Line number: SHODAI (I)

Existence: 1649 ~ 21 September 1687

Connection:

Disciple: Itô Kodayû II

Career:

1649 ~ 1660: born in Kyôto; he starts his career at an early age in Kamigata.

1661: Kodayû goes to Edo.

October 1661: Miyako Dennai's theater, where Kodayû performs as a wakashugata, splits up into two theaters, the Kodennaiza (the "old" theater of Dennai) and the Shindennaiza (the "new" theater of Dennai); according to the chronicles, Kodayû joins the Kodennaiza.

April 1662: Kodayû performs at the Kodennaiza; his stage partners are Tamamura Kichiya, Fujita Kumenosuke, Yamamoto Kantarô, Segawa Kurando, Fujita Sakyô, Yoshikawa Rokuya and Edo Samon.

1668: Kodayû retires.

Comments:

Itô Kodayû I was a wakashugata, who was born and trained in Kyôto and settled in Edo at the beginning of the 1660s. He retired in 1668.

Itô Kodayû I as depicted in an illustration from the book "Yaro Daibutsushi" (1668)

The Itô Kodayû line of actors