Stage names:

Mikuni Hikosaku II
Saruwaka Sansaku

Line number: NIDAIME (II)

Existence: ???

Connection:

Father: Mikuni Hikosaku I

Career:

1665 ~ 1679: son of Mikuni Hikosaku I, he started his career on stage in Edo, performing under the name of Saruwaka Sansaku. He took the name of Mikuni Hikosaku II after the passing away of his father ^[1].

1679: Hikosaku went to Ôsaka.

1681: Hikosaku performed as a dôkegata in Edo at the Nakamuraza.

1st lunar month of 1686: Hikosaku played at the Nakamuraza the role of Wan'ya Kyûbê in the new year drama "Wankyû Ukiyo Jikkai"; his stage partners were Nakamura Shichisaburô I (Ôtomo Minbu), Nakamura Denkurô I (Kumahara Wadanosuke), Tamagawa Sennojô III (Senju), Dekishima Kichiya (Hatsue-no-Mae), Uemura Kokichiya (Kiriyama), Fujita Minanosuke (Sôhachi's wife), Hanai Saizaburô I (Sôhachi), Tamai Gonpachi (Kichibei) and Hanamura Kinue (the courtesan Matsuyama).

1693: Hikosaku went to Kyôto ^[2].

11th lunar month of 1693: Hikosaku performed as a dôkegata in the drama "Hako Denju", which was produced in Kyôto by Murayama Heiemon III; his stage partners were Mizuki Tatsunosuke I, Ichikawa Danjûrô I, Yamatoya Jinbê II, Tomizawa Samanosuke, Otowa Katsunojô, Onoe Taganojô I and Uemura Takenojô.

9th lunar month of 1694: Hikosaku performed in the same theater in the drama "Kumagai Nagori no Sakazuki".

2nd lunar month of 1695: Hikosaku was recorded in the hyôbanki "Yakusha Ôkagami", dôkegata section. His rank was naka-no-jô (superior in the middle class).

1st lunar month of 1699: Hikosaku performed in Ôsaka for the zamoto Otowa Jirosaburô I; his stage partners were Osagawa Jûemon, Sodesaki Iroha I, Iwakura Man'emon, Iwasaki Onoemon, Kawakami Saburôzaemon, Dekishima Kosaburô and Fujii Hachijûrô.

3rd lunar month of 1699: Hikosaku's rank in the Ôsaka hyôbanki, dôkegata section, was jô (superior) [visual].

11th lunar month of 1699: Hikosaku went back to Edo and performed at the Moritaza in the drama "Tôsei Okuni Kabuki".

1st lunar month of 1700: Hikosaku performed in the same theater in the new year drama "Kagemasa Ikazuchi Mondô".

3rd lunar month of 1700: Hikosaku's rank in the Edo hyôbanki, dôkegata section, was jô (superior) [visual].

11th lunar month of 1701: Hikosaku performed at the Moritaza in the kaomise drama "Taiheikoku Yuzuriha no Kagami", which welcomed in Edo the Ôsaka actor Arashi Kan'emon II.

1704: his name was recorded for the last time in a hyôbanki. No record afterwards.

Comments:

Mikuni Hikosaku II was an Edo dôkegata actor, who was active for almost 40 years from 1665 to 1704. He spent a few years in Kamigata.

[1] The year of the death of Mikuni Hikosaku I is unknown. Second half of the 1660s? First half of the 1670s?

[2] He most likely went to Kyôto with the Edo star Ichikawa Danjûrô I.

Mikuni Hikosaku II in an ilustration from the book "Hana no Edo Kabuki Nendaiki"

Prints & Illustrations

The Mikuni Hikosaku line of actors