Stage names:

Mimasu Mitsugorô
Arashi Mitsugorô I [1]
Mimasu Mitsuzô
Mimasu Jirokichi

Guild: Kanaya ^[2]

Nicknames: Miyakawa-chô; Sôdaishô no Goinkyo

Poetry name: Gyoyû

Existence: ??? ~ 1835 ^[3]

Connection:

Masters: Arashi Sangorô II, Mimasu Daigorô I

Elder brother: Mimasu Tokujirô I

Disciple: Mimasu Kanjûrô

Career:

1771: younger brother of Mimasu Tokujirô I, he started his career as an iroko in Kyôto. His master Mimasu Daigorô I gave him the name of Mimasu Jirokichi.

1776: he became wakaonnagata.

11th lunar month of 1777: he became zamoto and produced in Kyôto at the Minamigawa no Shibai the kaomise drama "Yunzei Nanshi no Sakigake", in which he played the roles of the keisei Hitachi (in reality Princess Tamagyu) and Miyamaru's sister Ohatsu.

25th day of the 9th lunar month of 1780 ^[4]: his first master Mimasu Daigorô I died.

1st lunar month of 1781: Jirokichi's rank in the Kyôto hyôbanki, wakaonnagata section, was jô-(shiro)jô (superior - (white) superior) [visual].

1784: he became tachiyaku and took the name of Mimasu Mitsuzô.

1st lunar month of 1786: Mitsuzô was recorded as performing in Ôsaka at the Zama Shrine (miyaji shibai); his rank in the Kamigata hyôbanki, tachiyaku section, was jô-jô-(hanshiro)kichi (superior - superior - (half-white) excellent) [visual].

1786 or 1787: he became disciple of Arashi Sangorô II and received the name of Arashi Mitsugorô I ^[1].

1798: he took the name of Mimasu Mitsugorô in Ôsaka at the Kadomaru no Shibai.

1st lunar month of 1801: Mitsugorô was recorded as performing in Kyôto at the Kitano Shita-no-Mori Shibai; his rank in the Kamigata hyôbanki, tachiyaku/katakiyaku/jitsuaku section, was jô-jô-kichi (superior - superior - excellent) [visual].

1st lunar month of 1803: Mitsugorô was recorded as performing in Ôsaka at the Takeda no Shibai ^[5]; his rank in the Kamigata hyôbanki, tachiyaku section, was jô-jô-kichi (superior - superior - excellent) [visual].

1st lunar month of 1803: Mitsugorô was recorded as performing in Kyôto at the Inaba Yakushi (miyaji shibai); his rank in the Kamigata hyôbanki, tachiyaku section, was jô-jô-kichi (superior - superior - excellent) [visual].

2nd day of the 5th lunar month of 1803 ^[6]: his second master Arashi Raishi I died in Kyôto.

8th lunar month of 1807: Mitsugorô played at the Kadomaru no Shibai the leading roles of Chôemon and Hôkaibô in the dramas "Katsuragawa Renri no Shigarami" and "Sumidagawa Gonichi no Omokage".

26th day of the 8th lunar month of 1812 ^[7]: his elder brother Mimasu Tokujirô I died.

Spring 1816: Mitsugorô performed at the Kadomaru no Shibai in the drama "Keisei Sato no Kawazu"; he shared the stage with Kataoka Ichizô I.

1825: Mitsugorô worked as a zagashira at the Inaba Yakushi (miyaji shibai).

5th lunar month of 1831: Mitsugorô played at the Kita-Horie Ichi-no-Gawa Shibai (Ôsaka) the leading roles of Ôboshi Yuranosuke and Oginoya Yaegiri in the dramas "Kanadehon Chûshingura" and "Komochi Yamanba".

1835 ^[3]: Mitsugorô most likely died.

Comments:

Mimasu Mitsugorô was a popular and talented Kyôto actor, who won fame for himself not in ôshibai but in hama shibai in Ôsaka or in miyaji shibai in Kamigata. He was equally at home in jidaimono or sewamono dramas, and was able to perform a wide range of roles, either male or female, and excelled in shosagoto and budôgoto. He was a successful zagashira who had two nicknames:

In hama shibai in Ôsaka, he was called at the end of his career Sôdaishô no Goinkyo, literally the Captain General of the Retired.

In Kyôto, as he lived in the district of Miyakawa-chô (a famous hanamachi in Kyôto), he was simply called Miyakawa-chô.

[1] There were two Arashi Mitsugorô I in Ôsaka at the same time but the ideograms used for the first name were different (check the table below). The other Arashi Mitsugorô I was not recorded in Nojima Jusaburô's book "Kabuki Jinmei Jiten".

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

[2] Kanaya or Kaneya. Correct reading to be confirmed.

[3] He was said to be the actor Asao Mitsugorô who died in 1838.

[4] The 25th day of the 9th lunar month of the 9th year of the An'ei era was the 22nd of October 1780 in the western calendar.

[5] More precisely, the Higashi Takeda no Shibai.

[6] The 2nd day of the 5th lunar month of the 3rd year of the Kyôwa era was the 20th of June 1803 in the western calendar.

[7] The 26th day of the 8th lunar month of the 9th year of the Bunka era was the 1st of October 1812 in the western calendar.

Mimasu Mitsugorô (center) performing in the drama "Keisei Sato no Kawazu", which was staged in Spring 1816 at the Kadomaru no Shibai

Prints & Illustrations