Namiki Gohei I.

Namiki Gohei I. ( Japanese 並 木 五 瓶 , Namiki Gohachi , 並 木 五八 ; * 1747 in Osaka ; † February 27, 1808 in Edo ) was a Japanese kabuki author.

Live and act

Namiki Gohei was born as Asakusadō Gohachi ( 浅 草堂 五八 ) in the Doshōmachi district of Osaka as the son of a simple employee. He made his first experiences with the theater world in second-class theaters in Osaka. Then I switched to one of the big theaters. One theory says that he was already a member of the writing team of the Kita Theater under the direction of Namiki Shōzo I in the mid-1760s and learned the basics of writing plays from this. But it is also possible that he only got this from Namiki Jūsuke a few years later . Sometime during the Tenmei era (1764-1772) he took the name Namiki Gohachi . Together with Jūsuke he became Tatesakusha ( 立 て 作者 , main author, dramaturge and director) at the Kado Theater in Osaka in 1772 or 1773 . In 1775 he is proven as Tatesakusha of the Hayakumo Theater in Kyōto . Two years later he had returned to Osaka and taken the name Namiki Gohei . In the same year he had his first major success as an author with the play Tenmangū Natane no Gokū , which was performed at the Kado Theater. A year later , the next success followed with Sanmon Gosan no Kiri , also known as Kinmon Gosan no Kiri . More pieces were created and by 1790 he was the leading kabuki author of his time. At the instigation of the actor Sawamura Sōjūrō III. he moved in 1794 as Tatesakusha to the Miyako Theater in Edo. There he received an annual salary of 300 ryō , a sum that until then had only been reserved for star actors. Together with the actors Kataoka Nizaemon VII and Nakamura Noshio II, whom he had brought with him from Osaka, he succeeded in a short time in establishing major innovations in the Kabuki theater in Edo. For two years, 1798–1800, he worked again in Osaka, and then worked at the Kawarazaki Theater in Edo until his death in 1808.

In total, he wrote more than 110 kabuki pieces during his life. His students included Namiki Gohei II , Namiki Iwazō , Namiki Kōsuke , Namiki Takichi , Namiki Hanzō , Namiki Fūji , Namiki Raiji , Namiki Miyosuke , Namiki Washichi and Namiki Jūzō .

Works

• Tenmanguu Natane no Gokuu , 1777
• Keisei Hakataori , 1778
• Sanmon Gosan no Kiri , 1778
• Keisei Yamato Zōshi , 1784
• Katsuragawa Renri no Shigarami based on a puppet show by Suga Sensuke , 1784
• Taikō Shinkenki , 1787
• Sewa Ryōri Yaoya Kondate , 1788
• Shima Meguri Uso no Kikigaki , 1794
• Godairiki Koi no Fūjime , 1794
• Suda no Haru Geisha Katagi , 1796
• Tomioka Koi no Yamabiraki , 1798

swell

• Namiki Gohei I on Kabuki 21, accessed February 27, 2018.
• Namiki Gohei I in the Encyclopedia Britannica (online), accessed February 27, 2018.
• Samuel L. Leader: New Kabuki Encyclopedia. A Revised Adaptation of Kabuki Jiten . Greenwood Press, Westport Connecticut and London 1997, ISBN 0-313-29288-4 , pp. 454 f.
• 並 木 五 瓶 (初 代) Biographical summary from Kotobank (Japanese), accessed on February 27, 2018.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Namiki is the family name, Gohei the first name.