Stage name:

Nakayama Kiyonosuke

Existence: ??? ~ 1692

Connection:

Master (?): Bandô Matazaemon I

Career:

Tenna era: he made his apprenticeship in Edo with the actor Bandô Matazaemon I.

5th lunar month of 1684: Kiyonosuke played at the Nakamuraza the role of the courtesan Katsuragi in Mimasuya Hyôgo's drama "Fuwa Sokushin no Ikazuchi". His stage partners are Katsuyama Hikoshirô (Nagoya Sanza) and Ichikawa Danjûrô I (Fuwa Banzaemon).

1687: Kiyonosuke performed at the yashiki of the daimyô Môri.

1688: Kiyonosuke performed at the Ichimuraza. He was said around that time to be one of the Yakusha Shitennô, literally the Big Four Actors ^[1].

1692: Kiyonosuke passed away in Edo.

Comments:

Nakayama Kiyonosuke was an Edo onnagata actor, who was active from the beginning of the Jôkyô era to the beginning of the Genroku era. He had a great and refreshing kôseki and was an outstanding dancer.

[1] There were not four actors in the 1688 Big Four but ... nine actors : beside Nakayama Kiyonosuke, the others were Nakamura Shichisaburô I, Itô Kodayû II, Nakayama Sayonosuke, Noda Kuranojô, Matsumura Gennosuke, Murayama Heijûrô I, Fujita Shosaburô and Saigoku Hyôgorô I.

Nakayama Kiyonosuke in an ilustration from the book
"Kokon Shibai Irokurabe Hyakunin Isshu" (1st lunar month of 1693)