II, Tamazawa Rin'ya, Ikushima Shingorô and Yamanaka Heikurô I.

11th lunar month of 1713: Han'emon worked at the Yamamuraza on the kaomise drama "Sazare Ishi Nasu no Futahashira" ^[1].

1st lunar month of 1714: Han'emon worked in the same theater on the new year drama "Yometori Kagami Usuyuki Zakura" ^[1].

2nd lunar month: Ejima of 1714, a court lady who served the mother of the Shôgun, was in love with the star Ikushima Shingorô. Their affair was discovered in the backstage of the Yamamuraza. This incident, breaking the boundaries between samurai and commoner, was a serious crime for the authorities which decided to deal ruthlessly with the culprits: Ejima and Ikushima Shingorô were exiled to different places, some people in the Shôgun's household were executed, the Yamamuraza was definitively closed and its management was heavily fined [more details]. As Han'emon was the tatesakusha of this theater, he was also impacted by this incident. He stopped working as a sakusha for a few years.

11th lunar month of 1722: Han'emon was back in business and worked at the Moritaza on the kaomise drama "Yoshitomo Fukujukai".

11th lunar month of 1723: Han'emon worked at the Moritaza on the kaomise drama "Yorimasa Kaikeizan".

11th lunar month of 1729: Han'emon worked at the Nakamuraza on the kaomise drama "Ume Goyomi Konrei Nagoya".

1st lunar month of 1733: Han'emon worked at the Ichimuraza on the new year sogamono drama "Hanabusa Funjin Soga" ^[2]. He also worked on the drama "Sukeroku", which was staged as nibanme and starred Ichimura Takenojô IV, Ichikawa Danjûrô II and Segawa Kikujirô I in the roles of Sukeroku, the shirozake seller Shinbê and Agemaki.

11th lunar month of 1735: Han'emon worked at the Kawarasakiza on the kaomise drama "Banzei Ikioi Izu Nikki".

11th lunar month of 1737: Han'emon worked at the Kawarasakiza on the kaomise drama "Urûzuki Ninin Kagekiyo" ^[3]. The final act of this play was a spectacular confrontation scene between Ichikawa Ebizô II and Ichikawa Danzô I in the roles of the statue of Kan U and the statue of Chô Hi (Kan U and Chô Hi were two legendary Chinese generals). This is the first version of "Kan U", which will become part of the Kabuki Jûhachiban in 1840.

11th lunar month of 1739: Han'emon worked at the Kawarasakiza on the kaomise drama "Irifune Taiheiki", which celebrated the shûmei of Sakata Tôjûrô III.

11th lunar month of 1743: Han'emon worked at the Kawarasakiza on the kaomise drama "Hana Yosooi Azuma Kagami"; due to the lack of actors, the program was a huge commercial failure. No record afterwards.

Comments:

Tsuuchi Han'emon was an important Edo sakusha who was active from the second half of the 1700s to the first half of the 1740s. He was the first sakusha in Kabuki history to have worked on an Edo sukerokumono.

[1] The other sakusha was Nakamura Seigorô II.

[2] The others sakusha were Tsuuchi Jihê II, Tsuuchi Kuheiji I and Tsuuchi Matazaemon.

[3] The other sakusha was Fujimoto Tobun.

The Suzuki Heizaemon line of actors