Stage names:

Arashi San'emon I
Maruko San'emon

Real name: Nishizaki San'emon

Line number: SHODAI (I)

Existence: 1635 ~ 18 October 1690

Connection:

Master: Suzuki Heiemon

Brother: Arashi Kan'emon I

Son: Arashi San'emon II

Grandson: Arashi San'emon III

Disciple: Takeshima Kôzaemon II

Career:

1635 ~ 1670: born in Nishinomiya in the Settsu province. His father Nishizaki Shimpei, a rônin who settles in Edo to run a fishmonger shop, gives him the name of Nishizaki San'emon. The young man, not really interested in his father business, becomes disciple of the actor Suzuki Heiemon, playing under the name of Maruko San'emon in Edo. After a few years in the Shôgun capital, he moves back to the Kamigata area.

1671: Maruko San'emon triomphe in the play "Keisei Sayo Arashi", in which he uses for the first time in the Kabuki history the roppô technique, a revolution in the acting of tachiyaku actors. One of San'emon great lines in this play, which starts with the words "Hana no Arashi" ("a tempest of flowers"), is so famous that he decides to change his name to Arashi San'emon.

1675 ~ 1676: San'emon becomes zamoto in Kyôto.

November 1677: San'emon achieves a great success in Kyôto at the Shijô Kitagawa no Shibai, playing the role of Kagonuke no Yatsushi in the drama "Tamba Yosaku Tazuma Obi".

Spring 1678: San'emon plays the role of Kokuraya Gembei in the drama "Yoshino Miuke", which is staged in the same theater. His partner in the role of the courtesan Yoshinodayû is Itô Kodayû II.

1680: his son makes his first appearance on stage as a wakaonnagata actor, playing under the name of Arashi Monzaburô.

November 1681 ~ October 1682: Arashi San'emon and Araki Yojibei I produce several plays together in Kyôto.

November 1682 ~ October 1683: Arashi San'emon and Suzuki Heiemon produce several plays together in Ôsaka. Arashi San'emon is the first zamoto in the Kabuki history to produce a play narrating a couple of lovers double suicide (shinjûmono), based on a real incident that happened in Ôsaka.

November 1686 ~ October 1687: his son Arashi Monzaburô becomes zamoto and produces several dramas in Ôsaka in which San'emon plays the leading roles.

January 1687: San'emon's rank in "Yarô Tachiyaku Butai Ôkagami", the first hyôbanki in Kabuki history, is jô-jô-kichi (superior - superior - excellent). He shares this ranking with Itô Kodayû II.

1690: San'emon falls seriously ill and is replaced on stage by his son Arashi Monzaburô. He dies in Ôsaka in October 1690.

Comments:

Arashi San'emon was the founder of three great lines of actors which blossomed out and declined for two centuries: the Yoshidaya guild (the Arashi San'emon and Arashi Hinasuke lines of actors) and the Kyôya guild (the Arashi Sangorô line of actors).

This actor was a precursor whose innovations like the roppô technique or the shinjûmono plays had a beneficial effect on the development of Kabuki: "He greatly improved plays, wore magnificent garments, and acted to the accompaniment of flute, drum, and shamisen. His plays served Chikamatsu Monzaemon as originals when that dramatist wrote two of his best-known doll-dramas." (Zoë Kincaid in "Kabuki, the Popular Stage of Japan")

Arashi San'emon I (left), in the company of Itô Kodayû II (right), as depicted in the illustrated book "Yarô Tachiyaku Butai Ôkagami"