Stage names:

Tsuruya Nanboku I
Nanboku Magotarô I
Murayama Genjirô

Line number: SHODAI (I)

Existence: 1672 ~ 9th day of the 9th lunar month of 1736 ^[1]

Connection:

Uncle (?): Nanboku Sabu I

Father: Murayama Gentarô I (Nanboku Kidayû I)

Elder brother: Murayama Gentarô II (Nanboku Kidayû II)

Son: Tsuruya Nanboku II

Great-great-grandson: Katsu Hyôzô II (the adoptive father of Tsuruya Nanboku V)

Career:

1672 ~ 1697: born in the city of Sakai in the province of Senshû. He settled with his brother in Edo and made his apprenticeship at the Ichimuraza, performing under the name of Murayama Genjirô.

1st lunar month of 1697: he became tachiyaku and performed at the Nakamuraza in the new year drama "Daifukuchô Sankai Nagoya", which included the first "Shibaraku" scene in Kabuki history.

5th lunar month of 1697: he became dôkegata, took the name of Nanboku Magotarô I and performed in the same theater in the drama "Tsuwamono Kongen Soga".

11th lunar month of 1719: Nanboku Magotarô I and his son Tsuruya Genzô respectively took the names of Tsuruya Nanboku I and Nanboku Magotarô II at the Ichimuraza, performing together in the kaomise drama "Tategami Teika Kazura".

11th lunar month of 1723: Nanboku played at the Nakamuraza the role of Kanazawa Zusho in the kaomise drama "Sono Enpô Onna Migyôsho", which celebrated the arrival at the Nakamuraza of the Kamigata actors Yamashita Kinsaku I and Sanogawa Senzô.

1st lunar month of 1726: Nanboku's rank in the Edo hyôbanki, dôkegata section, was jô-jô-kichi (superior - superior - excellent) [visual].

11th lunar month of 1735: Nanboku played at the Ichimuraza the role of Ono no Yoshizane in the kaomise drama "Kongen Nana Komachi". He fell ill at the beginning of the following year and had to retire.

9th day of the 9th lunar month of 1736 ^[1]: Nanboku died in Edo ^[2].

Comments:

Tsuruya Nanboku I, the founder of the Tsuruya clan, was a popular actor, who was specialized in comical roles and made all his career in Edo from the end of the Genroku era to the end of the Kyôhô era. He was said to be a dôkegata both on and off stage.

[1] The 9th day of the 9th lunar month of the 1st year of the Genbun era was the 13th of October 1736 in the western calendar.

[2] His tombstone was built in the cemetery of the Shôkôin Temple in the district of Kôtô-ku Miyoshi-chô.

Tsuruya Nanboku I (right) and Nakajima Mihoemon I (left) playing the roles of Minamoto no Yoshitora and Nikki Danjô Saemon in the new year drama "Keisei Fukubiki Nagoya", which was staged in the 1st lunar month of 1731 at the Nakamuraza

Prints & Illustrations

The Tsuruya Nanboku line of actors