Playwright/real name:

Suzuki Senzaburô

Others names:

Toshimaya Shûjin
Izu Misaburô

Existence: 10 May 1893 ~ 6 October 1924

Connection:

Master: Okamura Shikô

Career:

10 May 1893: born in Tôkyô in the district of Aoyama.

1913: disciple of the writer/poet Mizuno Yôshû, he was selected at a prize-winning drama competition sponsored by the company Mitsukoshi Gofukuten ^[1]. His talent was acknowledged by Matsui Shôyô and, upon his recommendation, he became a disciple of Okamura Shikô.

1916: Senzaburô resigned from the Insurance Company where he was employed, following the advice of Okamura Shikô, and started working for the publishing company Genbunsha.

February 1923: premiere with a Kabuki casting ^[2] at the Ichimuraza of Suzuki Senzaburô's drama "Jirokichi Zange" [more details].

August 1924: "Ikite-iru Koheiji", his last work, was published.

6 October 1924: Senzaburô died in the city of Ôiso, where he lived temporarily for medical treatment.

June 1925: premiere at the Shinbashi Enbujô of Suzuki Senzaburô's drama "Ikite-iru Koheiji" [more details].

Comments:

Suzuki Senzaburô was a playwright and an editor of the Taishô era, who unfortunately died too young. Two of his Shinkabuki dramas are still in the Kabuki repertoire: "Ikite-iru Koheiji" and "Jirokichi Zange".

[1] Nowadays the Mitsukoshi Group.

[2] It was also premiered with a non-Kabuki casting the same month in Tôkyô in a different theater.