Playwright name:

Oka Onitarô

Existence: ??? ~ 29 October 1943

Real Name: Oka Yoshitarô

Career:

1st day of the 8th lunar month of 1872 ^[1]: born in Tôkyô.

1893: after graduation from Keiô University, he started his career in journalism.

1908: he left the world of journalism to join the theatrical revolution initiated by the Kabuki actor Ichikawa Sadanji II.

September 1909 revival at the Meijiza of the drama "Kenuki", a long-forgotten play belonging to the Kabuki Jûhachiban with a new script written by Onitarô [casting].

May 1910: revival at the Meijiza of the drama "Narukami", a long-forgotten play belonging to the Kabuki Jûhachiban with a new script written by Onitarô [casting].

1912: he joined the Shôchiku Company and was active in the theater world as a playwright and a literay advisor.

September 1918: premiere at the Meijiza of Okamoto Kidô's drama "Onoe Idahachi"; the play was directed by Onitarô [casting].

October 1920: premiere at the Shintomiza of Onitarô's drama "Imayô Satsuma Uta" [casting].

March 1922: premiere at the Shintomiza of Onitarô's drama "Fukeru Yosa Tsuki no Yokogushi" [casting].

March 1928: premiere at the Hongôza of Onitarô's drama "Nemuru-ga-Rakuda Monogatari" [casting].

November 1928: premiere at the Kabukiza of Onitarô's dance-drama "Kakuju Senzai" [more details].

April 1934: revival at the Kabukiza of "Oshimodoshi", a long-forgotten play belonging to the Kabuki Jûhachiban with a new script written by Onitarô [more details].

29 October 1943: Onitarô died in Tôkyô.

Comments:

Oka Onitarô was a 20th century Kabuki playwright, a theater critic, an author and a poet. He was active from the middle of the second half of the 1900s to the first half of the 1940s. His two masterpieces were "Rakuda" and "Imayô Satsuma Uta". His artistic name was Kigin.

"He was also long known as a scathingly witty critic who struck fear into actors." (Samuel Leiter in "New Kabuki Encyclopedia")

[1] The 1st day of the 8th lunar month of the 5th year of the Meiji era was the 3rd of September 1872 in the western calendar.

Oka Onitarô