Playwright names:

Nagawa Issen I
Nagawa Kamesuke II	|  |
Nagawa Issen
Nagawa Tokusuke I
Nagawa Tokusuke

Guild: Kinkidô

Line number: SHODAI (I)

Poetry name: Issen

Existence: 1764 ~ 3rd day of the 2nd lunar month of 1842 ^[1]

Connection:

Master: Nagawa Shimesuke I

Disciples: Nagawa Motosuke, Nagawa Tokusuke II, Nagawa Harusuke I, Nagawa Tsurusuke, Nagawa Kansuke, Nagawa Rikisuke, Nagawa Kumakichi

Career:

1786: he became disciple of Nagawa Shimesuke I in Ôsaka and received the name of Nagawa Tokusuke.

11th lunar month of 1792: Tokusuke worked at the Kado no Shibai, along with his master Nagawa Shimesuke I and Takemoto Saburobê III, on the kaomise drama "Hito no Kokoro-ni Kanô Kaomise".

1st lunar month of 1796: he changes some of the ideograms of his first name:

You need a Japanese Language Kit installed within your system in order to be able to read the characters

11th lunar month of 1796: Tokusuke worked in Kyôto at Hoteiya Umenojô's theater, along with Chikamatsu Tokuzô, on the kaomise drama "Yama Katsura Asahi no Menbako", which celebrated the shûmei of Onoe Koisaburô I; the same kaomise program with the same casting was staged from the 18th day of the 11th lunar month in Ôsaka at the Kado no Shibai.

11th lunar month of 1797: Tokusuke worked in Ôsaka at the Kado no Shibai, along with Chikamatsu Tokuzô, on the kaomise drama "Mote Hayasu Manryô no Tachibana", which was produced by Nakayama Yosaburô II and welcomed back in Ôsaka the actor Kataoka Nizaemon VII.

11th lunar month of 1799: Tokusuke worked in Ôsaka at the Kado no Shibai, along with Chikamatsu Tokuzô, on the kaomise drama "Yunzei Tôri Yaguruma", which was produced by Fujikawa Katsujirô.

11th lunar month of 1800: first Kabuki adaptation of Chikamatsu Yanagi's puppet theater drama "Ehon Taikôki", which was written in the 7th lunar month of 1799. The play was adapted for Kabuki by Tokusuke (who became tatesakusha) and produced by Nakayama Tokujirô in Ôsaka at the Kado no Shibai [casting].

11th lunar month of 1803: Tokusuke worked in Ôsaka at the Kado no Shibai, along with Chikamatsu Tokuzô, Namiki Shôzô II and Segawa Jokô II, on the kaomise drama "Hatsu Yagura Kogane no Manmaku", which was produced by Nakamura Noshio III. The troupe moved to the Kita no Shinchi Shibai in December to perform the same program for 10 days.

11th lunar month of 1804: Tokusuke worked in Ôsaka at the Naka no Shibai, along with Tatsuoka Mansaku, on the kaomise drama "Minoriyoshi Kane no Naruki".

3rd lunar month of 1808: the drama "Hachijin Shugo no Honjô", which was originally written for the puppet theater and premiered in the 9th lunar month of 1807 in Ôsaka, was adapted for Kabuki by the sakusha Nagawa Kunisuke, Ichioka Washichi I and Tokusuke and staged in Kyôto at the Kitagawa no Shibai [casting].

Summer 1810: Tokusuke went to Edo.

Fall 1812: Tokusuke went back to Ôsaka.

11th lunar month of 1812: he took the name of Nagawa Issen and works at the Naka no Shibai, along with Namiki Miyosuke, on the kaomise drama "Hirugaesu Nishiki no Tamoto", which welcomed in Ôsaka the Edo star Bandô Hikosaburô III.

Fall 1813: Issen went to Edo.

11th lunar month of 1813: Issen worked as a tatesakusha at the Nakamuraza, along with Fukumori Kyûsuke I and Segawa Jokô II, on the kaomise drama "Okudôsha Bandô Junrei", which welcomed in Edo the Kamigata actor Nakamura Matsue III and in which Bandô Mitsugorô III was zagashira for the first time.

Winter 1815: he took the name of Nagawa Kamesuke II in Edo.

3rd lunar month of 1817: Kamesuke worked at the Kiriza on the dramas "Shinbutai Megumi no Ishizue", "Azuma Kagami Soga Sewagoto" and "Asa Zakura Sumida no Hakkei", which starred Kataoka Nizaemon VII, Suketakaya Takasuke II, Ichikawa Dannosuke III and Iwai Kumesaburô II.

Summer of Fall 1817 ^[2]: he went back to Ôsaka. He took the name of Nagawa Issen at at an unknown date.

Fall 1820: Issen went to Edo.

11th lunar month of 1820: Issen worked at the Nakamuraza, along with Segawa Jokô II and Sakurada Jisuke II, on the kaomise drama "Saruwaka Hisago no Gunbai", which welcomed in Edo the Kamigata actors Arashi Tokusaburô II, Nakamura Gennosuke I and Arashi Ryûgorô.

1st lunar month of 1833: Issen worked at the Naka no Shibai on the drama "Hime Kurabe Futaba Ezôshi".

3rd day of the 2nd lunar month of 1842 ^[1]: Issen died.

Comments:

Nagawa Issen I was an important Kamigata sakusha, who was active from the second half of 1780s to 1833 and who worked on more than 80 original dramas. He frequently worked in Edo.

"Nagawa Tokusuke gave up the priesthood to become a playwright. He had been connected with a country temple, and went to Ôsaka to learn how to write. There were so few sakusha at this time, that the third Nakamura Utaemon invited him up to Edo, and was so anxious to encourage him, hoping that he would prove to be a goose to lay golden eggs in the way of popular plays for the actors, that he bestowed upon Tokusuke the precious family pen-name of Issen, used by the first Utaemon when he signed his poetry. One of his plays was a failure, which disconcerted the actors to a considerable degree. He returned the literary nom de plume with which his patron Utaemon had honoured him, and departed whence he had come. Thereafter he wrote pieces for side-shows, set up along the banks of rivers, on temporary sites in the compounds of shrines, or at cross-roads. At last he shaved his head and retired as the keeper of a tea-house in Kyôto, dying at 79."
(Zoë Kincaid in "Kabuki, the Popular Stage of Japan")

[1] The 3rd day of the 2nd lunar month of the 13th year of the Tenpô era was the 14th of March 1842 in the western calendar.

[2] No record of any work in Ôsaka ôshibai in the 1818, 1819 and 1820 hyôbanki. Our assumption is that he maybe worked in hama shibai.

The name of Nagawa Issen I in the 1834 Kyôto hyôbanki (the zone within the red box)

The Nagawa Tokusuke line of playwrights

The Nagawa Kamesuke line of playwrights