Stage names:

Iwai Matsunosuke IV
Iwai Chôji

Real name: Arai Hisajirô

Guild: Yamatoya

Line number: YODAIME (IV)

Existence: 1857 ~ 11 March 1906

Connection:

Master: Iwai Hanshirô VIII

Career:

1857: born in Edo in the district of Kyôbashi.

1871: he becomes disciple of the actor Iwai Shijaku II and receives the name of Iwai Chôji.

October 1879: Iwai Chôji takes the name of Iwai Matsunosuke IV at the Saruwakaza.

1880 ~ 1882: quarrel with his master; he is expelled from the Iwai clan.

19 February 1882: his master Iwai Hanshirô VIII dies; Matsunosuke joins back the Iwai clan.

March 1886: première at the Chitoseza of Kawatake Mokuami's drama "Mekura Nagaya Ume-ga-Kagatobi"; Matsunosuke plays the role of Osuga [casting].

November 1890: tour in Sendai with the troupe led by Ichikawa Metora II.

September 1893: Matsunosuke plays at the Harukiza the role of Otomi in the drama "Yo no Mukashi Shima no Shinwa"; the role of Yosaburô is played by Ichikawa Yaozô VII.

January 1894: Matsunosuke plays at the Harukiza the role of Princess Toki in the drama "Kamakura Sandaiki"; the roles of Sasaki Shirô Takatsuna and Miuranosuke are played by Nakamura Jakuemon II and Nakamura Fukusuke IV.

March 1901: Matsunosuke plays at the Miyatoza the role of Yûgiri in the drama "Kuruwa Bunshô"; the role of Fujiya Izaemon is played by Ichimura Kakitsu VI.

November 1905: Matsunosuke appears on stage for the last time, at the Miyatoza, playing 4 roles in the dance-drama "Miyazaki Danmari".

11 March 1906: Matsunosuke dies in Tôkyô.

Comments:

Iwai Matsunosuke IV was a promising onnagata actor, who was able to perform a wide range of female roles in sewamono dramas, like courtesans, spouses or maiden. He replaced actors like Bandô Mitsugorô VI and was a stage partner of Onoe Kikugorô V but he unfortunately wasted his talents, became alcoholic and debt-ridden, was definitively expelled from the Iwai clan around 1901 and fell at the end of his career from ôshibai to koshibai.

Iwai Matsunosuke IV playing the role of a courtesan in the drama "Ume no Haru Tateshu no Goshozome", which was staged in February 1887 at the Chitoseza