Pen names:

Kanai Sanshô
Kanai Sanpei I

Other name :

Kanaizutsuya Hankurô I

Poetry name: Yohôtei

Existence: 1731 ~ 16th day of the 6th lunar month of 1797 ^[1]

Connection:

Sons: Kanaizutsuya Hankurô II, Tsutsui Sanchô, Kanai Yûsuke I

Son-in-law: Kanai Sangyô

Grandson: Kanai Yûsuke III

Disciples: Tsuruya Nanboku IV, Sei Basetsu, Kanai Kinpachi (Masuyama Kinpachi I), Kanai Kinji, Kanai Sanpei II (Kadota Sorobê), Kanai Sôsuke, Kawatake Shinshichi I

Career:

1731: born in Edo. His father runs the Kanaizutsuya, a chaya in the district of Yoshimachi.

1752: he starts to work at the Nakamuraza.

Fall 1754: he becomes sakusha, calling himself Kanai Sanpei I.

11th lunar month of 1754: Sanpei works at the Nakamuraza on the kaomise drama "Miura no Ôsuke Bumon no Kotobuki", which celebrates the shûmei of Ichikawa Danjûrô IV, Matsumoto Kôshirô III and Tsuuchi Monzaburô II.

1755: he takes the name of Kanai Sanshô. His first name is related to the haimyô of Ichikawa Danjûrô IV. It has the same reading, the first ideogram (san meaning three is the same but the second ideogram is different (shô means "measure of rice" in the haimyô and "laughter" in the playwright's name):

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

11th lunar month of 1759: he becomes tatesakusha and works at the Ichimuraza on the kaomise drama "Okunizome Shusse Butai"; the main actors are Ichikawa Danjûrô IV, Onoe Kikugorô I, Bandô Sanpachi I, Nakamura Utaemon I, Sanogawa Ichimatsu I, Bandô Hikosaburô II, Ichimura Kamezô I and Matsumoto Kôshirô III.

11th lunar month of 1760: Sanshô works at the Ichimuraza, along with Sakurada Jisuke I, on the kaomise drama "Ume Momiji Date no Ôkido".

11th lunar month of 1761: Sanshô works at the Nakamuraza on the kaomise drama "Nihongahana Hôgan Biiki", which celebrates the shûmei of Ichikawa Raizô I.

11th lunar month of 1762: Sanshô works at the Nakamuraza on the kaomise drama "Nagi no Ha Izu no Sugatami", which celebrates the shûmei of Ôtani Hiroemon III, Ichikawa Somegorô I and Nakajima Kanzaemon III.

11th lunar month of 1763: Sanshô works at the Nakamuraza on the kaomise drama "Daijôbu Takadachi Jikki", which celebrates the shûmei of Ichikawa Yaozô II and Ichikawa Komazô II.

11th lunar month of 1764: Sanshô works at the Ichimuraza on the kaomise drama "Wakaki no Hana Suma no Hatsuyuki", which celebrates the shûmei of Yoshizawa Sakinosuke III.

11th lunar month of 1765: Sanshô works at the Ichimuraza on the kaomise drama "Furitsumu Hana Nidai Genji", which welcomes in Edo the Kamigata actor Matsumoto Tomojûrô II. Premiere at the Ichimuraza of Sanshô's Tokiwazu-based hengemono "Kumo no Ito Azusa no Yumihari" [more details].

11th lunar month of 1766: Sanshô works, along with the sakusha Sakurada Jisuke I, Okuno Sasuke, Yamaji Heizô and Okada Chôzô at the Moritaza on the kaomise drama "Tsuno Moji Izu no Irifune", which celebrates the shûmei of Bandô Mitsugorô I, Ichikawa Somegorô and Sawamura Yodogorô II.

11th lunar month of 1767: Sanshô works at the Ichimuraza on the kaomise drama "Nue Shigedô Sakiwake Yûsha", which celebrates the shûmei of Sawamura Shirogorô I.

11th lunar month of 1769: Sanshô works, along with the sakusha Masuyama Kinpachi I, Kawai Kinji, Naka Kiichi and Umeda Toshisuke, at the Ichimuraza on the kaomise drama "Mutsu no Hana Ume no Kaomise", which welcomes in Edo the actors Onoe Kikugorô I, Ôtani Tomoemon I, Nakamura Kiyosaburô I and Onoe Tamizô I.

11th lunar month of 1770: Sanshô works at the Ichimuraza on the kaomise drama "Meoto Giku Izu no Kisewata", which welcomes in Edo the Kamigata star Arashi Sangorô II and celebrates the shûmei of Bandô Hikosaburô III, Bandô Sanpachi II and Segawa Kichiji III.

11th lunar month of 1771: Sanshô works at the Ichimuraza on the kaomise drama "Kono Hana Yotsugi no Hachinoki".

11th lunar month of 1772: Sanshô works at the Ichimuraza on the kaomise drama "Edo Katagi Hikeya Tsunazaka", which celebrates the shûmei of Ichikawa Danzaburô III.

2nd lunar month of 1775: the zamoto of the Nakamuraza Nakamura Kanzaburô VII dies.

9th lunar month of 1775: Nakamura Denkurô II takes the name of Nakamura Kanzaburô VIII and becomes the new zamoto of the Nakamuraza.

11th lunar month of 1775: premiere at the Nakamuraza of Sanshô's Tomimoto-based dance-drama "Shijûhatte Koi no Showake", the first version of "Oshidori", which is staged within the kaomise drama "Hana Zumô Genji Biiki" [more details].

5th lunar month of 1776: Sanshô's plan to promote his eldest son as the future zamoto of the Nakamuraza in 1775 are revealed; he goes back to the family business (the Kanaizutsuya chaya) but discreetly keeps on helping his disciples from behind the scenes.

11th lunar month of 1786: Sanshô is back in the sakusha room of a Kabuki theater, in Edo at the Nakamuraza, where he works, along with Nakamura Jûsuke II and Katsu Hyôzô I, on the kaomise drama "Kumoi no Hana Yoshino no Wakamusha", which welcomes in Edo the Kamigata actor Arashi Murajirô and stars Sawamura Sôjûrô III, Ichikawa Yaozô III, Ôtani Hiroji III, Onoe Matsusuke I, Osagawa Tsuneyo II, Sanogawa Ichimatsu III, Nakajima Kanzaemon III and Bandô Matatarô IV.

11th lunar month of 1787: Sanshô works at the Moritaza on the kaomise drama "Tsuranaru Edamure Takamatsu", which celebrates the shûmei of Iwai Kiyotarô II, Sawamura Kameemon and Sawamura Harugorô II.

1788 ~ 1789: Sanshô does not take part in any kaomise drama.

3rd lunar month of 1790: Sanshô works at the Ichimuraza on the drama "Hana Miyage Mokuboji no Yurai".

1792: he becomes a bonze.

16th day of the 6th lunar month of 1797 ^[1]: Sanshô dies in Edo.

Comments:

Kanai Sanshô was an important Edo sakusha, who worked on more than 100 original dramas and excelled in sewamono. He worked a lot for the Edo star Ichikawa Danjûrô IV for ten years between 1754 and 1763. He was considered as one of the best playwrights in Edo. He also helped some young actors from Kamigata to become stage giants in Edo, like Onoe Kikugorô I, Segawa Kikunojô III, Bandô Mitsugorô I or Ôtani Tomoemon I. During the second half of the 1780s, he helped a group of promising actors including Sawamura Sôjûrô III and Onoe Matsusuke I. "The style he evolved, known as the Sanshô-fû, helped create logically structured, but complex plots, a technique he fostered in his disciple, Tsuruya Nanboku IV." (Samuel Leiter in "New Kabuki Encyclopedia")

Kanai Sanshô's first name included the ideogram for laughter (the shô in Sanshô) but he had not the reputation of being a comic. Quite the opposite in reality as he was given in his back the yagô Warazuya, which meant the "not laughing house". After reading his script to actors, he always put his hand on the on the hilt of his sword and glared the actors up to the payment for his work.

[1] The 16th day of the 6th lunar month of the 9th year of the Kansei era was the 10th of July 1797 in the western calendar.

The name of Kanai Sanshô in a 1786 Edo hyôbanki (within the red shape); all the names were the sakusha at the Nakamuraza

The Kanai Sanpei line of playwrights