Stage names:

Uemura Kichiya I
Yamamura Kichiya

Others names:

Uemura Kichizaemon
Kamimura Kichiya I
Uemonjiya Kichizaemon

Nickname: Ôkichiya ^[1]

Line number: SHODAI (I)

Existence: ???

Connection:

Master: Saitô Yogorô (an Ôsaka dôkegata)

Adopted son: Uemura Kichiya II

Career:

3rd lunar month of 1677: Kichiya went on tour to Edo, performing at the Nakamuraza.

1680: Kichiya retired and took the name of Uemura Kichizaemon. Later on, he opened a cosmetic powders shop in Kyôto, along the Shijô avenue, and managed it under the name of Uemonjiya Kichizaemon.

1st lunar month of 1681: publication in Kyôto of a special hyôbanki, mixing actors and courtesans in couples: Kichiya was associated to a courtesan named Kokonoe.

Comments:

Uemura Kichiya I was an outstanding dancer, who was considered as the most representative onnagata in Kyôto, along with Ogino Kodayû II, during the Kanbun and Enpô eras. He deviced for the stage a new way for to tie the belt (obi) of his kimono: he used a wide and long obi, which he tied in a bow. It was said that his fans went wild and started to wear their obi in the same fastening-style, which was called kichiya musubi. It quickly became the latest fashion for women in Japan big cities. After retirement, Uemura Kichiya I became a prosperous shop-owner.

[1] The Grand Kichiya.

Uemura Kichiya I in "Yakusha Hakkei" (1680)

The Uemura (Kamimura) Kichiya line of actors