Stage name:

Fujita Koheiji I

Existence: ???

Connection:

Brother: Fujita Heijûrô

Son: Fujita Kotarô

Adopted son: Fujita Minanojô

Disciples: Fujita Koheiji II, Fujita Shosaburô, Fujita Kichisaburô

Career:

1669: recorded as a tachiyaku actor in Kyôto.

1681: recorded as a tachiyaku actor in Ôsaka.

10th lunar month of 1682: Koheiji performed as a tachiyaku actor in Ôsaka for the zamoto Yamatoya Jinbê II.

1st lunar month of 1687: Koheiji's 's rank in the Kyôto hyôbanki, tachiyaku section, was jô (superior) [visual]. He played the role of Takamatsu Kansuke in the drama "Asukagawa", which was staged in Okamura Saburobê's theater.

11th lunar month of 1695: Koheiji played in Kyôto at Miyako Mandayû's theater the role of Nunobiki Takinoshin in the kaomise drama "Hime Kura Daikoku Bashira". No record afterwards.

Comments:

Fujita Koheiji I was tachiyaku actor, who was active in ôshibai in Kamigata from the second half of the 1660s to the second half of the 1690s. He was born in Ise and started his career in tabi shibai. He was the first jitsugotoshi in Kabuki history.

"Fujita Koheiji often used to say that when one slaps the scabbard of one's sword, unless one pulls back one's left leg and glares straight into one's opponent's eyes as one does so, it does not seem effective." (from Kôon's "Zoku Nijinshû", a sequel to Kaneko Ikkô's book "Nijinshû" ("Dust in the Ears"), translated by Charles J. Dunn and Torigoe Bunzô in "The Actors' Analects")

Fujita Koheiji I in 1669

Prints & Illustrations