Pen names:

Mimasuya Shirô
Izutsu Yasuke
Izutsu Tokubê
Mimasuya Ichiji [1]
Izutsu Yasuke

Existence: ??? ~ 28th day of the 5th lunar month of 1837 ^[2]

Connection:

Masters: Ichikawa Danjûrô VII, Iwai Hanshirô V

Career:

Before 1824: born in Kamigata. He was initially a taiko mochi. He settled in Edo at an unknown date. He worked as a sakusha dedicated to the Edo onnagata star Iwai Hanshirô V. His first pen name was Izutsu Yasuke as he was related to a chaya named Izutsu in Ôsaka.

11th lunar month of 1824: Yasuke worked at the Kawarasakiza, along with Matsui Kôzô II, Tsuruya Nanboku IV, Matsui Yûsuke II and Katsui Genpachi, on the kaomise drama "Otokoyama Toritate Genji".

1st lunar month of 1825: Yasuke worked at the Nakamuraza on the new year sogamono drama "Okuni-iri Soga Nakamura".

8th lunar month of 1826: premiere at the Nakamuraza of Tsuruya Nanboku IV's drama "Soga Nakamura Aki no Torikomi"; Yasuke was a member of the sakusha team [casting].

1831: because of his relationship to Ichikawa Danjûrô VII, he took the name of Mimasuya Ichiji ^[1]. Mimasu, the three measures (of rice), was the mon of the Ichikawa Danjûrô line of actors.

1st lunar month of 1833: he took the name of Izutsu Tokubê and quickly switched back to Izutsu Yasuke.

3rd lunar month of 1833: he became nimaime sakusha and worked for Mimasuya Nisôji at the Kawarasakiza on the 22-act chûshinguramono drama "Ura Omote Chûshingura" ^[3]. The dance-drama "Ochiudo" was premiered in "Ura Omote Chûshingura" with Ichikawa Ebizô V and Onoe Kikugorô III in the roles of Kanpei and Okaru.

1833: he took the name of Mimasuya Shirô.

11th lunar month of 1835: Shirô worked at the Moritaza, along with Takarada Jusuke (tatesakusha) and Matsui Yûsuke III, on the kaomise drama "Hanayagura Kabuki no Jintori", which celebrated the shûmei of Ichikawa Kuzô II and Bandô Zenkô.

2nd lunar month of 1836: Shirô worked in the same theater on the drama "Sugawara-ryû Kanagaki Soga", which mixed the "Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami", "Kanadehon Chûshingura" and sogamono worlds.

4th lunar month of 1836: premiere at the Moritaza of the drama "Hakkenden Uwasa no Takadono", written by Takarada Jusuke and Shirô [casting].

11th lunar month of 1836: he became tatesakusha and worked at the Moritaza, along with Nakamura Jûsuke IV, Shinoda Sasuke and Takarada Jusuke, on the kaomise drama "Kioi Genji Mitsugi no Tamamono".

28th day of the 5th lunar month of 1837 ^[2]: Shirô died in Edo.

Comments:

Mimasuya Shirô was an Ôsaka taiko mochi, who became an Edo sakusha, who was active from the beginning of the first half of the 1820s to the second half of the 1830s.

[1] Mimasu Ichiji in Nojima Jusaburô's book "Kabuki Jinmei Jiten".

[2] The 28th day of the 5th lunar month of the 8th year of the Tenpô era was the 30th of June 1837 in the western calendar.

[3] The title could be translated by "Back and Forth Chûshingura". All the 11 famous omote acts of the classic "Kanadehon Chûshingura" were staged alternatively with a parodic ura counterpart act.

The name of Mimasuya Shirô in a 1836 Moritaza ehon banzuke (the zone within the red box)